Tragic death of Ismail Haniyeh

Hamas's top political leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed in an attack in Tehran, Iran. Along with Haniyeh, one of his bodyguards was also killed in the incident. Both Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for the assassination.

Ismail Haniyeh was born in a refugee camp in Egypt in 1962. He became involved with Hamas after graduating with a degree in 1987, and in 1997, he was appointed head of the Hamas office. The two main political factions in Palestine are Fatah and Hamas, which are located in the West Bank and Gaza respectively. In 1994, a treaty between Israel and Palestine led to the formation of the Palestinian National Authority, granting Palestinians limited self-governance in certain areas. The Palestinian National Authority no longer exists; it is now referred to as the State of Palestine. The current president of this state is Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas resides in Ramallah in the West Bank, not in Gaza. After Hamas won the majority of seats in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections, President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Ismail Haniyeh as Prime Minister.

Mahmoud Abbas is an advocate for halting the use of weapons against Israel and has repeatedly called on Palestinian factions to cease armed actions. However, groups like Hamas and several other armed factions have not heeded his calls. Shortly after Ismail Haniyeh became Prime Minister, a bloody conflict erupted between Fatah and Hamas. As a result, the activities of Abbas’s political party, Fatah, were suspended in Gaza. Prime Minister Haniyeh's decision was a direct challenge to President Abbas’s authority. Consequently, President Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from the position of Prime Minister and appointed Salam Fayyad as the new Prime Minister. Hamas did not comply with Abbas’s decision, leading to the formation of two separate governments: one in Gaza controlled by Hamas and the other in the West Bank controlled by Fatah. Despite numerous attempts to reunify the two governments, they remain separate.

Israel continues to carry out relentless attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip. Over the course of more than 10 months, these attacks have resulted in the deaths of over 40,000 Palestinians. In April, on the day of Eid, an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in Gaza killed three of Ismail Haniyeh's sons and several grandchildren. This is not the first time members of Haniyeh's family have been killed in Israeli attacks; in February, another of his sons was killed, in October, his brother and nephew lost their lives, and in November, one of his grandsons was also killed. Haniyeh has reported that 60 members of his family have been killed in the ongoing conflict. The Hamas leader has also stated that the killing of his sons will not alter the course of the war and that Hamas will not deviate from its demand for a ceasefire. Ismail Haniyeh has been playing a key role in the negotiations for a ceasefire with Israel on behalf of Hamas.

Several hours before Haniyeh's death, another Israeli attack in the southern suburbs of Beirut resulted in the death of Fuad Shukr, a commander of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. A few days prior to Shukr’s killing, a rocket attack by Hezbollah from the Israel-occupied Golan Heights had killed 12 Israelis, and Israel held Shukr responsible for this attack. It is also alleged that Fuad Shukr was the mastermind behind the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which resulted in the deaths of 241 American servicemen. Since Hezbollah leader Abbas al-Musawi was involved in this attack, Israel targeted his convoy with an Apache helicopter strike in 1992, killing Musawi, his wife, his child, and five others.

Israel often pursues and eliminates its enemies in this manner. The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad is considered one of the most formidable in the world. Mossad has been known to track down and kill those responsible for the murder of Jews during the Holocaust. Among those targeted was Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann, who was notorious for his role in the systematic extermination of Jews. After World War II, Eichmann fled from one country to another in an attempt to evade capture. In 1960, Israel's intelligence agency Mossad abducted Adolf Eichmann from Argentina and brought him to Israel, where he was tried and executed. Additionally, Mossad continues to track down and eliminate Palestinians involved in the 1972 Munich Olympics attack, where Israeli athletes were targeted. Mossad has carried out highly precise assassinations of various individuals, including Iraqi long-range artillery researcher Gerald Bull, Hamas drone project leader Mohamed Zouari, Palestinian rocket modernization researcher Fadi al-Batsh, Fatah movement's deputy leader Abu Jihad, Palestinian Islamic Jihad founder Fathi Shikaki, and Ababil drone inventor Mohamed al-Zawari. The precision and effectiveness of these operations have led to the belief that such covert assassinations could only be executed with the expertise of Mossad, making them unparalleled in their meticulousness and effectiveness.

After the killing of Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed anger and vowed to respond appropriately. However, Iran lacks the direct military capability to engage Israel in open warfare. Israel remains poised to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities at the first opportunity. The assassination of Haniyeh highlights Iran's vulnerabilities and underscores the challenges it faces in countering Israeli actions. Haniyeh had traveled to Iran to attend the inauguration of the new president, and Iran had taken precautions regarding his security. However, they were unable to protect the building where Haniyeh was staying from Israeli surveillance. He was killed in an airstrike at around 2 AM local Iranian time. Despite having its own intelligence agency, Iran was unaware of the impending attack. Israeli aircraft conducted a bombing raid inside Iran without the country being aware of it. A similar event occurred during the Iran-Iraq War in 1980, when Iraq was on high alert due to the conflict. Despite this, Israeli planes carried out an attack that destroyed Iraq's nuclear facility, and Iraq did not realize the attack had happened until it was too late.

Not only did Israel carry out the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh inside Iran, but it has also previously targeted and killed several Iranian nuclear scientists on Iranian soil. The identities of those responsible for these killings remain shrouded in mystery, but there is widespread speculation that Mossad is involved. Mossad has been actively working to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power and has conducted several attacks on Iran's underground nuclear facilities. Iran's new generation of aircraft is not suited for warfare, and its defense systems are weak against Israel's advanced aircraft and missile attacks. The distance from Iran to Israel is about 1,000 kilometers. Recently, Iran announced that it had launched over 300 drones and missiles at Israel. However, only about one percent of these bombs and drones actually hit Israeli territory. The remaining drones and missiles were intercepted and destroyed in the air before they could strike Israeli territory. Therefore, it seems unlikely that Iran will engage in direct warfare. Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are effectively being used as proxies and are suffering significant losses as a result.

Middle Eastern Muslim countries possess vast resources, numerous soldiers, and a plethora of advanced weaponry, but these assets are often employed in internal conflicts rather than against external threats. Former Chief Justice of West Pakistan, M.R. Kayani, wrote in his book Not the Whole Truth that Pakistani soldiers can only conquer their own country and that their weapons are used against their own people. Kayani's observation is likely applicable to many Muslim countries, including Iran, where internal strife often overshadows external conflicts.

Zeauddin Ahmed: Former Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank and former Managing Director of Mint.