Analysts warn that the possibility of the spread of conflict in the Middle East is increasing after the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian extremist group Hamas, which the United States (U.S.) and the European Union (EU) consider a terrorist organization.
It was announced that he was killed on July 31st in a rocket attack. The day before, he met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and was surrounded by Iranian parliamentarians.
Ismail Haniyeh was the leader of Hamas, an organization that the U.S. and the EU consider a terrorist organization.
The press service of the Israeli government published a picture of Haniyeh with the words that he was “eliminated” and then deleted the post.
Many analysts have warned that the risk of conflict escalation in the region is growing.
“This means that the risk of regional conflict and war is now growing. I expect that Hezbollah and Iran will respond after they recover from the shock, because Israel has shown to have accurate intelligence, ‘‘says Yossi Melman, correspondent for intelligence and strategic affairs of the newspaper Haaretz.
An Israeli attack took place in Lebanon a day earlier. Israel claimed to have killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr. A few hours later, Haniyeh was killed. In a statement, Khamenei said that Iran will avenge Haniyeh‘s murder.
Tensions in the region have been rising since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th. Israel responded with a military attack on Gaza, Radio Slobodna Evropa writes.
E.Dz.
