General
Wednesday Briefing
The killing of a top Hamas leader in Iran.
Ismail Haniyeh led Hamas’s political operations from exile in Qatar.Credit…Arif Hudaverdi Yaman/Anadolu, via Getty Images
A top Hamas commander is killed in Iran
Ismail Haniyeh, one of the most senior Hamas leaders, was targeted and killed in Tehran, the militant group and Iranian officials said this morning. The assassination, a severe blow to Hamas, threatens to engulf the region in further conflict.
Hamas accused Israel of killing Haniyeh, who led the group’s political operations from exile in Qatar. He was in Tehran on Tuesday for the inauguration of Iran’s newly elected president, along with officials from other militant groups backed by Iran, including Hezbollah. Israel had no immediate comment on the killing.
As Hamas’s political leader, Haniyeh was central to the group’s high-stakes negotiations and diplomacy, including the stalled negotiations with Israel over a cease-fire deal in Gaza.
In Beirut: On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had carried out a separate strike on a Hezbollah commander in Beirut’s southern suburbs, in retaliation for a weekend attack that killed 12 people in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. The targeting of two senior leaders of Iran-backed groups within a matter of hours would be an audacious escalation in the regional conflict.
In Gaza: The eight Palestinian athletes at the Olympic Games represent not only a homeland but a cause. But a scarcity of electricity has made it nearly impossible for Gazans to watch them or to remain connected to the outside world.
