Here’s how Hezbollah will likely respond to Israel’s assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri
Since Hezbollah’s guns began their unprovoked fire against Israel on October 8, 2023, Lebanon has found itself an unwitting battlefield in the war between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Palestinian terrorist factions. Lebanon, whose territory is both the headquarters of Hezbollah—Iran’s most powerful extension and vanguard of its regional expansionism—and hub of coordination and planning for the Resistance Axis’ anti-Israel operations, couldn’t have expected total immunity. On January 2, Israel eliminated senior Hamas official Saleh Al-Arouri—one of the lynchpins of this coordination effort—in a precision strike in the heart of Hezbollah-controlled south Beirut. The strike also killed two other commanders in Hamas’ Izzeldine Al-Qassam Brigades, Azzam Al-Aqra and Samir Fundi, and four other Hamas fighters. This attack will pin Hezbollah between its obligations to the Resistance Axis and its need to navigate Lebanese political and social dynamics; the latter of which it is also a full participant in.