Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran

BEIRUT (AP) – Hamas's high political chief was killed in a predawn airstrike within the Iranian capital on Wednesday, Iran mentioned and the militant group blamed Israel for a stunning assassination try. risked escalation in an all-out regional struggle. Iran's supreme chief vowed revenge towards Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Israel “will precise a really heavy worth from any aggression towards us on any entrance,” however didn’t point out the killing. “There are difficult days forward,” he added.

Israel had vowed to kill Ismail Haniyeh and different Hamas leaders over these of the group The October 7 attack in southern Israel that induced the struggle in Gaza. The assault got here shortly after Haniyeh had attended the inauguration of Iran's new president in Tehran – and hours after Israel focused a senior commander of Iran's ally Hezbollah within the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

The assassination was probably explosive amid the area's unstable and intertwined conflicts due to its goal, its timing and the choice to hold it out in Tehran. Most harmful was the potential to push Iran and Israel into direct confrontation if Iran retaliated. The US and different international locations scrambled to stop a wider and deadlier battle.

In a press release on his official web site, Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei mentioned revenge was “our responsibility” and that Israel had “ready a extreme punishment for itself” for killing “a pricey visitor in our dwelling”.

Bitter regional rivals Israel and Iran risked plunging into struggle earlier this yr when Israel struck Iran's embassy in Damascus in April. Iran retaliated and Israel retaliated in an unprecedented trade of assaults on every another's landhowever worldwide efforts succeeded in curbing that cycle earlier than it spiraled uncontrolled.

Haniyeh's killing might additionally immediate Hamas to withdraw from negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage deal within the 10-month-old struggle in Gaza, which US mediators had mentioned have been making progress.

And it might inflame already rising tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which worldwide diplomats have been attempting to comprise after a weekend rocket assault that killed 12 young people within the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

Israel carried out one rare strike on Tuesday evening in the Lebanese capital which he mentioned killed a senior Hezbollah commander suspected of being behind the rocket assault. Hezbollah, which denied any position within the Golan assault, confirmed the dying of Fouad Shukur on Wednesday, saying he was within the constructing that was hit. The assault additionally killed three ladies and two youngsters, in keeping with the Lebanese Ministry of Well being.

White Home Homeland Safety spokesman John Kirby mentioned there was “no signal that an escalation is imminent” within the Center East and Gaza ceasefire deal was nonetheless attainable. He additionally mentioned the US couldn’t independently verify experiences of what occurred in Tehran. A key query is whether or not Israel advised the US, her main allyforward of time.

Requested about Haniyeh's homicide, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned, “That is one thing we weren’t conscious of or concerned in.” Chatting with Channel Information Asia, Blinken mentioned he wouldn’t speculate on the impression on the ceasefire efforts.

The UN Safety Council held an emergency assembly on Wednesday to debate the assaults with Iran and Israel, pressuring every council to sentence the opposite. However probably the most highly effective UN physique didn’t concern any collective message after the assembly. The council's 15 members variously warned that the Center East was at a precarious level, frightened about attainable escalation, known as for restraint and diplomacy and pointed fingers alongside outdated fault strains.

Khalil al-Hayya, a strong determine inside Hamas who was near Haniyeh, advised reporters in Iran that whoever replaces Haniyeh will “pursue the identical imaginative and prescient” concerning negotiations to finish the struggle – and proceed in the identical coverage of resistance towards Israel.

Hamas' principal consultative physique was anticipated to fulfill quickly, possible after Haniyeh's funeral on Friday in Qatar, to call a successor. A Hamas assertion mentioned a funeral service could be held in Tehran on Thursday, with Muslim funeral prayers on Friday in Doha adopted by his burial in Lusail, Qatar's second largest metropolis.

US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin mentioned he nonetheless had hopes for a diplomatic resolution on the Israeli-Lebanese border. “I don't assume struggle is inevitable,” he mentioned. “I believe there may be at all times room and alternative for diplomacy and I wish to see the events pursue these alternatives.”

However worldwide diplomats attempting to calm tensions have been alarmed. A Western diplomat whose nation has been working to stop an Israeli-Hezbollah escalation mentioned the assaults in Beirut and Tehran had “virtually killed” hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza and will push the Center East right into a “devastating regional struggle “. The diplomat spoke on situation of anonymity to debate the delicate scenario.

Israel usually refrains from commenting on assassinations carried out by its Mossad intelligence company or assaults on different international locations.

In a press release from his workplace, Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant mentioned Israel doesn’t need struggle after its strike on Hezbollah's commander in Beirut, “however we’re getting ready for all prospects.” He didn’t point out the killing of Haniyeh, and a abstract of his name with Austin offered by the US didn’t point out it.

The killing of Haniyeh overseas comes as Israel has not had a transparent success within the killing The highest leadership of Hamas in Gaza, who’re believed to be primarily accountable for planning the October 7 assault.

Haniyeh left the Gaza Strip in 2019 and had been residing in exile in Qatar. Israel has focused Hamas figures in Lebanon and Syria through the struggle, however going after Haniyeh in Iran was way more delicate. Israel has operated there prior to now: It allegedly ran a years-long assassination marketing campaign towards Iranian nuclear scientists. In 2020, a senior Iranian army nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun whereas touring in a automobile outdoors Tehran.

Throughout Haniyeh's ultimate hours in Iran, an in depth ally of Hamas, he was smiling and clapping on the new inauguration ceremony. President Masoud Pezeshkian. Related Press photographs confirmed him sitting alongside leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group and Hezbollah, and Iranian media confirmed him and Pezeshkian embracing. Haniyeh had earlier met with Khamenei.

Hours later, the strike hit an condo Haniyeh makes use of in Tehran, killing him, Hamas mentioned. Certainly one of his bodyguards was killed, Iranian officers mentioned. Hamas official al-Hayya later mentioned on Iranian state tv that Haniyeh was killed by a rocket.

Iran's highly effective Revolutionary Guard warned that Israel would face a “harsh and painful response” from Iran and its allies across the area. An influential Iranian parliamentary committee on nationwide safety and overseas coverage was to carry an emergency assembly on the strike later Wednesday.

Hamas's army wing mentioned in a press release that Haniyeh's killing “takes the battle to new dimensions and may have larger penalties all through the area.”

Netanyahu has mentioned that Israel will proceed its damaging marketing campaign in Gaza till Hamas is eradicated. On Wednesday, he claimed that “every little thing” Israel has achieved in current months was as a result of it resisted stress at dwelling and overseas to finish the struggle.

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