Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran, Iran and Hamas say

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, which was blamed on an Israeli airstrike. It also covers related events, including the killing of a Hezbollah military commander in Beirut and an attack on an Iranian-backed militia base in Iraq.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh

1. What happened to Ismail Haniyeh?

• Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, was assassinated in Iran after attending the inauguration of the country's new president.
• Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike for Haniyeh's death, while Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it was investigating the attack.

2. What was the reaction to Haniyeh's killing?

• Hamas declared Haniyeh a "martyr" and said the Palestinian cause has "costs" that they are "ready for", including "martyrdom for the sake of Palestine."
• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing as a "cowardly act and dangerous development," and political factions in the occupied West Bank called for strikes to protest the killing.
• Qatar called the killing a "heinous crime" and warned it could lead to a "dangerous escalation" of tensions in the region.
• Russia and China also condemned the "assassination" of Haniyeh.

3. What is the context around Haniyeh's assassination?

• Haniyeh had not been in Gaza for years and spent most of his time in Qatar, where Hamas has its primary political office outside of Gaza.
• Israel has vowed to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the group's October 7th attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage.
• The killing of Haniyeh comes after Israel carried out a rare strike on Beirut that killed a top Hezbollah military commander.

[02] Other Related Events

1. What happened in the attack on the Hezbollah commander in Beirut?

• Israel carried out a rare strike on Beirut that it said killed Fouad Shukur, a top Hezbollah military commander.
• The strike also killed at least one woman and two children and wounded dozens of people.
• Hezbollah said it was still searching for Shukur's body and that his death would make the region's resistance more determined in facing Israel.

2. What happened in the attack on the Iranian-backed militia base in Iraq?

• A strike on a base southwest of Baghdad killed four members of the Kataib Hezbollah militia, an Iranian-backed group.
• The Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias, accused the United States of being behind the strike.

3. What is the broader context around these events?

• The apparent assassinations come at a precarious time, as the Biden administration has tried to push Hamas and Israel to agree to at least a temporary cease-fire and hostage-release deal.
• The U.S. Defense Secretary said he did not think a wider war in the Middle East was inevitable and that Washington was trying to cool rising tensions in the region.