The assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran has rocked the Middle East \u2013 threatening to further destabilize the region and jeopardize ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas over the war in Gaza. <\/p>\n
The attack on Haniyeh came in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with Hamas pointing the finger at Israel \u2013 which has so far declined to comment. <\/p>\n
All eyes will now focus on two key questions. What happens to Gaza hostage and ceasefire negotiations, given Haniyeh headed up the group\u2019s political operations from overseas and acted as a key interlocuter with international mediators? And will this strike inside Iran prove to be the catalyst for a potential full-blown regional war? <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we know so far. <\/p>\n
Haniyeh had been in Tehran for the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and was staying in a residence for veterans in the north of the city, state-affiliated news outlet Fars reported. <\/p>\n
At around 2 a.m. local time, an \u201cairborne guided projectile\u201d targeted where Haniyeh was staying, according to Iranian state-run outlet IRNA which said his bodyguard was also killed. <\/p>\n
IRNA said further investigations are underway to determine the details of the operation and the position from where the projectile was fired. <\/p>\n
Shortly afterward, Hamas decried what it called a \u201cZionist strike\u201d and a \u201cgrave escalation\u201d in its decades long conflict with Israel. <\/p>\n
One Hamas official said the group is \u201cready to pay various prices\u201d and that the \u201cmoment of truth has come,\u201d adding: \u201cThis assassination will not achieve the goals of the occupation and will not push Hamas to surrender.\u201d <\/p>\n
When asked for comment, Israel\u2019s military said it \u201cdoesn\u2019t respond to reports in the foreign media.\u201d <\/p>\n
The 62-year-old had been part of Hamas for decades, becoming political chief of the group in 2017. The following year, he was named a \u201cspecially designated global terrorist\u201d by the United States. <\/p>\n
Despite that designation \u2013 and unlike Hamas\u2019 military leadership \u2013 Haniyeh travelled globally, meeting with world figures as the political head of the organization. <\/p>\n
During the war with Israel in Gaza he has taken a central role in hostage and ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. <\/p>\n
Earlier this spring, he said Hamas was willing to strike a deal \u2013 but it would require Israel withdrawing from Gaza and a guarantee to cease fighting in the enclave permanently, demands that Israel has called \u201cunacceptable.\u201d <\/p>\n
Haniyeh was in touch with mediators in Qatar and Egypt as recently as early July. Those talks now hang in the balance, despite some hope earlier this month that they were nearing a framework agreement. <\/p>\n
Leaders from around the region have weighed in, with some condemning the killing and voicing alarm about the potential fallout. <\/p>\n
Palestinian leaders, including the Palestinian president and prime minister \u2013 who come from factions that have deep historical rivalries with Hamas \u2013 have condemned the killing and called for Palestinian \u201cnational unity.\u201d <\/p>\n
The White House has seen the reports of Haniyeh\u2019s killing, a spokesperson said, but declined to immediately comment further. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he does not think war in the Middle East is inevitable, but that the US would help defend Israel if it were attacked. <\/p>\n
Leaders from Russia and Turkey have both decried the assassination, warning it would lead to larger conflicts in the region. <\/p>\n
Other Iran-backed militant groups have also voiced sympathy \u2013 including Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen. <\/p>\n
News of Haniyeh\u2019s killing came just hours after Israel said it had killed Hezbollah\u2019s most senior military official, Fu\u2019ad Shukr, in a drone strike in Beirut, Lebanon. <\/p>\n
The group has not confirmed Shukr\u2019s death, but said on Wednesday he \u201cwas present\u201d at the time of the strike. <\/p>\n
If true, Shukr would be the most high-ranking Hezbollah official to have been assassinated since 2016 when Mustafa Badreddine, the group\u2019s top commander at the time, was killed in Syria. <\/p>\n
Whatever the fate of Shukr, Wednesday\u2019s strike marked the most serious Israeli escalation since confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel began on October 8. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran has rocked the Middle East \u2013 threatening to further destabilize the region and jeopardize ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas over the war in Gaza. The attack on Haniyeh came in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with Hamas pointing the finger at <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}