Germany has issued a new travel advisory urging its citizens to leave Lebanon as quickly as possible following a drone strike that killed a senior Hamas leader in the capital city of Beirut.
“A further deterioration of the situation and expansion of the conflict cannot be ruled out, especially given the killing of Saleh al-Aruri,” warned the German foreign ministry on X.
Al-Aruri, considered the number two leader of the Hamas movement, was the founding commander of Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the terrorist organization’s military wing, and a deputy chairman of its political bureau. According to AFP, he was, more recently, the “channel or link” between Hamas, Iran, and the Iran-backed armed Lebanese group Hezbollah.
His assassination marks the first action done against a Hamas official outside of the Palestinian Territories. Early in December, Israel issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Lebanese Government and Military, urging them to commence negotiations on an agreement to return Hezbollah to positions stipulated by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.
In his first speech since al-Aruri’s assassination, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that the group is not afraid of war, but stopped short of declaring that the Lebanese group would escalate its attacks against Israel.
Germany first issued an advisory for its citizens to leave Lebanon in October, following Hamas’s attack in Israel. Other countries, including the United Kingdom, have issued similar warnings. On January 3, Canada advised citizens to avoid all travel to Lebanon.
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