The political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was killed early Wednesday during a visit online dispensary to Tehran, in what appeared to be the second major assassination carried out by Israel in a matter of hours.
Ismail Haniyeh, who had been living in exile in Qatar since 2017, was reportedly killed at what was described as his private residence in Tehran one day after he attended the swearing-in of newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The rapid-fire attacks in Tehran and a suburb of Beirut – where a senior Hezbollah commander was targeted late Tuesday – increased fears of a region-wide war in the Middle East. Iran, which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the Houthi militia in Yemen, quickly convened a meeting of its security council, including the leadership of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards.
Nasser Kanaani, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, said Mr. Haniyeh’s “pure blood” would “never go in vain.” In April, Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel – involving more than 300 missiles and drones – in retaliation for Israel’s bombing of an Iranian diplomatic outpost in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
Israel, with the assistance of allies including the United States, Britain, France and Jordan, shot down nearly all of the incoming projectiles, and was convinced by Washington to limit its response and end the cycle of escalation.
Similar diplomacy – again aimed at averting a regionwide war – is expected online dispensary in the hours and days ahead.
Iran’s official Fars news agency said Mr. Haniyeh and a bodyguard were killed by “a projectile from the air” at around 2 a.m. local time. Israel did not immediately comment on the assassination, but the 61-year-old Mr. Haniyeh has been a top Israeli target since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel, which killed nearly 1,200 people.
Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced in May that he was seeking the arrest of Mr. Haniyeh and two other Hamas leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the Oct. 7 attacks. Mr. Haniyeh, who served as Palestinian prime minister from 2006 to 2007 – before Hamas violently clashed with the rival Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas – was also on the U.S. list of “specially designa dispensary ted global terrorists.”
Despite that, Mr. Haniyeh was seen as one of the more pragmatic figures in the Hamas leadership, and a key negotiator in the efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, where the Palestinian Health Ministry says more than 39,000 people have been killed since Israel invaded post-Oct. 7. Hamas is still holding more than 100 of the 250 hostages it took on Oct. 7, though many are believed to be dead.
The assassination in Tehran came barely five hours after three missiles fired from an Israeli drone destroyed part of an apartment building in the Beirut suburb of Harat Hreik in an effort to kill Fuad Shukr, a top military commander in Lebanon’s Hezboll buy weed online canada ah militia. Israel said Mr. Shukr was responsible for the July 27 rocket strike that killed 12 children on a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
While the Israeli military said on Tuesday that Mr. Shukr – whom it described as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s “right-hand man” – was dead, Hezbollah said in a statement on Wednesday that his fate was still u buy weed online canada nknown.
Hezbollah acknowledged that the 62-year-old Mr. Shukr was in the building when the missiles hit, but said rescue workers were still digging out victims. “We are still waiting for the result… regarding the fate of the great and dear leader and other citizens in this place,” the statement reads in part. The Lebanese Health Ministry said two women and two children had been killed in the strike, while dozens of other people had been injured.
Dozens of ambulances raced into the Bahman Hospital in Harat Hreik on Tuesday night as helmeted rescue workers rushed stretchers into the emergency room. Black-shirted Hezbollah guards, some of them carrying assault rifles, questioned journalists and prevented them from nearing the damaged building.
Lebanon has been nervously waiting for Israel’s retaliation since the strike on Majdal Shams, which Israel and the U.S. say was carried out by Hezbollah, using an Iranian-made rocket. Hezbollah, which usually claims responsibility for its attacks, has denied involvement.
Shortly after the attack on Harat Hreik, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant posted on social media that “Hezbollah crossed a red line.” Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised a “severe” response to the Majdal Shams tragedy.
“Israel is trying to provoke us into a war. We know that the attack on the occupied Golan was fabricated. They are trying to make us respond,” said Mohammed Jalloul, a 27-year-old from Harat Hreik who was watching the scene outside the Bahman Hospital on Tuesday night. “We as Lebanese do not want a war; however, if they continue to provoke us – especially by hitting civilian areas – then we are ready.”
The attack on Harat Hreik came after days of frantic U.S.-led diplomacy aimed at convincing Israel to limit its military action – and specifically to avoid targeting Beirut – for fears of provoking a wider conflict. Canada and other Western governments have been warning for months against travel to Lebanon, and this week told their citizens to leave the country while it was still possible.
Large questions now loom about whether Israel considers the attack on Harat Hreik a sufficient response – particularly if Mr. Shukr survived – or whether there will be a larger operation. It’s also unclear whether Hezbollah will feel compelled to escalate in the attack on Harat Hreik, which is a 10-minute drive from the centre of Beirut. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has in the past vowed to target Tel Aviv if Israel struck the Lebanese capital.
Lebanon’s L’Orient Le Jour newspaper reported that Hezbollah had already begun preparing a response. Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib condemned the Israeli attack on the Beirut suburbs, but added, “If Hezbollah’s response is to take place, we hope it will be proportional. But what matters even more to us is that this conflict comes to an end.”
Israel and Hezbollah have been involved in a deadly tit-for-tat exchange of fire since October, when Hezbollah began launching rockets and drones across the border in what it said was an act of solidarity with Hamas and the people of Gaza. The Palestinian Ministry of Health says more than 39,000 people have been killed over 10 months of fighting in Gaza, which Israel invaded following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which left more than 1,100 Israelis dead, and saw more than 250 others taken hostage.
The fighting between Israel and Lebanon has left at least 387 Hezbollah fighters dead, according to the group, and more than 100 Lebanese civilians. Israel says 21 soldiers and 25 civilians have been killed on its side, including a 30-year-old man who died Tuesday when a Hezbollah rocket struck a kibbutz close to the border.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail earlier on Tuesday, former Lebanese foreign minister Gebran Bassil said he believed Israel’s retribution for Majdal Shams would be calibrated to avoid an all-out war with Hezbollah, which is a much more powerful foe than Hamas. Hezbollah is also stronger than the official Lebanese army, which has largely stood aside as Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged blows.
“Israel cannot make any victory by force. They also have a country to care about. If we have an airport, they have an airport. Anything can be targeted. This is what I think is protecting Lebanon, nothing else,” Mr. Bassil said in an interview at his home outside Beirut, referring to worries that Israel might strike Lebanon’s only commercial airport.
But Mr. Bassil, a Christian politician whose Free Patriotic Movement has often allied itself with Hezbollah, said his party disagreed with Hezbollah’s decision to launch attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas. “It’s not up to them to, you know, link the war in Lebanon to the wars in Gaza and in the region – to link Lebanon to all the problems of the region and drag Lebanon into a war.”