Jerusalem-based Russian-language TV9 Israeli News, on January 3, 2024, carried an article on its internet site by journalist and editor, Inna Levitskaya, which had originally appeared in the French newspaper Parisian. The article concerned a telephone call French President Emmanuel Macron made to Israeli authorities after an Israeli Defense Forces strike that eliminated the deputy chairman of HAMAS’s politburo, Saleh al-Arouri, in Beirut, Lebanon.

Levitskaya’s recapturing of the Parisian article follows [as translated from Russian by LOC]:

Last evening, after the elimination of the deputy chairman of the HAMAS politburo [an abbreviated form of ‘political bureau,’ a holdover from the days of the Soviet Union that is still in vogue] Saleh al-Arouri, in Beirut, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, called a member of the military cabinet of Benny Gantz and persistently expressed his concerns. The French newspaper, Parisian, writes about this.

In the course of the telephone conversation, Macron appealed to the Israeli authorities to avoid an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, “especially in Lebanon.”

France will be continuing to relay such messages to all parties who are directly or indirectly drawn into this conflict,” Macron was quoted as saying in the Elysee Palace.

[Previously,] the President of France also expressed the “deepest concern for the very large number of those who have perished among the civilian population and the absolute emergency humanitarian situation in the Gaza sector.”

“The President of France recalled the imperative for the protection of the civilian population, to which Israel must adhere. Emmanuel Macron, as usual, stressed the urgency of the delivery of necessary humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza, as well as the necessity to work on the ceasefire with regional and international partners,” writes the Parisian.

Previously, Macron called Jerusalem just before the New Year – at which time he had discussed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the current situation in the Gaza sector and on the border with Lebanon. In the course of the conversation, Macron again repeated the request for a long-term ceasefire and expressed his “extremely deep concern” related to the “very large number of those who have perished among the civilian population and the absolute emergency humanitarian situation,” in which the civilian population of the enclave finds itself.

We will recall that last evening, after the elimination of al-Arouri, the Palestinian Arabs declared a strike [i.e., a work stoppage – LOC], U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, postponed a visit to Israel, and HAMAS put a pause on negotiations.

Channel 9 editor, Stanislav Okunevich, had in fact reported the January 2, 2024, hit on al-Arouri, as follows:

Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy chairman of the HAMAS politburo, [the chairman of which is] Ismail Haniyeh, and head of the Lebanese branch of this Islamist terrorist group, has been liquidated in Beirut with a missile strike from the air.

According to reports from Lebanon, the strike was delivered from a drone by three missiles on the HAMAS office building in the Beirut southern suburb, Dahiyeh. Four persons died from the explosions, among whom was al-Arouri.

Officials in Israel are not commenting concerning the airstrike on Beirut. The Prime Minister had given a directive for members of the government not to be interviewed on the subject. Privately in the government those pleased with the successful military action note that “At long last a quality liquidation has been conducted,” in the sense that revenge has touched one of the ideological ringleaders of the Islamists, and not rank-and-file militants and field commanders.

The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, made an angry statement, accusing Israel of a “crime, instigated to drag Lebanon into a new stage of conflict, after daily strikes on the southern region.”

Reports also appeared that the ringleader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, after this liquidation, postponed a public appearance that was scheduled for this evening.