Attack in Iran claimed by the Islamic State, Israeli operation in the West Bank… the facts of the day in the Middle East

Des centaines de sympathisants du Hamas ont assisté aux obsèques de Saleh al-Arouri à Beyrouth. dpa – Marwan Naamani

La Situation reste calme au Liban, où le numéro 2 du Hamas Saleh al-Arouri, abattu lundi, a été inhumé ce jeudi 4 janvier. Israël poursuit ses raids à Gaza et a arrêté des terroristes présumés en Cisjordanie.

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility on Thursday via Telegram messaging for the two explosions that killed nearly 100 people in southeastern Iran during a ceremony in tribute to the late leader of an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guards, Qassem Soleimani, killed in an American strike in Iraq on January 3, 2020. Iranian leaders had accused the Israeli army of ;be at the origin of this attack.

However, the international community still fears that the conflict will worsen beyond Gaza, in the occupied West Bank, on the Israeli-Lebanese border and in the Red Sea. Fears heightened after the death on Tuesday of Palestinian Hamas number two, Saleh al-Arouri, killed in an Israeli drone attack in the town of Daniyeh, on the southern outskirts of Beirut, the Lebanese capital. More than a thousand people attended his funeral in Beirut on Thursday.

"Israel will never be able to push Hamas to give up"

"The enemy thinks that with the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, he can overcome the resistance but he has failed, and he will never be able to push the Hamas to abandon its demands, its vision,” assured, in a recorded speech, the political leader of Hamas, Ismaïl Haniyeh, based in Qatar.

Asked how Israel was preparing for a possible response from Hezbollah, Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari simply replied: "We are concentrating on the fight against Hamas.

Hezbollah remains calm in Lebanon

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said while meeting with US envoy Amos Hochstein that a ’new reality in the region border between Lebanon and Israel was necessary to allow Israelis who evacuated the northern areas to return home.

Since the start of the Gaza war, Hezbollah has been involved in almost daily exchanges of shell fire with Israel on Lebanon's southern border. However, U.S. officials said they saw no signs that Hezbollah was about to intensify its actions.

Hundreds of Palestinians arrested in the West Bank

On Thursday, Israel, however, continued its strikes on Gaza. A raid on Khan Younes, a coastal town, left 14 dead, including nine children according to Hamas.

The IDF also announced that it had carried out a search operation in the Nour al Shams refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank, and had arrested hundreds of people suspected of being linked to Palestinian armed groups .