Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Iran attack

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader, died in an attack in the Iranian capital Tehran on Tuesday. That report Hamas and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG) Wednesday morning via Reuters news agency. Iranian state television also reports Haniyeh’s death.

The 62-year-old Haniyeh lived alternately in Qatar and Turkey, but was in Iran this week because of the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

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According to the IRG’s statement, Haniyeh and one of his security guards were attacked in the house where Haniyeh was staying. The security guard was also killed. Tasnim, a semi-official Iranian news agency that has ties to the IRG, reports that Iran is investigating Haniyeh’s death and “quick results.”

On Thursday, a funeral service will be held in Tehran for Haniyeh. His body will then be taken to Doha in Qatar to be buried there, Hamas reports.

Hamas states that Israel is behind the attack on Haniyeh. The extremist Palestinian movement says in a statement that she mourns the death of Haniyeh, who according to the organization was killed in “a treacherous Zionist attack on his home in Tehran”.

In a standard response, the Israeli military says it cannot comment on foreign media reports. The Israeli government has yet to bring out an official statement about the attack. Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu said. He wrote on X that Haniyeh’s death “tightens the world a little better.”

Haniyeh has been on U.S. terrorism list since 2018

Haniyeh has been the political leader of Hamas since 2017. He is considered by Israel to be the main responsible for the attacks in Israel on October 7. He played a major role in the negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza.

In 2006, Haniyeh became Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, but he was fired by President Mahmoud Abbas when Hamas seized power in Gaza. Despite his resignation, he remained the de facto leader in the Gaza Strip. In 2017, when he became Hamas political leader, he moved to Qatar, where more Hamas leaders live. He was re-elected in 2021. The United States placed Haniyeh on the terrorist list in 2018.

Last April, three sons and two of Haniyeh’s sons and two grandchildren were killed in an Israeli air raid in Gaza. The family members of the Hamas leader were killed after the car in which she was bombed in the Al Shati refugee camp. They were there to visit family because of the end of Ramadan.

The death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh evokes revenge in Iran. Haniyeh was killed last night in the Iranian capital Tehran during an airstrike. Hezbollah commander Shukr was also killed. Haniyeh has been the political leader of Hamas since 2017, being seen as the supreme leader of the militant movement. Israel holds him responsible for the major attack on October 7, 2023. The Hamas leader was in Tehran for the insubberly of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, along with other Hamas officials.

Hezbollah commander Shukr was also killed in an airstrike in Beirut. His death is claimed by the Israeli army. What does the death of these two major militant leaders mean for the development of the Middle East conflict?

Provocation and Provocation

According to Erwin van Veen, conflict researcher at the Clingendael Institute, these events do not cause de-escalation of the conflict. Israel denies being behind Haniyeh’s death, but Van Veen calls it “evident” that Israel is behind the attack. It is also a “thick finger” to Tehran, the conflict researcher says, it shows that the Iranian security service has not been able to prevent the attack. “That will incite Tehran to the necessary rhetoric, there is already being promised for blood and retaliation,” he adds.

The Shadow War

Israel and Iran are arch-enemies and have been waging a shadow war for years. Iran supports Hamas and Hezbollah, with the attack on Haniyeh on Iranian territory, Iran is being involved in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The attack on Haniyeh was very direct, and that breaks with the shadow war that has been waged so far. But whether the soup is eaten as hot as it calls Iran, that is still the question. “Iran itself does not benefit from a high-intensity regional conflict,” Erwin van Veen said. But it is likely that there will be a retaliation, for example, an action that focuses on symbolically relevant goals. “A military installation is then plausible, which is not too devastating. Then they have saved their honor,” says Van Veen as an example.

Enough of the successors

Haniyeh was primarily the face of Hamas on an international diplomatic level. There are enough successors ready to replace Haniyeh, according to Erwin van Veen: “In the short term, the loss of someone with a huge track record, and therefore an incidental network and knowledge, is a big blow. At the same time, Hamas is a well-organized club with a talent ‘pipeline’ and a lot of internal discipline, such a person does not work alone and has advisors. So in the long run someone else will be ready, I don’t expect it to hit them very much.” Negotiations between Israel and Hamas will probably come to ten breaks, as Haniyeh was involved.