In this handout image from the Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, people gather during a funeral procession for Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination on Aug. 1, 2024, in Tehran, Iran. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via Getty Images/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — Iran’s Supreme Leader led prayers over the coffin of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political chief assassinated in Tehran this week, as the Israeli military heightened its alert over potential retaliatory attacks.
Iranian state TV showed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leading the start of the funeral procession before Haniyeh’s coffin was driven into the city center, through crowds waving Palestinian flags while some onlookers called for revenge. Iran and Hamas say he was killed by Israel, which hasn’t issued a denial and has vowed to kill all Hamas leaders since the group’s attack on the country on Oct. 7.
In Beirut, a similar procession was due to be held for a high-ranking member of Hezbollah, Fuad Shukr, who was killed in the Lebanese capital by an Israeli missile on Tuesday, just hours before Haniyeh’s death. Israel took responsibility for that one, saying it was in response to the killing of a dozen youths playing soccer in the Golan Heights on Saturday.
Pledges to respond — from Hamas, Hezbollah and their sponsor, Iran — for the two assassinations have rung out across the region.
Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said Thursday that the killings crossed his red line, saying the conflict now is an “open battle on all fronts.”
But he stopped short of declaring the killings as an act of war and said his group fights both in anger and with “logic and wisdom,” reflecting the group’s declared intention not to widen the fighting with Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that “Israel is in a very high level of preparedness for any scenario - both in defense and attack. We will exact a very heavy price for any act of aggression against us from any arena.”
With Israel’s air defense systems on high alert, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said that “if Israel is attacked, yes we will help Israel defend itself.”
Khamenei had earlier said that Iran has a “duty to seek vengeance” for Haniyeh’s death and Israel should expect a “severe punishment.”
Amid questions about how Israel managed to hit Haniyeh in Tehran, the New York Times reported that he was killed by a bomb smuggled several months earlier into the guesthouse where he was staying. It cited seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Iranians, and an American official, all of whom it said spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive details.
Full-blown war
The U.S., a key Israeli ally, is striving to prevent the situation escalating into a full-blown war across the Middle East. The Biden administration used intermediaries to send warnings to Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis of Yemen not to escalate, according to people familiar with U.S. policy. The U.S. also counseled Israel on the need for caution in its next steps, the people said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed other world leaders in warning of the heightened risk to the region of the developing hostilities, which began in October with the invasion of Israel by Hamas militants that triggered the ongoing and brutal 10-month war in Gaza.
“Right now, the path that the region is on is toward more conflict,” Blinken said in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. “It’s urgent that all parties make the right choices in the days ahead because those choices are the difference between staying on this path of violence, of insecurity, of suffering, or moving to something very different and much better.”
The U.S. and others have been striving for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas for months without success, and Blinken said a deal remains the best way forward. A truce would likely see the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and allow for much-needed aid to be delivered into Gaza.
Thursday marks the 300th day of the war between Israel and Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union. Fighting continues unabated, with Israeli’s military reporting the striking of loaded launchers aimed at the country. On Wednesday, Israeli warplanes killed two journalists working for Al Jazeera, the Qatari-owned network.
Within Israel a debate has arisen over the wisdom of assassinations, which the military said now includes Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s second in command, in a strike in Gaza last month. Some back the government’s argument that they’re an effective tool to deter and weaken groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and lead them to soften their negotiating positions.
Writing in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, commentator Avi Issacharoff praised the killings and said, “The Palestinian public that celebrated Oct. 7 and the ‘victory’ over Israel has now come to see that Hamas too is vulnerable and fragile. That can’t be hidden any longer; they can’t bask in their victory over Israel.”
But Michael Milshtein, a former intelligence officer who heads Palestinian studies at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center, said in a radio interview that even though the killing of Haniyeh is an important symbolic act, the key player in Hamas remains Yahya Sinwar, believed to be somewhere in Gaza and who, he says, is far more radical than Haniyeh and may be emboldened without his influence.
“It’s incorrect to say that Hamas doesn’t want a deal — but on its terms,” Milshstein said. “The ‘increased pressure’ doesn’t lead to softening of positions by Hamas. And we have to understand that.”
With assistance from Daniel Flatley and Raeedah Wahid.
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