Funeral held of top Hamas official killed in apparent Israeli strike in Beirut
Saleh Arouri’s automatic rifle was placed on his coffin at the prayer service.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Beirut on Thursday for the funeral of top Hamas commander Saleh Arouri, who was killed earlier this week in an apparent Israeli airstrike on an apartment in the Lebanese capital.
Draped in Palestinian and Hamas flags, Arouri’s coffin and those of two of his comrades were first taken to a Beirut mosque for prayers before being carried to the Palestine Martyrs Cemetery where top Palestinian officials killed by Israel over the hast five decades are buried.
Arouri’s automatic rifle was placed on his coffin at the prayer service.
The funeral was attended by Palestinian officials, including top Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk, as well as representatives of some Lebanese political groups.
“The enemy is running away from its failures and defeats (in Gaza) to Lebanon,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a speech aired during the funeral.
He added that the killing of Arouri in Beirut “is a proof of (Israel’s) bloody mentality”.
Lebanese officials and state media said an Israeli drone fired two missiles on Tuesday at an apartment in Beirut’s southern Musharafieh district that is a stronghold of Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah group, instantly killing Arouri and six other Hamas members, including military commanders.
Israel had accused Arouri, 57, of masterminding attacks against it in the West Bank, where he was the group’s top commander.
In 2015, the US Treasury Department name Arouri a specially designated global terrorist, offering five million dollars (£3.9 million) for information about him.
Arouri’s killing raises tensions in the already volatile Middle East with Israel’s ongoing ground offensive in Gaza, daily exchange of fire between Israeli troops and Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacking ships passing through the Red Sea.
