Israel’s long-standing practice of targeting Palestinian leaders in Lebanon has once again come to the forefront with a recent drone strike in the southern Beirut neighborhood of Dahiyeh. The strike resulted in the deaths of several Hamas leaders, including Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy leader of the group’s political wing and founder of the military wing, Qassam Brigades. This move represents a significant escalation in Israel’s ongoing conflict with Gaza, which has already claimed the lives of over 22,000 people. While Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the killings, it is widely believed that Tel Aviv ordered the assassination.
The assassination of al-Arouri is not an isolated incident but rather part of a long history of attempted and successful political assassinations carried out by Israel in Lebanon. Lebanon has historically been a stronghold for Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas. However, al-Arouri’s death comes after an 18-year pause in such targeted assassinations.
One of the earliest targets of Israel’s assassinations in Lebanon was Ghassan Kanafani, a prominent Palestinian author and poet, who was killed in 1972 in Beirut along with his niece. Kanafani, a spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was assassinated shortly after the Lod Airport mass shooting, which had claimed the lives of 26 people. Israel claimed Kanafani’s killing was in response to this attack, but evidence suggests the assassination had been planned prior to the incident.
Another notable assassination attempt took place in 1972 when Bassam Abu Sharif, the spokesperson for the PFLP after Kanafani’s murder, was targeted with a parcel bomb in Beirut. Although he survived the attempt, Abu Sharif suffered severe injuries, including partial loss of sight, hearing, and four fingers.
In 1972, following the kidnapping and subsequent killing of 11 Israeli athletes by Black September at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Israel launched Operation Spring of Youth. This operation aimed to target the masterminds of the kidnapping and resulted in the deaths of three top PLO officials. Israeli special forces, including future prime minister Ehud Barak, raided PLO officials’ homes in Beirut and Sidon, killing Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar, Kamal Nasser, and Kamal Adwan.
Israel made several attempts to assassinate PLO leader Yasser Arafat, including a failed bombing on a building where Arafat and other PLO members were meeting in Beirut in 1973. Numerous plots to shoot down commercial planes carrying Arafat were also foiled due to concerns about civilian casualties. The attempts to eliminate Arafat continued for years, but in 2001, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to halt the assassination attempts.
In 1979, Mossad agents successfully executed a plot to assassinate Ali Hassan Salameh, a top PLO member believed to be behind the Munich kidnappings. Salameh was killed when his car passed by a remotely detonated, mined Volkswagen.
Further instances of targeted assassinations include an Israeli raid on Palestinian bases in southern Lebanon in 1988, which targeted Ahmad Jibril, the secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC). Although several Palestinian operatives were killed, it was later revealed that Jibril was not present at the location.
In 2006, Mahmoud al-Majzoub, a senior leader of the armed Palestinian group Islamic Jihad and a close Hezbollah ally, was assassinated in Sidon through a car bomb. Israel denied responsibility, but both Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah held Tel Aviv accountable for the attack.
The most recent drone strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh resulted in the death of Saleh al-Arouri and several other high-ranking Hamas military commanders. While Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati referred to it as an “Israeli crime,” and Hezbollah has promised retaliation.
These targeted assassinations highlight the ongoing tensions between Israel and Palestinian factions in Lebanon. As the conflict continues, the international community will closely monitor the situation, hoping for a peaceful resolution that respects the rights and lives of all involved parties.
