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Hamas has mentioned its political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran early on Wednesday, an assault that dramatically raises the danger of an additional escalation of regional hostilities.
The Palestinian militant group mentioned in an announcement that Haniyeh, who lived in exile, died after a “treacherous Zionist” assault on his residence in Tehran. Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards confirmed that Haniyeh was killed in an assault within the Iranian capital however didn’t present additional particulars.
The killing of Haniyeh got here hours after Israel mentioned it had killed a senior Hizbollah commander in an air strike on Beirut, the Lebanese capital, heightening fears that the area was sliding in the direction of a full-blown conflict.
Israel didn’t instantly touch upon Haniyeh’s loss of life and sometimes neither confirms or denies assassination makes an attempt on international soil. Israeli officers have beforehand mentioned they’d maintain all Hamas leaders accountable for the group’s October 7 assault on southern Israel.
The Hamas chief, believed to be in his 60s, had been residing in exile in Qatar however typically travelled to Iran, which helps Hamas as a part of its so-called axis of resistance. Haniyeh had attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday and met him earlier within the day.
“Yesterday, I raised his victorious hand and in the present day I need to carry him on my shoulders in his funeral procession,” Pezeshkian mentioned of Haniyeh in a submit on X, including that the assault would make Iran’s bonds with anti-Israel militias within the area “stronger”.
Haniyeh, who has been Hamas’s political chief since 2017, is the highest-profile member of Hamas to be killed following the militant group’s October assault and Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza. He was the primary interlocutor for mediators making an attempt to barter a ceasefire in Gaza and the discharge of Israeli hostages held within the strip.
His killing in Tehran will mark an enormous embarrassment for Iran and threat the regime retaliating towards Israel. Tensions within the area had already soared after Israel mentioned it had killed Fuad Shukr, a senior Hizbollah commander, in an air strike on a residential constructing in southern Beirut on Tuesday.
In an announcement on Wednesday, Hizbollah mentioned Shukr was within the constructing focused by Israel, however the group didn’t affirm his destiny.
The Israel Protection Forces described Shukr as Hizbollah’s most senior army commander and right-hand man to Hassan Nasrallah, chief of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group.
The assault, Israel’s first concentrating on a Hizbollah chief in Beirut since October 7, got here in retaliation for a rocket strike on Saturday that killed 12 younger individuals on a soccer pitch within the occupied Golan Heights. Israel blamed Hizbollah for that assault, the deadliest incident for civilians in Israeli-controlled territory for the reason that two sides began exchanging virtually each day hearth almost 10 months in the past.
Lebanon’s state-run Nationwide Information Company mentioned the Israeli strike on Beirut on Tuesday, carried out with a drone that launched three rockets, had focused the realm round Hizbollah’s governing Shura Council within the densely populated Haret Hreik neighbourhood, a stronghold of the militant group.
A big explosion ripped by the realm, with tv footage displaying a number of flooring of a residential constructing badly broken and enormous plumes of smoke. No less than three individuals have been killed — a lady and two kids — and an additional 74 individuals have been injured, some critically, the Lebanese well being ministry mentioned.
Hizbollah, thought of one of many world’s most closely armed non-state actors, has beforehand warned Israel towards “any assassination on Lebanese soil towards a Lebanese, Syrian, Iranian or Palestinian”, suggesting the Israeli strike can be met with a decisive response.
In an announcement mourning Haniyeh, Hizbollah mentioned his killing would “improve the dedication and stubbornness of the resistance fighters in all resistance arenas to proceed the trail of jihad and can make their resolve stronger in confronting [Israel]”.
There can even be issues about how Iran, which considers Hizbollah its most vital proxy, will reply, notably whether it is confirmed that Israel carried out the strike in Tehran that killed Haniyeh.
Iran’s international ministry mentioned Haniyeh’s blood “is not going to go to waste” and “will strengthen the deep and unbreakable bond between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Palestine and the resistance”.
Turkey’s international ministry condemned Haniyeh’s killing, warning that it risked widening “the conflict in Gaza to a regional scale”.
It added: “If the worldwide group doesn’t take motion to cease Israel, our area will face a lot bigger conflicts.”
The US has been main a flurry of diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions between Israel and Hizbollah for the reason that rocket assault on the Golan Heights.
UK international secretary David Lammy mentioned on Tuesday that the danger of additional escalation “and regional destabilisation is now extra acute than ever”.
“A widening of this battle is in no one’s curiosity,” Lammy mentioned in an announcement to parliament. “Certainly, the implications may very well be catastrophic. That’s the reason we proceed to press for a diplomatic answer.”
Extra reporting by Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran and Adam Samson in Ankara