Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader Associated Press Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (third from right) led a prayer at the funeral of Ismail Haniyeh on Thursday in Tehran. Iran's new president, Massoud Pezeshkian (second from right), was also present.
Ahmad Parhizi – Agence France-Presse and Menna Zaki – Agence France-Presse in Tehran
Published yesterday at 7:49 AM Updated yesterday at 4:19 PM
- Middle East
Iran and its allies were preparing their response against Israel on Thursday, after the assassination of the leader of Hamas, whose funeral brought together thousands of people in Tehran, and the death of the military leader of Lebanese Hezbollah in a strike claimed by Israel.
The remains of Ismail Haniyeh, killed Wednesday in Tehran in a strike blamed on Israel, have arrived in Qatar, where the political leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement, who was living in exile in the Gulf country, is to be buried Friday.
Hamas has called for a “day of anger” on Friday to mark its leader's funeral.
“Israel does not know what red lines it has crossed,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday, after the attack that killed the military leader of the Lebanese Islamist movement, Fouad Shokr, near Beirut on Tuesday and the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.
Israel must expect a “Inevitable response” from Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech at Fouad Chokr's funeral.
In the evening, the movement announced that it had launched dozens of rockets on northern Israel in response to an Israeli “attack” that “killed several civilians.”
Photo: Vahid Salemi Associated Press The coffins of Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard were transported through the streets of Tehran in a truck decorated with flowers.
Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas and supported by Iran, has been exchanging almost daily fire with the Israeli army along the Israeli-Lebanese border since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, triggered by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian movement against Israel.
The attacks in Tehran and Beirut have rekindled fears that the war could spread across the Middle East, between Israel on the one hand and Iran and its allies on the other.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel was at a “very high level” of preparedness for any scenario, “both defensive and offensive,” according to his office.
The Israeli military also announced the death of the head of Hamas’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip on July 13.
Photo: Agence France-Presse Iranian women held Palestinian flags and pictures of Ismail Haniyeh during a protest at Palestine Square in Tehran on Thursday.
Calls for revenge
Thousands of mourners holding pictures of Ismail Haniyeh attended his funeral in Tehran on Thursday, which was marked by calls for revenge.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000At Tehran University, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recited the prayer for the dead in front of the coffins of Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard, which were draped in the Palestinian flag. Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian and Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami attended the ceremony.
The coffins were transported in a truck decorated with flowers through the streets of Tehran.
Ismail Haniyeh, 61, was killed by an “air projectile” Wednesday, according to local media, at one of the veterans’ residences in northern Tehran after attending Mr. Pezeshkian’s inauguration ceremony.
The New York Times, citing five Middle Eastern officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a bomb planted for about two months in the residence, which is protected by the Revolutionary Guards and is part of a large compound in an upscale neighborhood in northern Tehran.
Israel claimed responsibility for killing Fouad Shokr, but the military said Thursday that the strike who killed him was the only one carried out that night in the Middle East.
Iran’s supreme leader had threatened Israel with “severe punishment” immediately after Ismail Haniyeh’s death.
“We will certainly implement the supreme leader’s order,” “at the right place and at the right time,” Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said at the funeral.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, also allied with Hamas, vowed on Thursday a “military response” to the “dangerous escalation” they said Israel had provoked.
According to the New York Times, which cited three unnamed Iranian officials, Ayatollah Khamenei, at an emergency meeting of the Supreme Security Council national, Wednesday morning, gave the order to strike Israel directly in response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.
Read also
- Israel says it killed Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif
- Hamas leader killed in Tehran in strike blamed on Israel
- Israel targets Lebanese Hezbollah commander in southern Beirut suburbs
- In southern Beirut suburbs, attacks have become “routine”
- The specter of war looms over Lebanon
“Intense efforts”
US President Joe Biden was scheduled to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, the White House announced, stressing that the United States was “engaged in intense efforts” to prevent a full-scale conflict in the Middle East.
Despite calls for revenge, several analysts believe that the response from Iran and its allies should remain measured, in the desire to avoid an escalation.
“Iran and Hezbollah will not want to play into Netanyahu's hands and give him the bait or the pretexts he needs to draw the United States into a war,” said analyst Amal Saad, an expert on Hezbollah. “They will try to avoid a war while strongly deterring Israel,” she added.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007 and which it considers a terrorist organization, like the United States and the European Union, after the October 7 attack. This resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to a count by Agence France-Presse based on official Israeli data.
Of the 251 people kidnapped, 111 are still being held in Gaza, 39 of whom have died, according to the army.
In response, Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has so far killed 39,480 people, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government, which does not provide information on the number of civilians and fighters killed.