Srinagar- In a major escalation, Palestinian leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iranian capital Tehran Wednesday morning plunging the Middle East on the brink again.
Hamas which rules Gaza, confirmed the news saying “Brother, leader, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his headquarters in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new (Iranian) president.”
Before the confirmation by Hamas, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards informed about the ‘martyrdom’ of the top leader.
“With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine and the Islamic nation and combatants of the Resistant Front and the noble nation of Iran, this morning the residence of Mr. Dr. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political office of the Islamic Resistance of Hamas, was hit in Tehran, and following this incident, he and one of his bodyguards were martyred,” the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) statement read.
Haniyeh was one of the most prominent leaders of Hamas who rallied support for the Palestinian cause around the world. “Haniyeh as Hamas’ head of political bureau was in Tehran, as Iran is the major supporter of Palestinians.
Haniyeh also met Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei after participating in Masoud Pezeshkian’s inaugural ceremony as new Iranian President.
Experts say that Israel took it too far by targeting Haniyeh in Tehran that too at a time when several world leaders were present in the city for the inaugural ceremony.
“This is a message to Tehran itself and a message to everyone that Israel is determined to continue the war. It was clear they would try to do this, but I did not expect it to happen in Tehran” an analyst told Qatar based al-Jazeera network.
Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri has described the assassination of Hamas leader as a “grave escalation that will not achieve its goals”, the Reuters news agency reported.
Zuhri has also said Hamas will wage “open war to liberate Jerusalem” and the group is “ready to pay various prices” to do so, according to local media reports.
Haniyeh is not the first Hamas leader to be assassinated.
“In 2003, they assassinated Shaikh Ahmad Yasin, the spiritual leader and founder of Hamas, a month after they assassinated Yasin’s successor Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi in Gaza.
“Haniyeh joined Hamas from the very beginning since its establishment in 1987. He came from a refugee family which was displaced from what is now Israel. He joined the resistance movement and took part in the First Intifada and Second Intifada. He was one of the most prominent people in Hamas.
He remained a prominent figure until his assassination.
In April and June this year, Israel killed as many as 13 members of Haniyeh’s family in beleaguered Gaza, including his three sons and two grandchildren.
Israel has as usual not commented, but it often doesn’t when it comes to assassinations carried out by their Mossad intelligence agency.
Israel has been running a years-long assassination campaign in Iran, targeting nuclear scientists and others associated with its atomic program. In 2020, a top Iranian military nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun while traveling in a car outside Tehran.
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