The death of Saleh Al-Arouri, a leading Hamas financier and military leader on January 2, 2024, resulted in threats of retribution against Israel by Hamas, Hezbollah and other regional proxies of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Similar to the killing of Qassim Soleimani, the head of Quds Force, in 2020 in Baghdad, and the killing of Seyed Razi Mousavi, a senior adviser of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps – Quds Force (IRGC-QF), in 2022 in Syria, Al-Arouri's death led to vitriol and incitement against the Jewish state.
Al-Arouri was both a driver of Hamas’ growing capabilities and ambitions as an armed group and a key broker of its deepening alliance with Tehran’s network of regional terrorist proxies.
The strength of the reaction to Al-Arouri’s death is a testament to his importance to the so-called “axis of resistance” – a network of Tehran-backed Islamist terror groups in Gaza and the West Bank, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen, which have united under Iranian regime support with the common aim of destroying Israel and striking Jewish targets.
In a speech on January 3, General Esmail Qaani, IRGC Qods Force commander, mentioned the killing of Arouri along with that of the IRGC commander in Syria, Sayyed Razi Moussavi, stating that it “show[s] the extent of the enemy's desperation.” He continued that despite Arouri’s death, the “Islamic Republic [of Iran] will not give up on the methodology of uprooting the Zionist regime.”
Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani also threatened the United States over Arouri’s death, stating that "The consequences of this terror will be felt by [the US]."
Blaming Al-Arouri’s death on Israel, Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, called the killing a “cowardly” and “barbaric aggression” as well as “an atrocious crime” by “the Zionist enemy.” Haniyeh went on to threaten that “the Nazi Zionist occupation bears the responsibility for its consequences.” Referring to the fact that Al-Arouri died in Lebanon, Haniyeh called the killing a “complete terrorist act and a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.”
Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, called Al-Arouri a “friend and confidant,” and threatened that Al-Arouri’s death would “not go unpunished.” Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iranian regime proxy in Iraq, called the killing a “gutless treacherous action.” The Houthis of Yemen, another Iranian regime proxy, promised that the killing would strengthen their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
A Life Committed to Terrorist Violence Against Jews and Israel
Al-Arouri’s talents in terrorist financing and acquiring weapons played a key role in developing Hamas’ armed wing, the Izzedin Qassam Brigades. He was also responsible for financing and organizing terrorist cells in the West Bank, which, under his supervision, began to specialize in kidnapping Israelis. Among the most notorious of these was the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in 2014. Al-Arouri was later filmed admitting and celebrating Hamas’ responsibility for the murders.
In 2009, while outwardly claiming to accept US efforts towards a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israel conflict, Hamas began internally promoting some of its most militant and violent members to its leadership council. Among them was Saleh Al-Arouri.
Under the threat of arrest, Al-Arouri left the West Bank for Syria in 2010, where he organized the transfer of funds to the families of Hamas terrorists.
Later, while living openly in Turkey, Al-Arouri oversaw Hamas’ expansion and activities in the West Bank. Since Turkey does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization, Al-Arouri used his time there to transfer funds and weapons to Hamas cells in Jordan and the West Bank, including the Qassam Brigades. This was an essential boon for Hamas at the time, since other international sources of finance – for example from networks in the United States – had become restricted by increasing law enforcement clampdowns.
Following reconciliation talks between Turkey and Israel, as well as US pressure, Al-Arouri was expelled from Turkey in 2015 and moved to Qatar. The same year, he was named by the US Treasury as a Specially Designated International Terrorist for his role in financing and directing Hamas terror cells in the West Bank and Jordan, and facilitating the transfer of funds to Hamas more widely, including the Qassam Brigades.
During the Gulf diplomatic crisis of 2017 in which Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain accused Qatar of harboring and supporting Islamist terrorists, Al-Arouri was expelled from Qatar and settled in the Dahiya neighborhood of Beirut – a Hezbollah stronghold.
From his new base in Lebanon, Al-Arouri continued his rise within Hamas, being promoted in 2017 to deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau. In this new role, Arouri helped Hamas to develop increasingly close political ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hezbollah, which had become strained due to Hamas’ refusal to support the Syrian regime against Sunni Islamist groups in the country’s civil war.
In October 2017, Al-Arouri headed a Hamas delegation to Tehran, during which he acknowledged that the Islamic Republic of Iran was Hamas’ primary supporter “in all areas” and that he hoped this support would continue “until the defeat of the occupation” (i.e. the destruction of Israel). In November, 2017, he met with Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, to discuss the IDF’s recent destruction of a Hamas tunnel.
As well as working to embed Hamas more deeply within the Islamic Republic’s “axis of resistance” proxy network, Al-Arouri (who had previously plotted to overthrow Fatah in the West Bank) was also involved in talks brokered by Egypt to reconcile Hamas and Fatah. However, the head of the Shin Bet warned that this was simply the precursor for Hamas to mount another overthrow attempt. Despite this, and his exile in Lebanon, Al-Arouri continued to serve as leader of Hamas in the West Bank, where he maintained his role in financing, encouraging and overseeing terror attacks.
In the leadup to October 7, Al-Arouri made statements which make it clear that his ambition was to escalate Hamas’ conflict with Israel significantly, with the aim of destabilizing Israeli society as a whole. In an interview with a Lebanese TV channel in August 2023, he said that Hamas wants “total war with Israel,” stressing that Hamas would use “unconventional warfare” in a war that he anticipated would shut down Israel’s “airspace, seaports, electricity, water supply, and communications.”
His death not only weakened Hamas, but was a major setback for the network of Tehran-backed terrorist groups that includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, Kata’ib Hezbollah in Iraq, and the Houthis of Yemen.