'Number one target': Shin Bet's growing role against al-Arouri, Hamas leaders
"Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar recently spoke on the issue of expanding the responsibilities of the security agency" and its "intent to reach all Hamas leaders anywhere in the world."
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: JANUARY 3, 2024 14:15 Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri (left) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (right)(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90 and ARAB MEDIA)
Hamas’s slain deputy leader outside of Gaza, Saleh al-Arouri, was the number one target of a special Shin Bet unit established to target the terrorist organization's operatives abroad, Walla military correspondent Amir Bohbot reported Wednesday morning.
Writing on the social media platform X, Bohbot said that the Israel security agency has become more active in Israel's general operation against the Hamas terrorist organization, be it in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, or abroad.
"Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar recently spoke on the issue of expanding the responsibilities" of the agency and its "intent to reach all Hamas leaders anywhere in the world, including in Lebanon."
The IDF has thus far denied responsibility for the Beirut assassination, which killed five other people in addition to Arouri. On Tuesday, in response to a question about the assassination, IDF Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari stressed that he would not be addressing the reports, adding: "We are focused on fighting Hamas."
הארגוני שעשה, הוקמה חטיבה שעוסקת בסיכול מפקדות חמאס בחול שייעודה לאסוף ולסכל את הפעילות והפעילים של חמאס בחול. אל ערורי היה קליינט מס 1 שלהם. בכלל, שב"כ בשנתיים האחרונות היה זה שדחף לטפל ולפעול מול חמאס לבנון.
Members of civil defence stand at the site of an explosion, in what security sources say is an Israeli drone strike, in Beirut, Lebanon January 2, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMED AZAKIR)
Israel allegedly targeted a Hamas head in Lebanon two months ago
However, Bohbot wrote, this is not the first allegedly Shin Bet-led assassination of a Hamas official in Lebanon.
Earlier in November, it was reported that Khalil Hamed al-Kharraz, the deputy head of Hamas's Qassam Brigades in Lebanon, was killed "by the treacherous Zionist hand in southern Lebanon," a statement of the brigades said.
The killing, which the IDF also did not take responsibility for, is part of the long-term vision of the Shin Bet chief to target Hamas's leaders in Lebanon.
