Current:Home > MarketsFears of widening regional conflict grow after Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri killed in Lebanon-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Fears of widening regional conflict grow after Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri killed in Lebanon
View Date:2025-01-11 07:31:18
Protests erupted in the occupied West Bank after a senior Hamas leader, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in an explosion in Beirut on Tuesday along with six other Hamas militants.
Al-Arouri was one of the founders of Hamas' military wing and was wanted by both the Israeli and American governments.
Israel offered no official comment on the attack, but Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has previously vowed retaliation for any Israeli attacks on Hamas officials in Lebanon, stoking fears of a possible widening of the conflict in Gaza.
"We affirm that this crime will never pass without response and punishment," Nasrallah said on Lebanese television.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces, Daniel Hagari, said Israel was in a "very high state of readiness in all arenas" and "highly prepared for any scenario."
The militant group Hezbollah is an Iran-backed ally of Hamas and one of the world's most heavily armed non-state military forces. The explosion that killed al-Arouri took place in Musharafieh, one of the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs and a Hezbollah stronghold.
Sima Shine, head of the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies, said a war between Israel and Hezbollah, though unlikely, would be a massive escalation in the conflict.
Hezbollah's capabilities are "ten times more," than Hamas', Shine told CBS News. "It's an army that is equipped much better than the Lebanese army, and they have a lot of experience after they participated in the war in Syria."
Maha Yahya, from the Carnegie Middle East Center, also said a full-scale conflict with the Lebanese militant group was unlikely.
"I don't think Hezbollah will be willing to drag Lebanon into a major conflict at this particular moment and time given the situation regionally," Yahya told the AFP news agency.
Since Hamas' attack on October 7, Israel has been fighting on multiple fronts. In Lebanon, the fighting has mainly been concentrated a few miles from the border. In Yemen, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have fired missiles and drones toward Israel and are attacking commercial ships around its waters, threatening to disrupt the world economy and send oil prices soaring.
Shipping giant Mersk is among numerous companies now diverting their ships around the Horn of Africa, avoiding the Red Sea and adding thousands of miles to journeys.
The Houthis say they'll stop their attacks if Israel stops the war in Gaza, but Israeli leaders, vowing to continue until Hamas is destroyed, say the fight could last for the rest of 2024.
Hamas told CBS News on Wednesday that they've informed mediators that they're freezing all talks with Israel surrounding a ceasefire and the release of hostages.
For many people in Gaza, that means more misery spent seeking whatever shelter can be found in tent cities as heavy fighting rages on.
"I wish I died with them. I wish I had arrived five home minutes earlier. That would've been better than living like this," says one man sheltering in a crowded tent city, whose family was killed.
- In:
- Hamas
- Israel
- Hezbollah
- Gaza Strip
- Lebanon
Ian Lee is a CBS News correspondent based in London, where he reports for CBS News, CBS Newspath and CBS News Streaming Network. Lee, who joined CBS News in March 2019, is a multi-award-winning journalist, whose work covering major international stories has earned him some of journalism's top honors, including an Emmy, Peabody and the Investigative Reporters and Editors' Tom Renner award.
Twitter InstagramveryGood! (255)
Related
- Missouri prosecutor says he won’t charge Nelly after an August drug arrest
- Why we love Wild Geese Bookshop, named after a Mary Oliver poem, in Franklin, Indiana
- Stores are locking up products to curb shoplifters. How that's affecting paying customers.
- 'Mutant Mayhem' reboots the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and does it well
- Japan to resume V-22 flights after inquiry finds pilot error caused accident
- ‘The Goon Squad': How rogue Mississippi officers tried to cover up their torture of 2 Black men
- Texas separates migrant families, detaining fathers on trespassing charges in latest border move
- Mutinous soldiers in Niger sever military ties with France while president says he’s a hostage
- Ranked voting will decide a pivotal congressional race. How does that work?
- US expands curfews for asylum-seeking families to 13 cities as an alternative to detention
Ranking
- Harriet Tubman posthumously honored as general in Veterans Day ceremony: 'Long overdue'
- Remains found in shallow grave in 2007 identified as Florida woman who was never reported missing
- The one glaring (but simple) fix the USWNT needs to make before knockout round
- Loved 'Oppenheimer?' This film tells the shocking true story of a Soviet spy at Los Alamos
- FC Cincinnati player Marco Angulo dies at 22 after injuries from October crash
- Nate Diaz, Jake Paul hold vulgar press conference before fight
- Man who broke into women's homes and rubbed their feet while they slept arrested
- Underwhelming U.S. team slumps into Women’s World Cup knockout game against familiar foe
Recommendation
-
Only 8 monkeys remain free after more than a week outside a South Carolina compound
-
Underwhelming U.S. team slumps into Women’s World Cup knockout game against familiar foe
-
Colts playing with fire in Jonathan Taylor saga, but these 6 NFL teams could be trade fits
-
Why has hiring stayed strong? States, cities are finally boosting pay and adding workers
-
Georgia remains part of College Football Playoff bracket projection despite loss
-
Mega Millions players will have another chance on Friday night to win a $1.25 billion jackpot
-
Oppenheimer's nuclear fallout: How his atomic legacy destroyed my world
-
Authorities to announce new break in long investigation of Gilgo Beach killings