Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran, Iran says

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard stated Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran.

Nobody instantly claimed duty for the assassination however suspicion instantly fell on Israel, which has vowed to kill Haniyeh and different leaders of Hamas over the group’s Oct. 7 assault on Israel that killed 1,200 folks and noticed some 250 others taken hostage.

Iran’s assertion gave no particulars on how Haniyeh was killed. The New York Occasions was the primary to report the incident. 

Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday, together with different Hamas officers and officers from Hezbollah and allied teams. Iran gave no particulars on how Haniyeh was killed, and the Guard stated the assault was underneath investigation.

Analysts on Iranian state tv instantly started blaming Israel for the assault.

Israel itself didn’t instantly remark but it surely typically would not in the case of assassination carried out by their Mossad intelligence company.  

The killing of Haniyeh comes after Israel carried out a uncommon strike on Beirut, which it stated killed Fouad Shukur, a prime Hezbollah army commander. Hezbollah has not confirmed Shukur’s demise within the strike, which additionally killed at the least one lady and two youngsters and wounded dozens of individuals.

Israel is suspected of working a yearslong assassination marketing campaign concentrating on Iranian nuclear scientists and others related to its atomic program. In 2020, a prime Iranian army nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun whereas touring in a automotive outdoors Tehran.

Haniyeh, the general political chief of Hamas, had not been in Gaza in years and spends most of his time in Qatar, the place Hamas has its main political workplace outdoors of Gaza. 

In April, three sons of Haniyeh had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza, in line with family members and Hamas media channels. On the time, Haniyeh himself acknowledged the deaths. Hamas stated the strike hit a automobile close to a house belonging to the Haniyeh household.  

A few of Hamas’ most senior leaders are nonetheless believed to be in Gaza, they usually stay on Israel’s needed record. On the prime of that record is Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ prime chief within the Gaza Strip and one of many founders of the group’s army wing of the terrorist group, the Al-Qassam Brigades.    

There was no speedy response from the White Home. The obvious assassination comes at a precarious time, because the Biden administration has tried to push Hamas and Israel to comply with at the least a brief cease-fire and hostage-release deal.

CIA Director Invoice Burns was in Rome on Sunday to fulfill with senior Israel, Qatari and Egyptian officers within the newest spherical of talks. Individually, Brett McGurk, the White Home Coordinator for the Center East and North Africa, is within the area for talks with U.S. companions.

In its marketing campaign because the Israel-Hamas conflict started, Israel has killed greater than 39,360 Palestinians and wounded greater than 90,900, in line with the Hamas-run Gaza Well being Ministry, whose depend doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

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