FEARS of a fresh war in the Middle East are rising after a suspected Israeli airstrike took out a senior Hamas leader and sparked fury among the terror group’s allies.
Iran, staunch backer of Hamas, said it is “Tehran’s duty” to seek “revenge for Ismail Haniyeh’s blood” after he was killed in the capital.
Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed to enact a “harsh punishment”.
Hamas also swore to seek “dire consequences” for the strike that killed its political leader, responsible for conducting its negotiations outside of the war-torn Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah, another Iran-backed ally in the “axis of resistance”, promised to stir up anti-Israel sentiment amongst its allies.
And the Houthis, based in Yemen, said it marks a “major escalation” in the Middle East.
Israel’s Mossad assassins could easily have taken Haniyeh out as he led ceasefire talks in Qatar but appeared to watch and wait until he set foot on the territory of arch enemy Iran before striking.
Haniyeh and just one bodyguard were killed in the precision missile strike as they slept in a military veterans’ building in Tehran.
Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence arm somehow discovered exactly which room he was staying in within scores in the block.
A guided missile was then fired through the window of his room and detonated inside, killing him and his aide instantly.
The move was intended to limit political fallout – but sparked vows of Iranian revenge within hours.
A direct attack on Iranian soil and the death of its close ally will put pressure on Tehran to hit back against Israel.
Hours before the strike, Haniyeh sat alongside other leaders from Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance” – Hezbollah, the Houthis and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The terror group leaders, dressed in suits, sat alongside one another in the front row for the swearing in of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel” spilled from the crowd as a speaker mentioned the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Tensions in the Middle East are already swirling after almost ten months of brutal and bloody war in the Gaza Strip.
Analysts previously told The Sun that Iran’s network of bloodthirsty proxy groups across the region are “primed and ready” to spark a second front in the ongoing conflict.
Some 35,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the months since the October 7 massacre which saw Hamas kill 1,200 people in Israel.
Out of 250 Israelis taken hostage, many are still in Gaza and around a third are presumed dead.
Iranian backed groups across the Middle East; Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, have been exchanging fire with the IDF in increasing numbers ever since.
On Saturday evening an alleged Hezbollah strike fired from Lebanon hit a Druze village in Golan Heights, an area occupied by Israel.
Some 12 young people, including children, were killed as the rocket hit a football pitch.
Israel’s foreign minister told Channel 12 that “Hezbollah has crossed all the red lines here, and the response will reflect that”.
He warned: “We are nearing the moment in which we face an all-out war.”
Then just hours before Hamas leader Haniyeh was killed on Monday, Hezbollah’s most senior military commander Fuad Shukr was taken out by a “targeted” Israeli strike.
Iran warned that any military “adventures” by Israel in Lebanon could spark “unforeseen consequences”.
And a Hezbollah official said that his group would be ready to fight a war with Israel after the Beirut strike took out their top military chief.
Egypt on Wednesday morning called for the situation in the region to be handled so as to avoid it spiralling out of control.
Experts have previously warned The Sun about an all out war breaking out in Lebanon as Israel takes on Hezbollah.
Israel’s Defence Forces (IDF) have been gearing up for a possible invasion by the group – and preparing to defend against one – for years.
The militant cult is thought to have 30,000 to 50,000 fighters and between 120,000 and 200,000 missiles, rockets, attack and reconnaissance drones.
They operate mostly out of southern Lebanon.
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
Haniyeh, one of the founding members of the terror group, unflinchingly represented the bloodthirsty clan for decades, even past the death of his own children.
The 62-year-old was responsible for running Hamas’ political operations from Doha, Qatar’s capital.
Born in a refugee camp in northern Gaza, he lead the group through several wars with Israel and served as a fundamental power player for the cult.
Over the last ten months he had been responsible for conducting ceasefire talks, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US.
He survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 2003, before the IDF took out his mentor – the founder of Hamas itself Sheik Ahmed Yassin – in 2004.
Standing outside a hospital in Gaza at the time, the man who would become one of Hamas’ principal leaders urged people not to cry but to focus on revenge instead.
By 2006 he was working as the leader of Hamas in Gaza, a position now held by Israel’s number one enemy – Yahya Sinwar.
He moved to Qatar in 2017 when he was named as the group’s new political leader.
The group was trying to change its image at the time as it made bids across the international stage for more influence.
Haniyeh represented the Iran-backed terror proxy in Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran and Egypt.
His ruthless approach to furthering the Hamas agenda would overrule even the assassination of his own children and grandchildren years later.
In April this year an Israeli airstrike killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren.
In June, Hamas claimed his sister and her family were also killed by an Israeli strike.
Haniyeh simply said at the time: “We shall not give in, no matter the sacrifices.”
He added that he had lost dozens of family members over years of war between Hamas and Israel.
The terror boss was given news of his children’s deaths while on a hospital visit. After hearing the news, he continued to tour the building as normal.
Haniyeh spent time inside Israeli prisons in the 1980s and 1990s.
By 1988 he was among the founding members of Hamas, working under Yassin.
His assassination serves as a fundamental blow to Hamas – with leaders dubbing it a “treacherous Zionist raid” on Wednesday morning.
