BEIRUT — Hamas' top political leader was killed in a dawn airstrike within the Iranian capital on Wednesday, Iran and the militant group said, blaming Israel for the surprise killing that threatened to escalate right into a full-scale regional war. Iran's supreme leader vowed revenge on Israel.
The assassination was potentially explosive due to its goal, timing and the choice to hold it out in Tehran amid the region's volatile, intertwined conflicts. Most dangerous was the potential to push Iran and Israel into direct confrontation if Iran retaliated. The United States and other countries sought to stop a bigger, deadlier conflict.
In a press release on his official website, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said revenge was “our duty” and that Israel had “prepared itself a harsh punishment” by killing “a valued guest in our house.”
Israel and Iran are bitter regional rivals who went into war earlier this 12 months when Israel attacked the Iranian embassy in Damascus in April. Iran retaliated and Israel countered with an unprecedented exchange of blows on one another's territory. But international efforts managed to stop the vicious cycle before it spiraled uncontrolled.
Haniya's murder could also prompt Hamas to withdraw from negotiations on a ceasefire and the discharge of hostages within the ten-month Gaza war, which US mediators say are making progress.
And it could further fuel already growing tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which international diplomats have been attempting to bring under control after a rocket attack over the weekend killed 12 young people within the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Israel conducted a Rare strike on Tuesday evening within the Lebanese capital It said a senior Hezbollah commander allegedly behind the rocket attack had been killed. Hezbollah, which denied any involvement within the Golan attack, said on Wednesday it was trying to find the body of Fouad Shukur within the rubble of the constructing hit in a Beirut suburb. The Lebanese Health Ministry said three women and two children were killed within the attack.
There was no immediate response from the White House to Haniyeh's death. A key query was whether Israel had informed the United States, its most significant ally, prematurely.
Asked about Haniyeh's killing, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “This is something we were not aware of and were not involved in.” Speaking to Channel News Asia, Blinken said he didn’t want to take a position on the impact on ceasefire efforts. “But I can tell you that the need for a ceasefire and the importance that this has for everyone remains.”
A senior Hamas official, Khalil al-Hayya, told Iranian journalists that whoever succeeds Haniyeh will pursue “the same vision” regarding negotiations to finish the war – and proceed the identical policy of resistance against Israel.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he still had hope for a diplomatic solution on the Israeli-Lebanese border. “I don't think war is inevitable,” he said. “I think there is always room and opportunity for diplomacy, and I would like to see the parties take advantage of those opportunities.”
But international diplomats attempting to defuse tensions are alarmed. One Western diplomat, whose country is striving to stop an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, said the attacks in Beirut and Tehran had “almost destroyed” hopes of a ceasefire in Gaza and will plunge the Middle East right into a “devastating regional war.” The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to debate the fragile situation.
Spokesmen for the Israeli military and government declined to comment. Israel often doesn’t comment on assassinations by its Mossad intelligence agency or attacks on other countries.
In a press release from his office, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel didn’t want war after the attack on the Hezbollah commander in Beirut, “but we are preparing for all possibilities.” He didn’t mention the killing of Haniyeh, and it was not mentioned in a U.S.-provided summary of his phone call with Austin.
Haniyeh's killing abroad got here after Israel had up to now did not kill the highest Hamas leadership within the Gaza Strip, which is taken into account the predominant person chargeable for planning the October 7 attack.
Haniyeh left Gaza in 2019 and lived in exile in Qatar. Israel has targeted Hamas figures in Lebanon and Syria in the course of the war, but pursuing Haniyeh in Iran was way more sensitive. Israel has been lively there up to now: It is suspected of conducting a years-long assassination campaign against Iranian nuclear scientists. In 2020, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a top Iranian military nuclear scientist, was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun while traveling in a automotive outside Tehran.
During Haniyeh's final hours in Iran, an in depth ally of Hamas, he smiled and clapped on the inauguration ceremony of recent President Masoud Pezeshkian. Associated Press photos showed him sitting next to leaders of the militant Palestinian Islamic Jihad group and Hezbollah, and Iranian media showed him and Pezeshkian embracing. Haniyeh had previously met with Khamenei.
Hours later, the attack hit a residence utilized by Haniyeh in Tehran, killing him, Hamas said. One of his bodyguards was killed, Iranian officials said. Hamas official Al-Hayya later said on Iranian state television that Haniyeh was killed by a rocket.
Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard warned that Israel would face a “harsh and painful response” from Iran and its allies within the region. An influential Iranian parliamentary committee for national security and foreign affairs was as a result of hold an emergency meeting on the attack on Wednesday.
Hamas' military wing said in a press release that Haniyeh's assassination “extends the fighting into a new dimension and will have serious repercussions for the entire region.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that Israel will proceed its devastating campaign in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, greater than 39,300 Palestinians have been killed and greater than 90,900 injured by Israel's bombings and offensives in Gaza. The figures don’t distinguish between civilians and fighters.
After months of shelling, Hamas has shown that its fighters can still operate in Gaza and fire rockets into Israel, but it surely is unclear whether it’s capable of step up its attacks in retaliation for Haniyeh's killing.
Rather, the impact could possibly be regional. In addition to direct retaliation against Israel, Iran could increase its attacks through its allies, including a coalition of Iranian-backed groups often known as the “Axis of Resistance.” These include Hezbollah, Hamas, mainly Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthi rebels who control large parts of Yemen.
In a show of support for Hamas, Hezbollah exchanges almost day by day fire with Israel across the Israeli-Lebanese border in a simmering but deadly conflict that has repeatedly threatened to escalate into open war. The Houthis, in addition to Iraqi and Syrian militias, have also fired rockets and drones at Israel and American bases within the region, but most have been intercepted.
Four members of the Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah were killed in an attack on Tuesday evening southwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. This militia had previously attacked US bases, in line with the Iraqi militia coalition Popular Mobilization Forces, which accused the US of being behind the attack.
A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations, said American forces had conducted a “defensive airstrike” against militants who “posed a threat to U.S. and coalition forces due to recent attacks in Iraq and Syria….”
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Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, David Rising in Bangkok and Jon Gambrell in Ubud, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
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For more AP reports, see https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Originally published:
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