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. Three of his sons were martyred in an Israeli airstrike in April.
The risk of a deepening war between the occupying regime of Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has also grown since the strike in the Golan Heights that killed 12 children in a Druze village on Saturday and Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah commander Shukr.
Global condemnation poured in following the assassination of Haniyeh, with Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas saying it was a “cowardly act” and urged Palestinians to remain united against Israel.
He urged “our people and their forces to unite, remain patient, and stand firm against the Israeli occupation.”
Qatar described the attack as a “heinous crime” and a “dangerous escalation” asw well as “a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law”.
Its foreign ministry said, “this assassination and the reckless Israeli behaviour of continuously targeting civilians in Gaza will lead to the region slipping into chaos and undermine the chances of peace”.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati “strongly” 

condemned the assassination of Haniyeh, noting that this posed “a serious danger of expanding the circle of global concern and danger in the region”.
Hezbollah said Haniyeh’s “martyrdom will increase the determination and stubbornness of the resistance fighters in all areas of resistance to continue the path of jihad and will make their resolve stronger in confronting the Zionist enemy”.
Syria’s foreign ministry warned that the latest escalation could “set the entire region ablaze”. 
“Syria condemns this blatant Zionist aggression,” the ministry said, describing Haniyeh’s assassination as a “despicable act”.
Yemen’s Ansarullah called Haniyeh’s assassination a “heinous terrorist crime.”
Muhammad Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Iran-backed movement’s political bureau, mourned the slain Hamas chief on his account on X and said his targeting was a “flagrant violation of laws and ideal values.”
A statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry said this escalation, along with making no progress in Gaza ceasefire talks, was complicating the situation. The ministry warned of the repercussions of assassinations and violating countries’ sovereignty. 
Jordan condemned in the “strongest” terms the assassination of Haniyeh, saying it was a violation of international and humanitarian law and a crime that will escalate the situation and create more tension and chaos in the region.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday condemned the “perfidious assassination” in Tehran of his close ally and “brother” Ismail Haniyeh.
“May God have mercy on my brother Ismail Haniyeh, fallen in martyrdom after this odious attack,” Erdogan wrote on the X social media platform, denouncing “Zionist barbarity”.
Turkey’s foreign ministry had earlier denounced the attack as “a shameful assassination”.
China said it condemned the “assassination” of Haniyeh in a strike in Tehran, warning it could lead to further instability in the region.
“We are highly concerned about the incident and firmly oppose and condemn the assassination,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said. “We are deeply concerned that this incident may lead to further instability in the regional situation,” he added.
Russia “strongly condemned” the assassination, warning it could trigger a fresh round of escalation in West Asia.
“We believe that such actions are directed against attempts to restore peace in the region and could significantly destabilize an already tense situation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.