A top Hamas military official, who founded their military wing, was just killed in an explosion in southern Beirut, Lebanon. The explosion was likely an assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, but that has not been confirmed.

Yashar Ali reports:

Islamic Republic state media is confirming that senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an explosion in Beirut tonight.

This is a significant development. Israeli intelligence has been trying to kill al-Arouri for years and the United States has had a 5 million dollar bounty on him.

Al-Arouri is a deputy political leader for Hamas and one of the founders of al-Qassam Brigades, the so-called military wing of Hamas.

The United States has listed al-Arouri as a designated global terrorist since 2015.

In 2014, al-Arouri was the Hamas leader who announced that three Israeli teenagers (including a dual US national) were kidnapped and killed in the West Bank. He referred to the murders as “heroic.”

Another report from JPost’s editor-in-chief:

 
This is the aftermath of the explosion:

 
[UPDATE: HAMAS CONFIRMS]