CAIRO (Reuters) – Lebanese armed group Hezbollah mentioned it hit a key Israeli statement submit early on Saturday with 62 rockets as a “preliminary response” to the killing of Hamas’ deputy chief earlier this week.
Senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri was killed on Tuesday, Jan. 2 in an Israeli drone strike on Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh.
Analysts mentioned the strike could possibly be seen as a message to Hamas ally Hezbollah that even its prime stronghold of Dahiyeh could possibly be susceptible to Israeli assault.
Hezbollah had mentioned his killing wouldn’t go with out punishment. Its head Sayyed Hassan Nassallah mentioned on Friday that being “silent” on the strike would enable all of Lebanon to be susceptible to extra assaults.
The assertion on Saturday mentioned the group had hit a most important submit on an elevated hilltop that Israel relied on for “aerial statement” and “air management”.
There was no quick remark from the Israeli army. (This story has been corrected to say that the the Hamas official was killed this week, not the final, in paragraph 1)
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily; Writing by Muhammad Al Gebaly; Modifying by Jan Harvey)