Killing of top Hamas official raises war escalation fears; Houthis claim another Red Sea shipping attack

4 Jan 2024

A senior Hamas leader was killed by Israel in an explosion in Beirut, according to the Palestinian group, raising fresh concerns of a regional escalation of the war in Gaza.

Hamas said Israel killed Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of the group’s politburo, who was known as the mastermind behind its armed wing in the West Bank. Lebanon’s caretaker premier also blamed Israel and said the attack was meant to “drag Lebanon into a new phase of confrontation.”

Although the Israeli government has yet to confirm it was behind the attack, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an Israeli drone struck the apartment building housing a Hamas office in Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing six people, including al-Arouri.

If confirmed, it would be Israel’s first such attack on the Lebanese capital in almost two decades.

Al-Arouri would be the most senior Hamas leader killed since the group, designated as a terrorist organisation by the US and European Union, infiltrated Israel on 7 October and killed almost 1,200 people.

Israel responded with an offensive on the Gaza Strip that has so far killed more than 22,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas.

Hours before al-Arouri’s killing, Turkey detained 33 people who it alleged were spying on Palestinians on behalf of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. Last month, Ankara warned Israel against plotting to kill Hamas members in Turkey, following reports of plans to target the group’s leaders overseas.

Iran says blasts near commander’s grave kill more than 100

Two explosions near the grave of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani killed at least 103 people and injured 171, with a senior official describing the blasts as a terrorist attack.

The blasts happened within 15 minutes of each other outside the graveyard in the central province of Kerman on the anniversary of Soleimani’s death, state TV reported.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahdi said it was a response to the actions of Iran’s anti-Israel alliance that includes Hamas and Hezbollah.

“They responded to the blow from the axis of resistance by killing innocent women and children,” Vahdi said in televised remarks, without being more specific. Iran uses “axis of resistance” to refer to armed groups it supports across the Middle East which oppose Israel, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, vowed to punish the perpetrators, without saying who might be responsible. It came less than 24 hours after a suspected Israeli drone strike that killed a senior leader of Hamas.

The explosions were caused by bombs planted in a suitcase and a car near the graveyard entrance and detonated remotely, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Crowds had gathered at Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officer Soleimani’s grave to mark his 2020 killing in a US drone strike.

As the leader of the IRGC’s elite Quds force, Soleimani was one of Iran’s most powerful generals. He helped project Iranian power abroad through a network of proxy militias opposed to Israel, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Separately on Wednesday, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency said at a funeral that it would “settle accounts” with those who planned and participated in Hamas’s October attack on Israel, without elaborating. Iran denies involvement in the assaults.

Houthis claim yet another attack on Red Sea container ship

Houthi armed forces claimed to have attacked another merchant ship in the Red Sea, serving as a reminder of the threat they pose to a vital trade artery.

The Houthis’ armed forces’ spokesman said in a televised speech that a vessel called the CMA CGM Tage was attacked after ignoring warnings. In response, French container shipping giant CMA CGM said “the vessel did not suffer any incident” and was sailing through the Red Sea toward Alexandria, at the northern end of Egypt’s Suez Canal.

Numerous container shipping lines have elected to avoid the Red Sea following a wave of attacks, instead sailing their fleets thousands of kilometres around Africa.

The Houthis say they are going after any vessels that have a connection with Israel, although those purported links have looked increasingly spurious.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British naval detachment, said on its website that a vessel came under attack around the time the CMA CGM Tage would have been passing through. It didn’t name the carrier. It said there were reports of up to three explosions one to five nautical miles from a merchant carrier.

The US and its allies are trying to secure merchant shipping in an area that handles about 12% of global trade. But this week, Moeller-Maersk said it would avoid the area until further notice after a second of its vessels came under attack in the space of a few weeks.

The US Central Command said on X that “Iranian-backed Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen into the Southern Red Sea.”

It added that multiple commercial ships in the area reported the impact of the missiles in the surrounding water, though none reported any damage.

This is the 24th attack against merchant shipping in the southern Red Sea since 19 November, according to the US Central Command. DM

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Iran says blasts near commander’s grave kill more than 100

Houthis claim yet another attack on Red Sea container ship