Axis of Resistance organizations react to assassination of Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri

Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri, deputy head of the Political Bureau of Hamas and founder of the Martyr Izz El-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, was assassinated in Beirut, Lebanon, Jan. 2 in an Israeli drone strike that killed seven other Hamas members and civilians. Below are statements from the axis of resistance groups condemning the assassination published on Resistance News Network and X (formerly Twitter) on Jan. 2, 2023.

Izzat Al-Rishq, member of the Political Bureau of Hamas Movement:

The cowardly assassination operations carried out by the Zionist occupation against the leaders and symbols of our Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine, will not succeed in breaking the will and resilience of our people, or in undermining the continuity of its valiant resistance. 

They prove once again the utter failure of this enemy in achieving any of its aggressive objectives in the Gaza Strip.

Media Office of Popular Resistance Committees in Palestine:

We mourn the martyr, the great national leader, Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri, who rose in a cowardly Zionist assassination in the southern suburb of Beirut. We affirm that this cowardly operation and the martyrdom of Sheikh Saleh will not break the will of our people, but rather will increase their revolutionary action and valiant resistance. It will be fire and a curse on the Zionist enemy.

The Zionist enemy and its criminal leaders will pay the price for their fascism and all their crimes against our people, including the assassination of Commander Saleh Al-Arouri.

International Relations Officer at the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Dr. Maher Al-Taher via Al-Mayadeen Channel:

The ascension of the great leader Saleh Al-Arouri is a crime that will not go unpunished. The valiant Palestinian resistance will respond to this crime with all force. The leaders of this great people sacrifice their lives for Palestine.

We extend our congratulations and blessings to the Hamas movement and all the resistance factions, and we affirm at this painful moment that we will continue our struggle until the occupation is defeated.

This enemy will know that he made a mistake for which he will pay dearly. We say to all the free people of the world that the Palestinian people will not relent, will not retreat, and will continue to resist until their entire land is liberated.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades –– Military wing of the Fatah movement:

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades mourn with great pride and honor the martyr and national leader Saleh Al-Arouri. We in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades affirm that the assassination of leaders will not deter us from our national duty to defend our people and only increases our determination to resist and fight for liberation.

We promise the enemy a response to all their crimes against our people.

Hezbollah in Lebanon:

We consider the crime of assassinating Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri and his fellow martyrs in the heart of the southern suburb of Beirut to be a serious assault on Lebanon, its people, its security, sovereignty, and resistance, and the highly symbolic and significant political and security messages it contains, and a dangerous development in the course of the war between the enemy and the axis of resistance.

And we in Hezbollah affirm that this crime will never pass without response and punishment, and that our resistance to its pledge is steadfast, proud, and faithful to its principles and commitments that it has made to itself. Its hand is on the trigger, and its resistors are in the highest levels of readiness and preparedness, and this is a memorable day for what follows. For days, great patience and beautiful patience, and victory is very near.

Mujahideen Movement Deputy Secretary-General Dr. Salem Atallah:

With all pride and honor, we mourn the martyrdom of the great fighter and leader Saleh Al-Arouri and his fellow martyrs.

We affirm that the policy of assassinations will only increase our resolve and commitment to our path until the sweeping away of the occupation from all of Palestine. The enemy will pay a heavy price for this cowardly crime and all the crimes committed against our people.

National Resistance Brigades (Martyr Omar Al-Qasim Forces):

We mourn the martyrdom of the great national leader, Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri, who ascended due to a cowardly Zionist assassination operation in the southern suburbs [Dahye] of Beirut.

We affirm that this cowardly operation and the martyrdom of Sheikh Saleh will not break the will of our people, but rather will increase their revolutionary action and their valiant resistance, and will be a fire and curse upon the Zionist enemy.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad:

The Islamic Jihad Movement mourns Commander Al-Arouri and affirms the continuation of resistance.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement mourns the great national leader, Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri, and his martyred brothers, following a cowardly and treacherous assassination operation carried out by the “Israeli” enemy in the southern suburbs of Beirut [Dahye] this evening.

The assassination of the martyr leader Al-Arouri and his companions is an attempt by the “Israeli” enemy to expand the scope of confrontation and drag the entire region into war to escape from their military field failure in the Gaza Strip and the political impasse faced by the government of the “Israeli” entity, following their failure after 90 days of barbaric war and genocide to impose their conditions on our people. Rather, the forces of resistance had the upper hand both politically and militarily.

As we exalt the martyrdom of leader Al-Arouri and his brothers to our Palestinian people and to our Arab and Islamic nation, we affirm that this crime will not go unpunished, and that the resistance will continue until the occupation is defeated.

Indeed, it is a jihad of victory or martyrdom.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – Youth of Revenge and Liberation – Balata Camp:

The soldiers of the Youth of Revenge and Liberation, in response to the assassination of commander Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri, rained on the invading occupation forces invading the city with barrages of intense gunfire, reaffirming the unity of Palestinian blood and that we are in the same trenches.

Let the occupier know that there is no difference between our people, and that all our rifles will be aimed at you wherever you are.

Ansarallah spokesman, Mohammad Abdul Salam, in Yemen:

We extend our condolences to the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas on the martyrdom of Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri, following the cowardly “Israeli” assassination that targeted him in Al-Dahye, southern Beirut.

We strongly condemn the assassination, which constitutes a treacherous aggression against Lebanon, and we affirm our support for the resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon.

Palestinian Mujahideen Movement: 

Following the path of the righteous martyrs and continuing the path of jihad and resistance, we mourn with all the meanings of jihadist glory, dignity, and defiance, the martyrdom of the great leader Saleh al-Arouri and his companions from the leaders of Al-Qassam, who were martyred in a treacherous Zionist assassination operation in Beirut.

Today, we bid farewell to leader Al-Arouri and his companions, joining the ranks of the martyrs of the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood on the path to Al-Quds and liberation. They join the martyred leaders Yassin, [Fathi] Shaqaqi, [Bassem] Abu Sharia, Abu Ammar [Yasser Arafat], Abu Ali Mustafa, and all the martyrs of our people who illuminated with their pure blood the path of victory, liberation, and salvation.

As we in the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement bid farewell to the martyred leaders today, we affirm the following:

• The cowardly Zionist assassination operations will only increase our determination and insistence on continuing the path of resistance and the path of thorns until the occupation is swept from every inch of our land. It will only strengthen our adherence to our right to all of Palestine, no matter how great the challenges.

• The defeated Zionist enemy and its extremist fascist government will pay a heavy price for this folly and new crime, as well as for all the crimes against our steadfast people.

• We affirm that we will continue our jihad and resistance, no matter how great the challenges and sacrifices, until we achieve our people’s goals of victory and liberation, with Allah’s help.

Joint statement by Palestinian prisoner institutions:

Prisoners’ institutions, in the name of all prisoners in the occupation’s prisons and those who have been released, mourn the national leader and martyr Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri and his companions who were martyred alongside him.

The prisoner institutions (Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs’ Commission, Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, and The Supreme National Committee of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs), and the national prisoner movement in the occupation prisons, and the freed prisoners in the homeland and diaspora, mourn to our great people, the fighter, national leader, freed prisoner, and exiled, Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri, who ascended today after an assassination operation along with a group of his companions, carried out by the “Israeli” occupation against him in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

The institutions said in a statement: Today we mourn a leader, a national fighter, and a freed prisoner, who devoted his life for the freedom of his land and people until the last moment of his life. He spent a total of about 18 years in “Israeli” occupation prisons, with his last arrest being in 2007, and he was released in 2010, where the occupation court decided to release him and expel him out of Palestine, deporting him to Syria.

Mercy for the martyrs of Palestine and freedom for the prisoners.

Kata’ib Hezbollah (Iraq):

The Zionist enemy, supported by the United States, continues its cowardly treacherous operations against the fighters of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance.

After its military failure in facing the steadfast fighters of Gaza, it commits another assassination crime by targeting Saleh Al-Arouri, and a number of his companions, as well as civilians in Beirut.

The criminality of the Zionist entity in dropping tons of bombs on civilians in Gaza and its audacity in targeting civilian sites in Lebanon represents a serious escalation. This is in addition to the Zionist aggressions in Syria and Iraq, which would not have occurred without the support of the U.S. administration, aiming to execute its nefarious schemes in the region.

At a time when Kata’ib Hezbollah renews their pledge to spare no effort in expelling the occupiers, they pray to Allah to join this group of martyrs with the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous, and that they find excellent company in them.

Statements were lightly edited.