Dubai: The killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran on Wednesday morning drew regional and global reactions, raising fears of a wider escalation in a region rocked by Israel's war in Gaza and worsening conflict in Lebanon.
Hamas said Hanih was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the inauguration of the country's new president.
Israel itself did not immediately comment but it doesn't come often about assassinations carried out by their Mossad intelligence agency.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the United States was “not aware of or involved” in Iran's killing of Haniyeh.
“I can't say what it means. I can tell you that getting the ceasefire is necessary, important for everybody,” Blinken said, according to a transcript shared by his staff from an interview with Singapore's Channel News Asia.
However, Iran has said that the US is responsible for the killing of Hanieh because of its support for Israel.
Risk of attack to increase regional fighting
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has vowed revenge against Israel for the killing of Hamas's political chief, saying Israel is “preparing a severe punishment for itself.”
“We consider it our duty to avenge him,” Haniyah said in a statement on his official website, adding that he was “a beloved guest of our home.” After the assassination of the Hamas leader, Iran has also announced three days of mourning.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters: “This killing of brother Haniyah by the Israeli occupation is a serious escalation in trying to break the will of Hamas.”
He said Hamas would continue on the path it had followed, adding: “We are confident of victory.”
Iran's state-run Irna news agency reported on Wednesday that senior Hamas official Mosa Abu Marzouk said it would not respond to Haniyah's murder. He called the killing a cowardly act.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Haniyah's killing, and Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank called for a general strike and mass demonstrations.
Russia on Wednesday condemned Haniyeh's killing as an “unacceptable political assassination”.
“This is a completely unacceptable political assassination, and it will further escalate tensions,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
Konstantin Kosachev, deputy chairman of the Federation Council, Russia's upper house, said he expected a “sudden increase in mutual hatred in the Middle East”.
“The most difficult period of the conflict is beginning in the region,” he wrote in a telegram.
On Hanieh's death, China's Foreign Ministry said China opposes and condemns the act of “murder”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the “fraudulent killing” of his closest ally and “brother” Haniyeh in Tehran.
“May God have mercy on my brother Ismail Haniyeh, who was martyred after this heinous attack,” Erdogan wrote on the X social media platform, condemning “Zionist barbarism.”
“This shameful act aims to sabotage the Palestinian cause, the glorious Gazan resistance and the just fight of our Palestinian brothers and terrorize the Palestinians,” Erdogan added.
Qatar and Egypt have said the killings have damaged prospects for a Gaza ceasefire
Qatar strongly condemned Haniyeh's killing as a heinous crime, a “dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law”.
Qatar's foreign ministry stressed in a statement, “The killing of civilians and the reckless targeting will lead to chaos in the region and undermine the prospects for peace.”
Egypt has signaled Israel's lack of political will to ease Israeli tensions after Haniyeh's assassination.
Egypt's foreign ministry said in a statement that the escalation and the lack of progress in Gaza ceasefire talks are complicating the situation.
In a statement, Iraq's foreign ministry called the killing “a clear violation of international law and a threat to the security and stability of the region.”
Iran-backed groups have condemned the Haniyah killing
Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards military force confirmed Hanieh's death and said in a statement that “Iran and the Resistance Front will respond to this crime,” using a term used by Tehran to refer to allied militant groups in the Middle East.
Yemen's Iran-backed militant Houthi group called Haniyeh's killing a “heinous terrorist crime”.
“Targeting him is a heinous terrorist crime and a clear violation of law and ideal values,” Mohammad Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Houthis' political bureau, posted on X.
Yemeni rebels have been firing drones and missiles at ships in the Red Sea since November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war.
Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah issued its condolences on Wednesday but did not specifically accuse Israel. Haniyeh's killing is said to make groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, allied with Iran, more determined to confront Israel.
The Iraqi armed faction Kataib Hezbollah, part of a pro-Iranian coalition of armed groups, said in a statement on its official Telegram account on Wednesday that the Israeli killing of Haniyah in Tehran “broke all rules of engagement”.
