💠Iran, Yemen Declare Three Days of National Mourning💠

Kayhan English newspaper / Friday 02 August 2024Year 1959 Number 12314

💠Iran, Yemen Declare Three Days of National Mourning💠

Condemnation Pours in Over Israeli Assassination of Haniyeh

Hamas: Assassination to Take Battle Against Israel to New Dimensions

TEHRAN -- Hamas leader
Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran early on Wednesday morning, an attack that drew pledges of revenge on Israel and fuelled further concern that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider war.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said the assassination took place hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for Iran’s new president.

Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, had been the face of Hamas’s international diplomacy as the Israeli war since Oct. 7 has raged in Gaza. He had been taking part in internationally-brokered indirect talks on reaching a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

The assassination occurred less than 24 hours after Israel claimed to have martyred Hezbollah’s most senior military commander in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Two Lebanese security sources confirmed later on Wednesday that the body of Hezbollah operations chief Fuad Shukr had been found in rubble left by an airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The latest events appear to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in the nearly 10-month-old Israeli war on Gaza.

Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement Haniyeh’s assassination would “take the battle to new dimensions and have major repercussions”. Vowing to retaliate, Iran declared three days of national mourning and said the U.S. bears responsibility because of its support for Israel.

In Al-Quds, an Israeli regime spokesperson declined to comment on the assassination of Haniyeh but said the illegal entity was on high alert for any Iranian retaliation.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at an event in Singapore, sidestepped a question on Haniyeh’s assassination. He told Channel News Asia that the U.S. had allegedly neither been aware of nor involved in the terrorist act.
Haniyeh’s most likely successor is Khaled Meshaal, his deputy-in-exile who lives in Qatar, analysts and Hamas officials said.

Under Meshaal, Hamas emerged as an ever more important player in the Middle East conflict due to his charisma, popularity and regional standing, analysts said.

Meshaal narrowly survived an attempt on his life in Jordan ordered by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 1997.

Appointed to the top Hamas job in 2017, Haniyeh moved between Turkey and Qatar’s capital Doha, escaping the travel curbs of the blockaded Gaza Strip and enabling him to act as a negotiator in the truce talks or to talk to Iran.

Continued in the next post.....