Iran pledges response to ‘cowardly’ assassination of Hamas leader in Tehran
The Cradle, July 31, 2024 —
The murder of Ismail Haniyeh came hours after a deadly Israeli strike on a residential building in the Lebanese capital, which targeted a top Hezbollah commander
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on 31 July that Israel will face a “harsh punishment” for its assassination of the chief of Hamas’ politcal bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran earlier that morning.
“Israel has secured a harsh punishment for itself by assassinating Haniyeh. Revenge for Haniyeh, who was assassinated in the sanctuary of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is our duty.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said “Iranian organizations are investigating the dimensions and details of the incident.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran will “defend its territorial integrity, dignity, honor, and pride, and will make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly act.”
Palestinian factions have also mourned the slain resistance leader. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement said on Wednesday that “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 the Zionist crimes that have crossed all limits.”
The PIJ offered its condolences to Haniyeh’s family and supporters and emphasized its “cohesion with Hamas in resisting the usurping entity.”
The Popular Resistance Committees said in a statement that the loss of Haniyeh “will not weaken the resistance’s resolve and determination to continue its path of expelling this treacherous Zionist enemy sitting on our occupied land from its sea to its river.”
“The Zionist enemy has not learned from what happened during the ongoing confrontation since 7 October that the policy of assassinations will only increase the resistance on all fronts and in all arenas … the blood of the great martyr leader Abu al-Abd Haniyeh will be a curse that will shock and burn the entity of this Nazi enemy,” it added.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) mourned the top Hamas leader as well.
A Hamas statement earlier on Wednesday morning expressed its mourning “to the sons of our great Palestinian people, to the Arab and Islamic nation, and to all the free people of the world … We belong to God and to Him we shall return. It is a struggle of victory or martyrdom.”
Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement said, “The assassination of leader Haniyeh will not deter the Palestinian people, nor will it prevent them from continuing their resistance, but rather will increase their steadfastness and strength.”
In Lebanon, Hezbollah released a statement saying: “We in Hezbollah share with our dear brothers in the Hamas movement all the feelings of pain over the loss of this great leader, the feelings of anger at the enemy’s crimes, the feelings of pride that the leaders in our movements are leading their people and their mujahideen to martyrdom.”
Russia condemned the attack and referred to the assassination as “an unacceptable political murder.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said, “We are highly concerned about the incident and firmly oppose and condemn the assassination,” adding that it will lead to “further instability in the regional situation.”
Haniyeh was killed in the Iranian capital early on 31 July, after he had traveled to the country for the inauguration of its new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, a day earlier.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday morning that Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed when they were targeted in their guesthouse. “The attack is under investigation and the results will be announced later in the day,” it said.
Al Mayadeen reported, citing an Iranian source, that the Israeli attack was a cross-country guided missile strike rather than a drone strike.
The attack came hours after an Israeli drone strike on a residential building in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, which marked a serious escalation.
Three civilians, a woman and two children, were killed in the attack, and around 70 were injured. The target was Fouad Shokr, top military advisor to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the director of the entirety of the resistance group’s military operations.
“As it has become known, the Zionist enemy attacked the southern suburb of Beirut yesterday, Tuesday, 07/30/2024, targeting a residential building in one of its neighborhoods, which led to the death of a number of citizens, the wounding of others, and major destruction to a number of floors of the building,” Hezbollah said. “The great jihadist leader, Brother Mr. Fouad Shokr (Hajj Mohsen), was present in this building at the time.”
“Since the incident occurred, civil defense teams have been working diligently, but slowly, to remove the rubble due to the state of the destroyed layers, and we are still waiting for the result that those involved in this operation will reach regarding the fate of the great and dear leader and other citizens in this place, so that something can be built upon as required,” it added.