Hassan Nasrallah Vows Hezbollah Will Not Be Silent After Israeli Attack Kills Hamas Deputy Head

The leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah. (Wikimedia Commons/Khademei.ir)

JAKARTA - The leader of the Lebanon-based militant group, Hezbollah, said the killing of the deputy leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in an Israeli attack in Beirut was "a big and dangerous crime that we cannot ignore".

In a televised address, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah offered condolences to Hamas for what he called "flagrant Israeli aggression" on Tuesday night that killed Saleh al-Arouri.

Tuesday's attack took place in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, which analysts said could also be a message from Israel to Hezbollah that its main stronghold there is within reach.

This was the first attack to hit Beirut, after nearly three months of daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah in the Lebanon-Israel border region.

Hezbollah is known to have launched rockets across the border on October 8 to support Hamas, which carried out an attack on southern Israel the day before, triggering the armed conflict in the Gaza Strip to this day.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah's "swift" action on October 8 and cross-border shelling since then, had prevented a wider bombing campaign by Israel in Lebanon, showing Israel's ability to prevent such attacks "has collapsed".

He vowed "there will be no limits" and "no rules" in his group's struggle, if Israel chooses to launch war on Lebanon.

"Whoever thinks of going to war with us, in short, he will regret it," said Nasrallah, as reported by Reuters, January 4.

More than 120 Hezbollah fighters were killed in Israeli bombardment, along with nearly two dozen civilians. On the other hand, at least nine Israeli soldiers were also killed in the firefight.

It is known that Arouri himself was credited with rebuilding Hamas' ties with Hezbollah, after the group supported opposing parties in the war that erupted in Syria in 2011.

Arouri, 57, who lived in Beirut, was the first senior Hamas political leader to be killed outside the Palestinian territories, since Israel began its offensive against Hamas.

Separately, Israel's military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, when asked what Israel was doing to prepare for a potential Hezbollah response said: "I will not respond to what you just mentioned. We are focused on the fight against Hamas."