Lebanon-Hamas

Four people died in an explosion in a southern suburb of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, on Tuesday night, according to Lebanon’s state news agency NNA. According to the media, an Israeli drone has hit a Hamas office in the suburb of Dahieh. Two security sources told Reuters that a senior Palestinian official was killed in the blast and several others were wounded according to NNA. In a later report NNA quoted the Al-Manar TV Channel as naming the senior Palestinian official as being ‘Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri.’ Al-Arouri was a founding Military Commander of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades and has been deputy chairman of the Hamas Politburo.
     The southern suburbs of Beirut are an area where the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, which is allied to Hamas, is strong. In recent months, the group has had almost daily exchanges with Israel’s army on the border between Israel and Lebanon. Earlier on Tuesday, Hezbollah announced that it had sent a drone carrying explosives at an Israeli military command centre, the Lebanese media Naharnet reports. /ritzau/NNA/