An Israeli drone strike hit a Hamas office in Beirut on Tuesday, killing at least six people, including a senior Hamas official, Lebanese media has reported.
A US official told The Washington Post that Israel was responsible for the strike that killed Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy chief of Hamas’s political bureau. The Israeli attack on the Lebanese capital marks a huge escalation and could provoke a major war.
Hamas has confirmed that al-Arouri was killed and released a statement on his assassination. “The cowardly assassinations carried out by the Zionist occupation against the leaders and symbols of our Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine will not succeed in breaking the will and steadfastness of our people or in undermining the continuation of their valiant resistance,” Hamas said.
Al-Arouri was involved in hostage negotiations and, according to The Times of Israel, was “instrumental” in reaching the Qatar-mediated deal that led to the release of over 100 Israeli hostages and over 200 Palestinians.
So far, Israel has not officially taken credit for the attack, but Israeli officials are often ambiguous about their operations in neighboring countries. If confirmed, the drone strike would mark the first Israeli attack on Beirut since the 2006 Lebanon War.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since October 7. Lately, Israeli officials have been threatening more military action and hinting at an invasion of southern Lebanon if Hezbollah doesn’t move back from the border.
In November, Axios reported that US officials were worried Israel was trying to provoke Hezbollah as a pretext for a wider war in Lebanon that could draw the US into the conflict. Hezbollah has said the Israeli drone strike in Beirut “will not go unanswered or without punishment,” and the Lebanese group continues to launch attacks on northern Israel.
If the man had blood on his hands….
If the man had been born in the concentration camp, known as Gaza.
He was born in Ramallah Jordon in 1966.
It’s hilarious that zionists still think spewing this shit online is going to change anything for them.
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank or Ramallah Bank, that serves as the de facto administrative capital of the State of Palestine.Wikipedia
In 1966, Ramallah was part of the territory annexed by Jordan circa 1950.
Annexing a territory doesn’t change to whom it belonged or belongs. Annexing a territory doesn’t make it a legitimate.
“ The West Bank was formally annexed on 24 April 1950, but the annexation was widely considered as illegal and void by most of the international community” Wikipedia .
The guy is Palestinian born in Ramallah in the west bank that is part of Palestine now. His nationality is Palestinian.
Many have used such historical fact that no longer exists to use as an argument to legitimize the erasure of the Palestinian identity and existence.
“Many have used such historical fact that no longer exists” I’m not sure how the historical fact that Jordon armies captured the West Bank in the 1948 war and than annexed it in 1950 no longer exists. This action destroyed the best chance that Palestinians had to start their own nation like Israel did on the former Ottoman Empire land.
Your facts are amazingly arbitrary. If you already chose to go back to 1948 and UN defined partition -/ by all means go there. But as it was amply obvious from day one, Israel immediately proceeded to ethnically cleanse areas given to Palestinians. This is what prompted Jordan’s gambit — as Israel pushed population out into Jordan, the idea was to salvage at least some West Bank territory for Palestinians in Jordan.
Why even bother with this factoid – since Israel took West Bank and occupied it. And it remains occupied ever since.
A completely false narrative is created here, a paltry and transparent one. Here it goes. Palestinians COULD have realized their state, had it not been for bad Jordan’s annexation of West Bank. An opportunuty missed!
Of course not. Quite the oppisite is true. Had Jordan not slowed down the expulsion of Palestinians by Israel, there would have been not a single Palestinian left in Ramallah or anywhere else on West Bank! Perhaps this is what irks Israel to this day.
But Israel rectified the problem by dotting West Bank with “settlers”, the colonizers of Palestinian lands.
Today’s moment is again an opportunity. . As Gaza horrors transfix attention — West Bank Palestinians are being threatened with expulsion, again.
It is all back to the original plan,
Jordan wanted the West Bank for itself.The 5 invading Arab armies wanted to increase their land holdings,not liberate Palestinians. Under Jordanian rule,Palestinians had no right as citizens.
Massacres, such as what occurred ad Dier Yassin, and other villages. Forced expulsion and not a thing was done by Britain or any other country to stop it!
It was in 1948, the partition that never was. But later Israel occupied it, and it has been part of the occupied West Bank ever since.
The Wikipedia delusion of Ramalla being some kind of Palestinian center is a joke. No part of Israeli occupied Palestine is safe from Israeli military raids, arbitrary killings. and unlawful imprisonment. How many Palestinian hostages are in Israeli jails today, without being charged with any offense?
No point fantasizing — let us stick with facts. Unless something drastic changes, this genocide is unstoppable. Israel explained it to us very, very clearly. It is our problem if we refuse to listen.
“let us stick with facts”
Yes, we should.
And the fact is that in 1966, Ramallah was “in” Jordan.
Just like if I was born in Sarajevo in 1966, I would have been born “in” Yugoslavia, even though Sarajevo is no longer “in” Yugoslavia.
I didn’t disagree that Ramallah is part of the region known as Palestine (as is the rest of the West Bank, and Gaza, and Israel, and Jordan).
And in 1966 when al-Arouri was born Ramallah was part of Jordon. Wikipedia list his birthdate as: “Born 19 August 1966
Ramallah, Jordanian West Bank”.
Jordon lost Ramallah to Israel in the six day war of June 1967.
And how is this significant?
Fair question, It was implied by some that he born in Gaza.
WOW… Total comment from Bianca for 16 days!!!! Bianca, Bianca,… What’s up??? Why this lonjgn silence during this unprecedented current mass murder & genocide…WTF…?????
Indeed. Remember what you just said. That works both ways.
Not sure what you mean by works both ways.
Really?
Where is your other persona, Don Julio, to make it a trifecta??
True.however,Hamas rejected Oslo or any other form of negotiations,and is responsible for the response to Oct 7. You may not like someone,but it is wise to work out a modus vivendi.
You can spew out any one of your standard replies and it won’t take the blood off Israel’s hands. Or Biden’s. Oslo doesn’t matter. It doesn’t justify what Israel is doing to Gaza. Nothing does.
There is no blood when righteous self defense is performed. You just don’t like the truth. I seem to remember a quote “blessed are the PEACEMAKERS”,not the haters.
“There is no blood when righteous self defense is performed.”
So, to prove my point about you spewing out standard replies, you spew out yet another standard reply.
Really? It is Israel thst nevervwanted to have any part of it. Israel has snd always had the power over occulied Palestinians. End of not a complicated story. Occupied do not have piwer, decide nothing, Hamas rejected? Seriously?
“Hamas Rejected” They always refused any negotiations.They commited a barbarous pogrom, with every sort of depravity.They knew full well a harsh response would ensue.
Professor Finkelstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4PckPdApIY
Anyone seen Bianca lately?
This is Bianca’s last post. WHERE IS SHE< WHAT HAPPENEDF TO HER...??????????????????????
WTF…..!!!!!!!!!! Bianca silent for two months as the Amero-Israeli GENOCIDE rages unfettered.
I’m unable to believe this long silence is something SHE decided. As far as I’m concerned I believe has lost her technical, physical or mental ability to comment or isimprison dead. WHAT HAPPENED TO BIANCA…??????????
Anyone with any information on her disappearence or the strange appearance of a( Bianca2) shortly after she went sile4ntPLEASE POST ANY INFORMATIOM HERE AS A REPLY… Any information will be greatly appreciated , perhaps rewarded. My mail is my_oeuvre(at)yahoo.com
If any of you out there have ANY NFORMATION about Bianca and her SUDDEN & UNLIKELY DISAPPEARANCE PLEASE POST IT AS A REPLY OR COMMENT HERE. Bianca had well over a thousand comments here and some in Bosnian at the Novi Standard. It was not IN HER CHARACTER to go silent as a GENOCIDE RAGED IN EUROPE. As I previously stated,, any & all information will be greatly appreciated…!!!!!! Gossip, rumors, accusations, the town or city she lived in, family,HER LAST NAME…..!!!!.. Someone out there must have some clue about her. She was really out there as far as comments went.. She said she worked in Yemen doing aid work or was it Somalia….??????? I’m going to try to download ALL her comments at antiwar.com to glean some, ANY knowledge in an attempt to probe her mysterious silence in the thick of this genocide and what happened to cause it…… PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN…..
Only problem both parties think it’s theirs. Makes any modus vivendi almost impossible.
TRUE.
Which is why you can’t have Apartheid. You need a secular state in which Palestinians and Israeli live on the basis of a constitution that guarantees equal rights on the basis of citizenship, not ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation or religious conviction.
Anybody who still would feel the urge to play chosen people shit should be voluntarily expelled. Where to? Well, since Germany likes Zionism so very, very much as to leave no room for doubt or dissent and they do owe something of an historical debt lets say, to rectify the tiniest bit of that sordid history, they could clear out a nice roomy chunck of their finest real estate of all the German goj to allow these people to play Uebermensch to eachother to all their hearts statisfaction.
How about you give up your home to some Native Americans,some victims of slavery,or victims of the Mexican american war?
I don’t live in the US, but I tell you what. I am prepared to give up my home and move elsewhere if it is for the purpose of creating this Zionist reservation I talked about. The can raze it to the ground, bulldoze it just to feel home. Where they can pretend God’s chosen Uebermenschen to each other and leave everybody else in peace.
This would be an investment I’d love to make this very evening rather than tomorrow morning.
true
Oslo was dead from the first moment. And any patriotic Palestinian would reject Oslo and all its clones.
“ Oslo was the greatest idea Israel ever had. It let them continue the occupation without paying any of the costs”
MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI
PALESTINIAN NATIONAL INITIATIVE
https://remix.aljazeera.com/aje/PalestineRemix/phone/the-price-of-oslo.html
The Oslo accords were always doomed to fail
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2023/09/12/the-oslo-accords-were-always-doomed-to-fail
“ Critical to the architecture of Oslo was the notion of gradualism. The text did not address any of the key issues in this dispute: Jerusalem; the right of return of 1948 refugees; the status of Jewish settlements built on occupied Palestinian land; or the borders of the Palestinian entity. All these “permanent status” issues were deferred for negotiations towards the end of the five-year transition period. Basically, this was a modest experiment in Palestinian self-government, starting with the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.
The text did not promise or even mention an independent Palestinian state at the end of the transition period. The Palestinians believed that in return for giving up their claim to 78% of historic Palestine, they would gain an independent state in the remaining 22%, with a capital city in Jerusalem. They were to be bitterly disappointed.”
https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/12/oslo-israel-reneged-colonial-palestine
As far as “right of return”-Israel will not accept national suicide. Gradualism reduces hatred and builds trust.Are the Palestinians better off now/-they are being used by Hamas as lambs for a long term bloodbath.
Going back further, when the British partitioned Palestine 55% to the Jews, and 45% to the Palestinians, the Palestinians would not sign on or agree. Ben-Gurion is on record as stating that there would be no reason for the Palestinians to sign because their land was stolen from them.
The Oslo Accords would have returned 20% of their lands; and, in the form of bantustans.
Tanker trucks of blood on that guys hands.
So what about the other 5 civilians? Or did they just unknowningly engage in the depravity of being human shields which made them deserving of being murdered by one of these most humane drones of the world?
And of course if the logic is valid then who ever ordered that drone to strike should now be unproblematic to assassinate, if need be along with – in the spirit of proportionality, which admittedly Israel made the applicability of that concept rather questionable – probably not more than a dozen or so random Israeli.
According to Aljazeera all those killed were all members of Hamas. It was a very targeted strike.
So what! That does not change the facts on the ground that a full blown ethnic cleansing is being perpetrated by Israel and America.
Still nothing like the quantity of blood on the hands of the current Israeli leaders. They are drenched in it.
Justice will come for them, sooner or later. The US will be far behind the crowd, “surprised.” Like it was for apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia.
…he might be a doctor.
Your point ?
“”Israeli drone strike hit a Hamas office in Beirut””
right. everywhere you turn there is an official Hamas office, this time in Beirut.
ok we should pretend that Hezbollah would not only tolerate Hamas in their neck of the woods, but actually give them some office space as well.
“”hey boys, if yalls need some drinking water i just happen to have an account with the Sparkletts Water Cooler guys!””
idiots
Funny.
So you are saying that Hamas lied when they stated that one their leader got killed in Beirut?
no Tim, i am saying that it is not likely that Hezbollah would tolerate any Hamas assholes in their yard. i am also fairly certain that any time “Hamas” makes a pronouncement, it is either uncle sam or uncle shmuel with his hand up the puppet’s ass
Lebanon is the Panama or Caymans or Delaware of the Middle East – incorporation, taxes, registries, EVERYTHING makes more business sense there than one’s home region.
Israel ought to have the right to defend itself. And in turn Palestine should posses the right to defend itself too. But neither side should be allowed to use terrorism
How do irregulars like Hamas defend themselves against an army whose armory is in Washington DC? Please elucidate.
Now the Hezbollese in Lebanon have legal standing to launch against the ASI “to defend itself”.
Ain’t precedent a real daisy…?
Israel has no such right. Occupiers do not have a right to retaliate against the resistance forces of the people and lands they illegally occupy.
Time to take out satanyahu.
This is mostly the zionist leadership panicking and trying to leapfrog the escalation ladder. It will be answered, of course, however it will be done when it benefits the resistance.This has been their M.O., it won’t change.
Israel needs to cool its own sh-t down… I am not prepared to become embroiled in any major escalations or conflicts.
You aren’t but Bibi is… It’s Hail Mary time for him.
… and Zelinsky. And how about both at once?
Yes, and I believe in Santa Clause. Ever since Osama Bin Ladin was killed and people danced on the streets, everyone tried to revive the magic. Thus Obama was always killing ISIS leaders, and now Netanyahu is magically finding Hamas leaders to kill. It is a cheap trick to create an illusion of progress and success. Do not believe a word of it. Killing off and starving population is primary goal. Denying health care another effectve method off genocide. And these are people to be trusted? Their lies, normalizing the slaughter, and acting like it is all the par for the course.
The evil can easily implant itself into our collective consciousness, to the point of Zombie like existence of undead.
“Do not believe a word of it” So Hamas was lying when they admitted that one of their leaders was killed??
Netanyahu’s sure political instincts told him he’d dramatically improve his poll numbers by feeding the public’s blood lust. Though at the same time killing al-Arouri raises the morale of Hamas (showing the humblest foot soldier his leader’s life is equally on the line) and bringing Nasrallah that much closer to all out war (which he also intends).
Wrong on all counts. Nothing will help Netanyahu. Israel has been looking for this arch terrorist for a long time. He was responsible for hundreds of attacks. This was an opportunity well executed. The morale of Hamas, as low as it is, will fall even further. They see Israel is serious and will eventually reach all of them just as they reached Arouri. Nasrallah will stay in his bunker from now on. He realizes that he is not beyond reach. And he has little love for the Palestinians. He will not risk the annihilation of Hezbollah in an all out war on behalf of Hamas.
Assassination of the leaders of opposing political groups does not usually happen, because of likely retaliation.
This won’t stop until some Israeli leaders are assassinated. They do have some very deserving targets among them.
Killing terrorist leaders has been and will continue to be a tactic. One could how argue how effective it is, but the threat of retaliation will not stop the tactic.
Who defines who is a terrorist?
The tactic to assassinate has become routine, insane leadership does it.
This man might: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzhiPPq7Gak
Lawless.
Just because Israel says somebody is “Hamas” does not make it so or even mean they are a terrorist. That is what a court system is for but Israel and USA want to assassinate people because it is easier, faster, and does not require any proof. Such precedents cannot be tolerated.
Do you really think Hamas would ever have been brought to a court-How many Palestinian terrorists were tried for the past 75 years ?
That is a good question, Sully. How many times HAS the ASI tried a legal/criminal approach to the ‘terrorism problem’ vs. using an extrajudicial, military “kill ’em dead” strategy ?
I would guess far more the latter than the former.
The Hegemon and its surrogates are beyond law. Beyond the law is only raw power. I suspect nothing short of a nuclear exchange is going to cause DC to change its tactics. The people in charge in DC left their humanity behind a long time ago. They are Eliot’s Hollow men.
This has to be up there with the latest major news.
Then Hamas has the balls to call it a cowardly assasination carried out by the Zionists 🤣
It is up there with the latest major news, because that is exactly what it is.And that is an egregiously charitable way of putting things when terrorists murder 5 random civilians of another country in order to assassinate a leader of Hamas. As has been demonstrated ad infinitam, and most definitely ad nauseam, it will do exactly nothing to inhibit or mitigate Hamas or Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation of their home country. Cause and effect are seriously misaligned there. It is the Israeli brutal, anachronistic and racist ideology of Zionism that is the root cause of the phenomenon of the legitimate and humanly inevitable Palestinian resistance to the ensuing savagery of the Apartheid system, not exactly which person is at any one time a face to that.
Very well said…
Anything anti US is always well said to you.
Hater.
” murder 5 random civilians” Not in this case. All person killed in strike were Hamas according to Arab news sources.
OMG! The three in one has spoken. I have not yet see (until now) all three of your personas on the same page, a mere keystrokes away.
Israel attacks neighbor probably with an American weapon, risks provoking the US into having to protect Israel from the response, win win for Israel, lose lose for US, as always with our “ally.”
Any mention of the “collateral damage”, ie, dead innocents? (as if the Zionists in Israel and the U.S. administration cares)
“US officials were worried Israel was trying to provoke Hezbollah as a
pretext for a wider war in Lebanon that could draw the US into the
conflict.”
I don’t know which “US officials” they talked to, but everyone around Biden including Biden himself definitely want a wider war. The neocons want Hezbollah, Syria, Iran and the Houthis destroyed. The fact that the US can’t militarily succeed in that won’t stop them from trying.