Head of Hezbollah to give planned speech despite assassination of Hamas deputy chief in Lebanon

By Wassim Saifuldine

BEIRUT (AA) – Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah will give a speech on Wednesday as scheduled, a group spokesperson told Anadolu.

Reports emerged that Nasrallah had canceled his speech following the assassination of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

“We will not cancel Nasrallah’s speech on Wednesday,” Rana al-Saheli said.

Arouri was killed in an Israeli drone attack targeting a Hamas office in Beirut’s southern neighborhood on Tuesday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

Hamas confirmed that Arouri and two commanders of its military wing, the Qassam Brigades, were killed in the attack, which left at least six people dead.

Arouri was the most senior Hamas leader to have been killed by Israel since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7.

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of gunfire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

The border tension comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 22,185 Palestinians have since been killed and 57,035 others injured, according to Gaza’s health authorities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.​​​​​​​

*Writing by Mohmmad Sio