Israel's army says it is prepared for any scenario after the assassination of the deputy leader of Hamas in a strike in Beirut – a killing which has stoked fear of an escalation of the war in Gaza.
While Israel has not claimed responsibility for the drone attack that killed Saleh al-Arouri it called it a "surgical strike against the Hamas leadership". The assassination is a further sign that the nearly three-month war between Israel and Hamas is spreading across the region, drawing in the occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanon-Israel border, and even Red Sea shipping lanes with container ships between targeting by the Yemen-based Houthis.
