After the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, all eyes are on Israel. Its representatives vowed to hunt down and punish all Hamas leaders after the October 7th attack.
Israel usually does not comment on its operations abroad, but this attack may have followed the same pattern as the Israeli operation targeting Iran’s air defenses around its Natanz nuclear facility on April 19th. Israeli planes are believed to have fired missiles outside Iranian airspace.
But until the details of the attack are known – the political ramifications also come into focus.
The most obvious is the damage caused by the fragile efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza. Haniyeh may not have been in charge of day-to-day events on the ground in Gaza because that is the domain of military commander Yahya Sinwar, but as the exiled leader of Hamas he was a critical interlocutor in the talks led by Qatar, the United States (U.S.) and Egypt.
U.S. officials recently hinted that ceasefire talks could soon succeed, although a meeting in Rome last weekend failed to produce progress. But it is extremely difficult to see how any progress can be made in the immediate aftermath of Haniyeh’s assassination.
Why now?
All this begs the question: if this was, as everyone assumes, an Israeli operation, why was it carried out now? Aside from wanting revenge on anyone associated with Hamas, what did Israel hope to achieve?
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has already said the likely reaction of many in the region.
“Once again, it has been revealed that the government of (retired Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu has no intention of achieving peace,” the statement said.
The timing suggests this was part of a wider Israeli threat to retaliate for a Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 12 Druze children and youth in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday. Israel has warned that its response will be harsh.
Officials regularly point to Iran as a link to the so-called “arc of resistance” in the Middle East, which includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, and the Houthis in Yemen.
After dealing a blow to Hezbollah in Beirut, the assassination of the leader of Hamas in Iran sends a stark, terrifying message to militant groups and their Iranian backers: Israel can and will come after you, wherever you are, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
