Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said it is “Tehran’s duty” to avenge Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an airstrike in Iran’s capital, stoking growing fears of a regional war.
Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards died when the building where they were staying in the Iranian capital was hit by an airstrike in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Hamas immediately accused Israel of ordering the assassination, describing the attack as a “treacherous Zionist raid,” and warned that the move “takes the battle to new dimensions and [will] have major repercussions.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed Haniyeh’s death hours after he attended the inauguration ceremony for Iran's new president. The corps announced that an investigation is underway, while also claiming that Israel was behind the attack.
“Undoubtedly, this crime of the Zionist regime will face a harsh and painful response from the powerful and huge resistance front, especially Islamic Iran,” the Revolutionary Guard added in a statement.
So far, Israel has remained silent on the attack and has not claimed responsibility for it.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he was seeking to “take temperature down” amid growing tensions, and promised to “help defend Israel.”
Who was Ismail Haniyeh?
Haniyeh was one of the chief negotiators during Israel’s 10-month war in Gaza, which has killed 39,445 people so far, according to the Gaza health ministry. The majority of the victims are women and children, including the commander's three sons.
Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud, who is reporting from Gaza, said that for people there, Haniyeh’s killing was “significant” because he was their hope for a ceasefire.
Israel has imposed a near total blockade on humanitarian aid into the Gaza strip. A June UN report said this has plunged 96% of the Gaza Strip’s population – 2.15 million people – into acute food insecurity.
An arrest warrant for Haniyeh has been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), along with two other Hamas chiefs, for their involvement in the October 7 attacks against Israel, when Hamas killed over 1,200 people and took 253 hostage, according to the Israeli foreign ministry, triggering the current war.
The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the country’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
A wider conflict brewing
Haniyeh’s killing marks an escalation in the Israel-Gaza war. It is especially inflammatory given that it occurred in Iran, which is an enemy of Israel. There are fears that the death could push Israel’s neighbors, Lebanon and Iran, into a wider war.
The assassination of Haniyeh was carried out just hours after Israel launched an airstrike on densely-populated southern suburbs in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, with the aim to kill a top Hezbollah militant commander, Fuad Shukr.
Gallant said on the X platform that Shukr had been “eliminated”. However, the Iran-backed group denied this, claiming he had survived the attack. The Lebanese government has said that three people were killed during the Beirut airstrike, including two children, and 74 people were wounded.
Israel’s attack on Beirut was an alleged retaliation for a missile attack on Saturday that killed 12 children from the Druze community in the town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights – a region that is internationally recognised as part of Syria, despite Israel’s annexation of the territory in 1981.
Israel claims Hezbollah launched the attack, while the militant group, which considers Syria an ally, was quick to deny this. According to UK-based news website Middle East Eye, eyewitnesses of the Majdal Shams attack believe that the missile came from Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.
Hamas immediately accused Israel of ordering the assassination, describing the attack as a “treacherous Zionist raid,” and warned that the move “takes the battle to new dimensions and [will] have major repercussions.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed Haniyeh’s death hours after he attended the inauguration ceremony for Iran's new president. The corps announced that an investigation is underway, while also claiming that Israel was behind the attack.
“Undoubtedly, this crime of the Zionist regime will face a harsh and painful response from the powerful and huge resistance front, especially Islamic Iran,” the Revolutionary Guard added in a statement.
So far, Israel has remained silent on the attack and has not claimed responsibility for it.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he was seeking to “take temperature down” amid growing tensions, and promised to “help defend Israel.”
Who was Ismail Haniyeh?
Haniyeh was one of the chief negotiators during Israel’s 10-month war in Gaza, which has killed 39,445 people so far, according to the Gaza health ministry. The majority of the victims are women and children, including the commander's three sons.
Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud, who is reporting from Gaza, said that for people there, Haniyeh’s killing was “significant” because he was their hope for a ceasefire.
Israel has imposed a near total blockade on humanitarian aid into the Gaza strip. A June UN report said this has plunged 96% of the Gaza Strip’s population – 2.15 million people – into acute food insecurity.
An arrest warrant for Haniyeh has been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), along with two other Hamas chiefs, for their involvement in the October 7 attacks against Israel, when Hamas killed over 1,200 people and took 253 hostage, according to the Israeli foreign ministry, triggering the current war.
The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the country’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
A wider conflict brewing
Haniyeh’s killing marks an escalation in the Israel-Gaza war. It is especially inflammatory given that it occurred in Iran, which is an enemy of Israel. There are fears that the death could push Israel’s neighbors, Lebanon and Iran, into a wider war.
The assassination of Haniyeh was carried out just hours after Israel launched an airstrike on densely-populated southern suburbs in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, with the aim to kill a top Hezbollah militant commander, Fuad Shukr.
Gallant said on the X platform that Shukr had been “eliminated”. However, the Iran-backed group denied this, claiming he had survived the attack. The Lebanese government has said that three people were killed during the Beirut airstrike, including two children, and 74 people were wounded.
Israel’s attack on Beirut was an alleged retaliation for a missile attack on Saturday that killed 12 children from the Druze community in the town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights – a region that is internationally recognised as part of Syria, despite Israel’s annexation of the territory in 1981.
Israel claims Hezbollah launched the attack, while the militant group, which considers Syria an ally, was quick to deny this. According to UK-based news website Middle East Eye, eyewitnesses of the Majdal Shams attack believe that the missile came from Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.
Source: Reuters, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, International Criminal Court, Middle East Eye
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