Hamas names alleged October 7 mastermind as new leader
Published : Thursday, 8 August, 2024 at 12:00 AM Count : 199
JERUSALEM, Aug 7: Hamas named the alleged mastermind of the deadliest attack in Israeli history as its new leader, further inflaming regional tensions as the Gaza war entered its 11th month on Wednesday.
Yahya Sinwar's appointment angered Israel at a time when it is bracing for potential Iranian retaliation for the killing of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh last week in Tehran.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Sinwar's promotion was "yet another compelling reason to swiftly eliminate him and wipe this vile organisation off the face of the earth".
Sinwar -- the Palestinian militant group's leader in Gaza since 2017 -- has not been seen since the October 7 attack, after which Israel called him a "dead man walking".
A senior Hamas official told AFP that the selection of Sinwar sent a message that the organisation "continues its path of resistance".
Hamas's Lebanese ally Hezbollah congratulated Sinwar and said the appointment affirms "the enemy... has failed to achieve its objectives" by killing Hamas leaders and officials.
Analysts believe Sinwar has been more reluctant to agree to a Gaza ceasefire than Haniyeh, who lived in Qatar.
"If a ceasefire deal seemed unlikely upon Haniyeh's death, it is even less likely under Sinwar," according to Rita Katz, executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group.
"The group will only lean further into its hardline militant strategy of recent years," she added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that it was up to Sinwar to help achieve a ceasefire as he "has been and remains the primary decider".
Pope Francis called for "an immediate ceasefire on all fronts".
Iran-backed Hezbollah has also pledged to avenge the deaths of Haniyeh and its own military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike in Beirut hours earlier.
In a televised address to mark one week since Shukr's death, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said his group and Tehran were "obliged to respond."
Nasrallah said Hezbollah would retaliate "alone or in the context of a unified response from all the axis" of Iran-backed groups in the region, "whatever the consequences".
Minutes before his speech, Israeli jets flew low over the Lebanese capital in a show of force.
The United States, which has sent extra warships and fighter jets to the region, urged both Iran and Israel to avoid an escalation.
President Joe Biden called Jordan's King Abdullah II, whose country helped down Iranian drones and missiles in an attack on Israel in April.
It was followed by a call with the Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and another with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose countries have been the key intermediaries seeking a ceasefire in the 10-month Gaza war.
"No one should escalate this conflict. We've been engaged in intense diplomacy with allies and partners, communicating that message directly to Iran. We communicated that message directly to Israel," Blinken told reporters.
The Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is to meet on Wednesday at the request of "Palestine and Iran", to discuss developments in the region, an OIC official said.
Israel has not commented on Haniyeh's killing but confirmed it had carried out the strike on Shukr.
It held the Hezbollah commander responsible for a rocket attack on a Druze Arab town in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 children, calling him the "right-hand man" of Nasrallah.
Hezbollah has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli troops throughout the Gaza war. —AFP
