O Ismail Haniyayour political leader Hamaswas killed in an attack in Tehran early Wednesday, just hours after Israel said it killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
- Double homicides are hard blow to Hamas and Hezbollahbut also raise the stakes for Iran, which supports both groups and he swore revenge. They will fuel growing fears that the war in Gaza could escalate into a wider regional conflict.
- A senior Hamas official described Haniya’s assassination as “a cowardly act that will not go unpunished.” Mediators from Qatar and Egypt have warned that this would delay negotiations on a ceasefire and a deal to free hostages held in Gaza.
- Haniya was targeted in an airstrike on a “residence in Tehran,” Hamas said, after traveling to the Iranian capital for the inauguration of the country’s new president, Massoud Pezheskian.
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that because the attack took place in Tehran, “we consider revenge as our duty”. Pezheskian said his country will defend its territorial integrity and honor and make the “terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly action.”
- The Israeli government has refused to officially comment on Haniya’s death, but the attack was widely recognized as an Israeli operation, both inside and outside the country. Israel vowed to kill all Hamas leaders after the October 7 attacks, and its intelligence services have a history of secret assassinations inside Iran, mainly targeting scientists working on the country’s nuclear program.
The US attitude
- US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking after the killings, said the Biden administration was “working to ‘lower the temperature’” but would come to Israel’s defense if it came under attack.
- U.S. officials have led a months-long global diplomatic effort to prevent the war in Gaza from escalating into a broader regional conflict, but they now face an even greater challenge.
- US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Wednesday that Washington had no knowledge of or involvement in Haniya’s assassination and that a ceasefire agreement in Gaza remains vital.
- The Biden administration has been pushing hard in recent months for at least a temporary cease-fire deal and the release of hostages in Gaza, where health officials in the region say nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 90,000 injured since Oct. 8.
- But negotiations are expected to stall after attacks in recent days, and especially after the killing of Haniya, who played a key role in the negotiations from her base in Doha. Qatar described the attack as a “dangerous escalation” that jeopardized ceasefire talks.
“Serious Climb”
- A senior Hamas official, Moussa Abu Marzouk, told a Hamas-run television channel that Haniya’s killing was a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”. Sami Abu Zuhri, another official, told Reuters it was a “serious escalation” that would not achieve its goals.
- Hamas has survived previous assassinations of its top leaders, including Haniyeh’s mentor Ahmed Yassin in 2004, and Haniyeh has not conducted any ground operations in Gaza since he went into exile in 2019.
- Hamas fighters inside Gaza are led by Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the October 7 attacks that killed around 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.
- Russia and Turkey condemned Haniya’s killing, with Moscow calling it a “completely unacceptable political assassination,” as reported by the Tass news agency.
Tomorrow is Hania’s funeral
Haniya’s funeral will be held in Iran on Thursday and the country declared three days of mourning. His body will then be taken to Doha for burial.
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Haniya’s killing, calling it a “cowardly act and a dangerous development.”
- The streets of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, were left empty after Palestinian nationalist and Islamist factions called for a general strike and mass demonstrations.
- Haniya has repeatedly called on Palestinians to be “unshaken” after Israel’s assassination of his mentor and members of his familyHis own death is likely to provoke a similar reaction from other Hamas leaders.
- When an airstrike killed three of his children and four grandchildren in April, he insisted in an interview with Al Jazeera that his personal loss would not prompt Hamas to change its negotiating position.
News of the killings was widely welcomed in Israel as part of its commitment to hunt down those responsible for the October 7 atrocity.
See here how events have unfolded since its dawn