US: We have no reason to believe Israel assassinated Arouri

He spoke after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah blamed Israel for killing Arouri in a drone attack.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

JANUARY 3, 2024 21:36

Updated: JANUARY 3, 2024 22:40

People enter the State Department Building in Washington, U.S., January 26, 2017.
(photo credit: REUTERS/JOSHUA ROBERTS)

The United States does not have any reason to believe that Israel assassinated Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Wednesday.

“The US was not involved in any way, and any suggestion to the contrary is ridiculous,” he told reporters in Washington. “We have no reason to believe that Israel was involved in this explosion.”

“We have no information to suggest that they were,” Miller said, adding that US and Israeli officials speak multiple times a day.

He spoke after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Israel had killed Arouri in a drone attack.

The US had not received information about a potential strike, Miller said.

Arouri’s assassination comes amid a continued push by the US, France, and others in the international community to prevent an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters through a screen during a ceremony to mark the fourth anniversary of the killing of senior Iranian military commander General Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. attack, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon January 3, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMED AZAKIR)

US: Escalation is in no one’s interest

The US has sent messages to allies, and even those with whom it does not have direct relations, saying that “it is in no one’s interest, not in the interest of any country in the region and the world, to see this conflict escalate any further than it already is,” Miller said. Advertisement

The US has taken “deterrent steps and diplomatic steps” to deliver that message, he said.

“It is not in Hezbollah’s interest, just as it is not in Israel’s interest to escalate this conflict in any way,” Miller said.

As part of its efforts to contain the conflict on Israel’s northern border, US special envoy Amos Hochstein is expected to visit Israel, possibly as early as Thursday.

Hezbollah and Hamas, however, have blamed Israel for the assassination, which could complicate efforts by Egypt and Qatar to mediate a hostage deal.

On Wednesday, Mossad Director David Barnea said he was committed to “settling the score” with Hamas.

“Let every Arab mother know that if her son took part, directly or indirectly, in the October 7 massacre, his blood is forfeit,” he said.

Ashraf Abouelhoul, managing editor of Egypt’s Al-Ahram daily and an expert in Palestinian affairs, said Arouri’s killing “may push Hamas to harden its stance so it doesn’t look as if it is bowing under pressures or threats of more assassination.”

On Tuesday, Riyadh-based Al-Arabiya news channel said Hamas had broken off talks in response to the assassination.

An Israeli official on Wednesday said as long as Qatar has not announced that talks over the release of hostages held in Gaza have broken off, then optimism was possible.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, even though it has sworn that all Hamas leaders are “dead men” and that it plans to assassinate them, the official told reporters.

Miller said the US would “continue to engage in quiet conversations behind closed doors to try and achieve the release of hostages.”

“Hamas knows the terms that are on the table,” he said.

Hamas and other armed terrorists seized some 250 hostages during the October 7 massacre. Since then, 110 have been released, and the bodies of 11 have been returned to Israel. An estimated 129 hostages remain in Gaza, including six who hold American citizenship.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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