khamenei

CHRISTIAN BREAKING NEWS: Who ‘was’ Ismail Haniyeh? Hamas Chief Political Leader Assassinated in Tehran Missile Strike [#IsmailHaniyeh]

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran early Wednesday morning, according to the Palestinian terror group, which described the strike as a “severe escalation” that will not achieve its goals.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed Haniyeh’s death, which occurred hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and said it was conducting an investigation.

It was the second high-profile assassination ascribed to Israel in as many hours, following an airstrike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah’s top military officer.

Israeli authorities made no quick response on the Tehran strike.

Israel had pledged to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas officials following the Gaza-based terror group’s horrific October 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

Haniyeh, who is ordinarily stationed in Qatar, has been the face of the Palestinian terror group’s foreign diplomacy as the battle sparked by the attack rages in the Gaza Strip, where 3 of his sons were killed by Israeli airstrikes.

He is the most senior Hamas figure killed since the war began.

The IRGC also said that one of Haniyeh’s bodyguards had been slain.

Haniyeh landed in Tehran on Tuesday to attend Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian’s inauguration in parliament.

He had met with both Pezeshkian and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Haniyeh was named head of Hamas’ political bureau in 2017, succeeding Khaled Mashaal.

He was already a well-known figure, having been Palestinian prime minister in 2006 following Hamas’ unexpected victory in the parliamentary election.

Haniyeh, a relative pragmatist, resided in exile, dividing his time between Turkey and Qatar.

During the continuing Gaza war, he flew on diplomatic missions to Iran and Turkey, where he met with both the Turkish and Iranian presidents.

Haniyeh was considered to have good relations with the leaders of numerous Palestinian factions, including Hamas’ opponents.

He joined Hamas in 1987, just as the terror group was created in the midst of the first Palestinian intifada, or revolt against Israel, which lasted until 1993.

Hamas is part of the “axis of resistance” against Israel, which includes Tehran-aligned groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has prioritized support for the Palestinian cause in its foreign policy.

It praised Hamas’ October 7 strike on Israel while denying any involvement.

Haniyeh fled the Gaza Strip in 2019 and has been living in exile in Qatar.

Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, masterminded the October 7 attack.

In April, an Israeli airstrike on Gaza killed 3 of Haniyeh’s sons and 4 of his grandkids.

Haniyeh told Al Jazeera satellite station at the time that the killings would not pressure Hamas to compromise its stance in the ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel.

Haniyeh was killed after Israel launched a rare strike on Beirut, claiming to have killed Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s terror military leader.

Hezbollah has not confirmed Shukr’s death in the strike, which also killed at least 1 woman and 2 children and injured many more.

The strike came amid rising tensions with the Lebanese terror group, which has launched near-daily strikes over the border in what it claims is support for Gaza.

Israel claimed the assault on Shukr was retaliation for a missile attack that killed 12 children at a soccer field on the Golan Heights earlier this week.

The United States also accuses Shukr of organizing and carrying out the lethal 1983 Marine bombing on Lebanon’s capital.

NEWS SOURCE & LINKS:
The Times of Israel

WHO ‘WAS’ ISMAIL HANIYEH? HAMAS CHIEF POLITICAL LEADER ASSASSINATED in Tehran Missile Strike… | Christian Breaking News!