Israel on a rampage!

...after targeting Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur, in Beirut (Lebanon), and killing Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran (Iran).

Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh - from Al Mayadeen.

Less than 12 hours after the airstrike in Beirut (Lebanon) targeting Hezbollah senior commander, Fouad Shokor (Sayyed Mohsen), now confirmed dead (as reported in this article by Al Mayadeen tonight), the Iranian Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hamas announced the death of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas Political Bureau Chief, killed in airstrike on his residence in Tehran, where he was to attend the inauguration of the new Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian, as reported in this other Al Mayadeen article. Initial investigations suggest that the assassination “was carried out by a missile launched from one country to another, not from within Iran”, as quoted by Al Maydeen here.

Here are a few reactions following his death:

• Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ - source: Al Mayadeen):

  The sinful assassination carried out by the criminal enemy against a symbol of the Resistance will not deter our people from continuing the Resistance to put an end to Zionist criminality, which has crossed all limits.

• PIJ Deputy Secretary General Mohammad al-Hindi (source: Al Mayadeen):

  Ismail Haniyeh was a martyr-in-making since his childhood.

  The Palestinian Resistance and Lebanese Resistance have bid farewell to many great men without their martyrdom breaking their will.

  Israel facing such a resistance for the first time in its history.

  Israel headed to collapse, its reactions reflect agitation, inability to achieve any of its goals.

  This assassination not only targets the Palestinian Resistance and Hamas in particular, but is also aimed at Iran.

• Maher al-Taher, International Relations Officer of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (source: Al Mayadeen):

  Martyr Ismail Haniyeh gave his utmost for the cause of Palestine.

  Israeli enemy is crossing all red lines and pushing towards a comprehensive war with the entire Axis of Resistance.

  Axis of Resistance is fully prepared for confrontation and I see that things are developing towards escalating confrontations to its maximum extent.

  The enemy government will regret the grave mistake it committed by assassinating Ismail Haniyeh and breaching Iranian sovereignty.

  The assassination of the martyr Ismail Haniyeh would not have been carried out without US cover.

• Yemeni Ansar Allah (also known as Houthi - source: Al Mayadeen):

  The assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh is a terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of laws.

• Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri (source: The Guardian):

  This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas and the will of our people and achieve fake goals. We confirm that this escalation will fail to achieve its objectives.

  Hamas is a concept and an institution and not persons. Hamas will continue on this path regardless of the sacrifices and we are confident of victory.

• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (source: Al Mayadeen):

  Yesterday, I raised the victorious hand of Hajj Ismail Haniyeh, the martyr of Al-Quds, and today I must [carry him] on my shoulder to bury him.

  Martyrdom is the art of the men of God; the relationship between the proud peoples of Iran and Palestine will be stronger than ever.

  The Islamic Republic of Iran will defend its honor and territorial integrity, and will make terrorist invaders regret their cowardly actions.

• Iran's UN envoy Saeed Iravani (source: Al Mayadeen):

  We will not hesitate to use our right to respond urgently and decisively to the Zionist entity's crime.

  We call for an urgent Security Council meeting to discuss Israeli aggression.

  This crime would not have happened without an American green light and intelligence support to carry out the operation.

• Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani (source: X):

  Political assassinations & continued targeting of civilians in Gaza while talks continue leads us to ask, how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side? Peace needs serious partners & a global stance against the disregard for human life.

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (source: X):

  I strongly condemn and curse the treacherous assassination of Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Heniye in Tehran.

  This assassination is a despicable act aimed at destroying the Palestinian cause, the glorious resistance of Gaza and the just struggle of our Palestinian brothers, demoralising and intimidating the Palestinians.

  Whatever the purpose of the heinous attacks on Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdul Aziz Al Rantisi and many other political figures from Gaza, the purpose of the assassination of my brother Ismail Heniye is the same; however, Zionist barbarism will not be able to achieve its ambitions again as it has done so far.

  With the stronger stance of the Islamic world and the alliance of humanity, hopefully, the persecution and genocide in Gaza and the Israeli terror in our geography will come to an end and our region and the world will be at peace.

  For this, as Turkey, we will continue to try all means, to force all doors and to support our Palestinian brothers and sisters with all our means and all our strength. Based on the 1967 borders, we will continue to work for the establishment of a free, sovereign and independent Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital.

  I wish God's mercy to my brother Ismail Heniye, who was martyred as a result of the heinous attack; I wish patience to his family, condolences to our brothers and sisters in Gaza and Palestine and to the Islamic world.

  May Allah honour him with His heaven and glory.

Hezbollah also released an official statement summarised in this Al Mayadeen article.

Also, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh and called on Palestinian people and its forces to unify and stand strong, with mosques in Palestine's West Bank calling for general mobilization and escalation against the Israeli occupation.

Russia also strongly condemned the assassination of the senior Hamas leader via Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov (see this Al Mayadeen article for more details) and Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who posted the following statement on her Telegram channel (all formatting original):

⚡️ On the assassination of Hamas Politburo Chief Ismail Haniyeh

Moscow strongly condemns the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Politburo of the Palestinian Hamas movement, in a missile attack on his residence in Tehran. It is noteworthy that the attack was carried out while the Hamas leader was in Iran, where he was on an official invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of the elected President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Massoud Pezeshkian.

It is clear that the organisers of this political assassination were aware of the dangerous consequences for the entire region. There is no doubt that the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh will have an extremely negative impact on the mediated contacts between Hamas and Israel, in the framework of which mutually acceptable terms for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip were being negotiated.

❗️ We once again urge all parties involved to exercise restraint and refrain from taking steps that could lead to a dramatic deterioration of the security situation in the region and provoke a large-scale armed confrontation.

It is worth noting that so far European officials have refrained to issue any statement on this matter, apart from an anonymous senior official, quoted by The Guardian as saying:

Although Israel didn’t claim Haniyeh assassination, it is seen in the region as demonstration of Israel’s determination to destroy Hamas to the point of making it irrelevant as military threat and to take it out of the political calculations for the ‘day after’ in Gaza and on the Palestinian arena.

All this is a clear warning to Teheran and all its proxies in the Middle East that Israel is not afraid to further hit them deadly if they continue to challenge it. This increases the risks of very dangerous escalation, but it also pushes the global powers to intensify their efforts in pressuring all sides involved in the conflict with the aim to avoid all-out war.

…and later on the external affairs spokesperson Peter Stano (source: The Guardian):

We recall that the EU and other partners have listed Hamas as a terrorist organisation, and that the ICC prosecutor was seeking an arrest warrant against Ismail Haniyeh on various charges of war crimes.

We call on all parties to exert maximum restraint and avoid any further escalation. No country and no nation stand to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.

On the contrary, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, had the gall of issuing the following statement, while responding to questions from the media on this matter and denying any US involvement in the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, as reported by The Guardian:

Of course, I’ve seen the reports and all that I can tell you right now is that I think nothing takes away from the importance of, as I said a moment ago, getting to the ceasefire, which is manifestly in the interests of the hostages and bringing them home. It’s manifestly in the interests of Palestinians who are suffering terribly every single day; children, women, men in Gaza that have been caught in this crossfire of Hamas’s making.

It is profoundly in the interest of trying to put things on a better path, not only in Gaza, but actually throughout the region because so much is tied to what’s happening in Gaza right now. We’ve been working from day one not only to get to a better place in Gaza, but also to prevent the conflict from spreading

How are you and Israel going to get a ceasefire if you kill not a military commander, but Hamas Political Bureau Chief, who was involved in peace negotiations, you idiot?!

As reported by The Guardian, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary, Sabrina Singh, added:

Secretary [Lloyd] Austin reaffirmed his unwavering commitment to Israel’s security and right to self-defence.

They also discussed ongoing efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution that enables citizens on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border to safely return to their homes.

Of course, the only thing the Outlaw US Empire can do is stating their “unwavering” support to the Zionist state of Israel, no matter the war crimes and crimes against humanity they commit and all its violations of international laws!

And then we have British MP Tom Tugendhat, who ignores the tens of thousands of civilians killed in Gaza and makes up a random number (“hundreds of thousands”) of people killed in Iran and abroad by the “regime” in Iran:

From X (formerly Twitter).

In the last few hours, “Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ordered a direct strike on Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh”, as reported by The Guardian, while a UNSC emergency meeting on the matter is ongoing, with the US representative to the UN saying as usual that saying Israel “has a right to defend itself against Hezbollah and other terrorists” (source: The Guardian).

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Until now Israel has not officially commented on this airstrike, but, as mentioned by The Guardian, they never do “when it comes to assassinations carried out by their Mossad intelligence agency”… and after all, who else could be behind it?

Let’s analyse the recent events, also in light of the statements above.

The head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in Tehran after travelling to Iran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president. His residence was targeted by the Israelis and came at a time when ceasefire talks were taking place among Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the US intelligence services and while Lebanon was being attacked.

Several countries including Lebanon, Qatar, Turkey, Russia and Yemen condemned the action saying it was an unacceptable political crime. Iran has threatened a harsh response, and Palestinian factions have united against this murder. It is clear that Israel's intent, with this other terrorist act, is still to aggravate the situation and pursue the path of escalation, ruining any possibility of an agreement. Because to go and bomb a third country in order to kill a leader means nothing other than wanting and seeking with all one's might an all-out, extended and uncontrolled war.

Here we are faced with a terrorist act carried out in a third country, and it shows for the umpteenth time that the criminals in the Israeli government don't give a damn about the hostages and reaching a ceasefire agreement. They are bloodthirsty thugs who have totally lost control, and the Western support that continues unabated besides being worrying has become extremely dangerous.

These damn fanatical imperialists must be stopped because after losing war, morals, ethics and every shred of humanity, they have nothing left but a thirst for blood that will never be quenched!

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P.S.: Just before publishing this article, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, issued the following statement on his Telegram channel:

The knot is tightening in the Middle East. Sorry for the innocent lives lost. They are but hostages of a disgusting state: the USA.

Meanwhile, it’s clear to everyone that a full-scale war is the only way to a shaky peace in the region.

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UPDATE (01/08/2024): A few additional interesting readings:

• short article by independent British journalist and activist Craig Murray, stressing the same main points I brought up in this article and highlighting the hypocrisy of Israel, UK and British media;

• short blog post of former CIA analyst Larry C. Johnson, whose main points are:

  • assassination of Ismail Haniyeh was likely coordinated between Israel and Outlaw US Empire (it is not coincidence that Netanyahu was in Washington just the day before!);

  • deployment of US and UK warships in the East Med, heading towards Lebanon, allegedly “for carrying out a Noncombatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) from Lebanon and/or Israel”, but most likely to support Israel in its next war against Hezbollah and Iran!