CAIRO – 3 January 2024: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed his planned trip to Israel by several days, pushing the date up from his scheduled arrival on Thursday, said Israeli press reports.
The postponement came hours after the assassination of the deputy head of the political bureau of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in a drone attack in the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
Reports said that Saleh al-Arouri was killed as a result of an explosion in a building in al-Musharrafieh district in southern Beirut.
In retaliation, Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles in northern Israel, according to Israeli media.
“We affirm that this crime will never pass without response and punishment,” the Lebanese group has said in a statement, claiming its fighters are at heightened readiness in order to retaliate.
The group described the Israeli strike “a serious assault on Lebanon, its people, its security and its sovereignty… and a dangerous development in the course of the war between the enemy and the axis of resistance.”
Israeli media reports said the Israeli army is on high alert following the assassination of Arouri, adding the Israeli army is ready to respond to any Hezbollah retaliation.
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