Top Hamas Official With Close Ties To Iran Eliminated In Beirut
An air strike in Beirut on Tuesday killed Saleh Arouri, a top Hamas official and three others, officials with Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah said.
An air strike in Beirut on Tuesday killed Saleh Arouri, a top Hamas official and three others, officials with Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah said.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the blast killed four people and was carried out by an Israeli drone. Israeli officials declined to comment.
Arouri is said to have had close ties to the Iranian regime and met Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other top officials on several occasions.
If Israel is behind the attack, it could mark a major escalation in the Middle East conflict. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had earlier vowed to retaliate against any Israeli targeting of Palestinian officials in Lebanon.
Hamas official Bassem Naim confirmed to The Associated Press that Arouri was killed in the blast. A Hezbollah official speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations also said Arouri was killed.
Arouri, one of the founders of Hamas' military wing, had headed the group's presence in the West Bank. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before the Hamas-Israel war began on October 7.
The explosion shook Musharafieh, one of the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs, which are a stronghold of the militant Hezbollah group, an ally of Hamas. The explosion caused fire in Hadi Nasrallah street south of Beirut.
The explosion came during more than two months of heavy exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and members of Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern border.
Since the hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah began on October 8, the fighting has been concentrated a few kilometers from the border but on several occasions Israel’s air force hit Hezbollah targets deeper in Lebanon.
Earlier in the day, Hezbollah said its fighters carried out several attacks along the Lebanon-Israel border targeting Israeli military posts.
(With reporting by The Associated Press)
On December 31, Khamenei was meeting with the family of former IRGC operative Qasem Soleimani, when he suddenly claimed that more than 20 years ago, he was in the company of a group of Revolutionary Guard officers when he started conveying an inspirational message to them.
"The Almighty God was speaking! In fact, it was my tongue, but it was God's words; it was a very extraordinary session,” Khamenei claimed, and added, “It had a significant impact.”
In Islamic theology, Khamenei's assertion that God spoke through him can be considered blasphemous. According to religious teachings, God communicated exclusively with Prophet Mohammed, as emphasized by some Iranian critics in the past two days. In Shiite oral traditions, there is no mention of any occasion where God spoke to Imam Ali, the revered figure in the faith, or to any other saint.
A well-known Iranian literary critic in exile and political commentator, Faraj Sarkouhi wrote on X, "Megalomania, self-centeredness, self-deification, claiming to be a prophet or the voice of God, a sense of exceptional wisdom, and extreme narcissism are considered characteristics of despots at the end of their reigns. Despots gradually fall into the trap of power, oblivious to the fragility of authoritarian power."
Some social media users also considered Khamenei's statements blasphemous and in contradiction with Islamic teachings. An Iranian social media user commented that “According to the Islamic Penal Code, which is used to suppress anti-government dissent, Khamenei's statements are punishable.”
Another individual wrote on X that "If an ordinary person had uttered the same statement, they would have been executed on charges of blasphemy, insulting sanctities, insulting the Supreme Leader, blasphemy against the Imams, and more."
Iranian experts generally agree that after being selected as Supreme Leader in 1989, Khamenei kept a much lower profile for many years, appearing relatively rational and reasonable in domestic politics. However, as years progressed and he replaced top military and intelligence personnel, he became more authoritarian and even senior ayatollahs began showing reverence to him. He subdued influential figures of the revolutionary years and made Shiite seminaries subservient to him. Another social media user questioned the silence of senior ayatollahs in the face of Khamenei’s unprecedented statement.
With his growing authoritarianism and his regime’s readiness to kill thousands of protesters in the streets and in prisons, Khamenei’s legitimacy has seriously suffered since 2009.
During protests since 2019, he has been the target of angry chants and derogatory insults. People routinely call him a dictator and blame him for the ever-worsening economy and living conditions.
So far, the reaction of officials to the scandal has been limited. Tasnim news website, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, published a rebuttal on Tuesday. An official from Imam Khomeini’s foundation wrote in Tasnim that attacks against Khamenei are orchestrated by foreign-based Persian-language media networks. This refers to Iran International, BBC and Voice of America Persian services, Manoto TV based in London and others.
At the same time, Mehdi Fazaeli, a member of the office for the preservation and dissemination of Khamenei's works and one of his close associates, on January 1st, dismissed reports about the illness of the Supreme Leader, labeling it as "psychological operations by the enemies."
Mohsen Armin, the front's vice chairman has quoted the results of an opinion poll conducted by ISPA of the government-owned Iranian Students New Agency (ISNA) and said 48 percent of Iranians support reforms and another 45 percent want far-reaching changes. In the context of Islamic Republic's political jargon, the latter group are possibly those who want a regime change.
Armin, speaking at a conference in Esfahan entitled "Iran, Reformists, and National Interests," stated that reforms in Iran are currently in a state of isolation. He elaborated that "The country is so disorganized that other political groups are also confused and do not know a way out of the current political impasse."
He said, "our mistake during the 1979 Islamic revolution was that we thought the Shah was the problem. But the real problem was the despotic regime. We thought that by replacing the Shah the problem will be solved. That is how we lost a precious opportunity to improve the political situation in Iran."
Armin emphasized that there has been a misconception in Iran that combating Western civilization is a prerequisite for Islamizing society. This belief has given rise to notions such as the imminent downfall of Western civilization, a stance that aligns with creating an Islamic society. Support for Russia in the Ukraine conflict and reluctance to finalize nuclear agreements with the West are byproducts of this ideology. Consequently, policies like the resistance economy and opposition to maintaining ties with advanced Western nations have emerged to promote Iran's development.
"Nonetheless, when survival becomes the regime's main objective, even ideology ceases to be a priority," Armin said, adding that the strategy of survival calls for barring all those who object to these policies by any form of political activity. He further said that the strategy of survival has led to the emergence of a system that is incapable of solving the country's problems and preventing systematic corruption. He also pointed out that the regime has failed to convince the public about its strategy while it also refuses to listen to reformist ideas that might help it.
Elsewhere, but along the same line, Iranian academic Bijan Abdolkarimi has warned that the underprivileged people in Iran are facing a death and life issue. He said in an interview with Etemad Online that there is a possibility for social upheavals in Iran. He explained that the middle class in Iran has been experiencing a process of decline and many middle-class citizens are now considered low-income as their purchasing power has shrunk.
Iran has been experiencing an annual inflation rate of at least 40 percent in the past three years, and the national currency has lost its value 12-fold since 2018.
Abdolkarimi pointed out that while the middle class has been losing its dreams and sees no bright prospect ahead, family members of some regime officials, who talk about confrontation with the United States, live in America. The latter group do not really believe in the revolutionary narrative but hypocritically defend the revolutionary "values," the academic added.
He pointed out that Iranians are not interested in taking part in the upcoming parliamentary elections because they believe their participation cannot change the country's situation. At the same time, a force from within the government has been exerting pressures on the regime to follow a strategy of political purification that is intended to lead to the creation an all-conservative ruling system.
He said the Islamic revolution has not been able to offer welfare to nation during the past four decades and it is not likely to find that capability anytime soon.
Meanwhile, former President Hassan Rouhani has said in a meeting with his former aides and cabinet minister that the country's only way out of the current political impasse is to start reforms. Rouhani further claimed that the people will take part in the election if they feel that it can make a difference.
Many political figures in Iran, who are considered regime insiders, including former reformist President Mohammad Khatami have said that it appears the Iranian regime can no longer be reformed.
