Strike at viper’s head: daring assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh

Hamas’s political leader has been assassinated in Iran in a massive blow to the terrorist organisation, setting back ceasefire prospects and heightening the risk of a wider Middle East conflict.

Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh has been assassinated in Tehran, Iran. Picture: AFP

Hamas’s political leader has been assassinated in Iran in a massive blow to the terrorist organisation, setting back ceasefire prospects and heightening the risk of a wider Middle East conflict.

Ismail Haniyeh was killed alongside his bodyguard in an ­attack on a Tehran residence where he was staying, prompting a vow of revenge from Hamas and fears of Iranian retaliation.

Israel was almost certainly behind the assassination, but was yet to claim responsibility.

Haniyeh’s death came just hours after Israel’s military carried out a targeted airstrike in Beirut that killed a top Hezbollah commander in retaliation for a rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children on Saturday.

Haniyeh, the 62-year-old head of Hamas’s political wing, is the group’s most senior leader to be killed during the nearly 10-month conflict sparked by its October 7 attack on Israel.

Hamas said he was assassinated “in a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran”.

Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA said an “airborne guided projectile” had been used in the ­attack about 2am local time.

A senior Hamas official said his death would “not go unanswered”, while Iran’s supreme leader, ­Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned of “harsh punishment”, declaring “we consider it our duty to seek revenge”.

Haniyeh, left, with former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi in March. Picture: Iranian Presidency / AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to convene a meeting of the country’s security chiefs on Wednesday local time on the fresh security threats arising from the assassinations.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said that Haniyeh was “central” to Hamas’s October 7 attack, which Australia had ­condemned.

“But that said, we have consistently been advocating for a ceasefire in the Middle East to see an end to the catastrophe which is playing out,” he said.

“And clearly, in this moment, we are very much advocating using our voice in the global community to advocate against any ­escalation.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said Haniyeh was an “arch-­terrorist” whose death was on a par with those of al-Qa’ida leader Osama bin Laden and Islamic State’s Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“This is a man who planned and authorised hundreds of suicide bombings targeting buses and cafes, and helped turn Gaza into a terrorist camp that heaped misery on Gazans and has terrorised Israelis for years,” he said.

“Like every despot, he has bathed in obscene wealth, luxuriated in fine villas and private jets while bemoaning the predicament of his people.

“The world is a better place now that Haniyeh is finished.”

The Qatar-based Hamas leader was in Tehran to attend Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony the day before he was killed.

It was under Haniyeh’s leadership that Hamas launched its deadly October 7 terrorist attack on Israel that killed 1197 people and saw 251 hostages seized.

His assassination is a win for under-pressure Mr Netanyahu, who has vowed to take out Hamas’s top leaders, and leaves the organisation’s military commander in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, as Israel’s No 1 target.

Haniyeh attends a swearing-in ceremony for Iran's new President, Masoud Pezeshkian, on the day before his death. Picture: Reuters

Haniyeh’s execution came soon after Israel struck a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut, killing Fuad Shukr – the terrorist group’s commander of military operations in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said Shukr had “the blood of many Israelis on his hands”, including those of a dozen children in a rocket strike on a Golan Heights football field on Saturday.

The deaths of Haniyeh and Shukr threaten to further destabilise the region, risking Iranian intervention on behalf of its terrorist proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah.

They are also likely to jeopardise ceasefire talks, in which Haniyeh had been directly involved.

He was Hamas’s lead negotiator in ceasefire talks with Israel, securing the release last year of 240 Palestinian prisoners in return for 100 Israeli captives. In May, he demanded a permanent end to Israeli attacks on Gaza. The call was rejected by Israel, which has vowed to keep fighting until Hamas is destroyed.

The White House said it had had seen reports of Haniyeh’s killing but declined to immediately comment.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing of the Hamas leader, branding it a “cowardly act and dangerous development”.

Qatar said Haniyeh’s assassination was a “heinous crime” and a “dangerous escalation”, while an official with the Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen called it a “flagrant violation of laws and ideal values”.

Turkey’s foreign ministry called the assassination “despicable”, as Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov blasted Haniyeh’s killing as “an absolutely unacceptable political assassination” that would escalate tensions in the region.

Israel’s military operations in Gaza following the October 7 attack have left more than 39,000 people dead in the Palestinian territory, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Haniyeh is one of a series of Hamas military and political officials to have been killed during the war. The Israeli military killed the group’s most senior military commander, Mohammed Deif, in a targeted strike earlier this month.

It killed Haniyeh’s deputy, Saleh Arouri, in a targeted strike in Beirut in January.

Haniyeh’s adult sons were also killed by Israeli airstrikes.

Haniyeh was elected head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017 to succeed Khaled Meshaal.

He was already a well-known figure, having become Palestinian prime minister in 2006 following an upset victory by Hamas in that year’s parliamentary election.

With AFP