Political leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed in an attack on Hamas office in Tehran, says Iran’s Revolutionary Guard CorpsSee all our Middle East crisis coverageIsmail Haniyeh assassination in Iran is a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”, Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV has cited senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk as saying.Hamas’ leadership arrangements can be opaque to outsiders. Ismail Haniyeh was officially the chair of the group’s political political bureau and lived in exile, while Yahya Sinwar is the leader of Hamas in Gaza and was reportedly the mastermind of the 7 October attack on Israel. Khaled Mashal is also a prominent Hamas political leader who lives in exile.In theory, Hamas is run by a leadership council or “shura’” drawn from regional councils elected by Hamas members in Gaza, the West Bank and by prisoners in Israeli jails. In reality, the organisation is riven by factional disputes and personality clashes.One split divides the military from the political wings. Another pits the leaders in Gaza, who have lived for decades in the crosshairs of Israel’s security agencies or spent years in Israeli jails, against senior figures overseas in Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon or elsewhere who live in relative comfort and security. Continue reading…
Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/jul/31/middle-east-crisis-live-updates-hamas-leader-ismail-haniyeh-killed-iran-israel-gaza-war
Author : Helen Livingstone
Publish date : 2024-07-31 03:48:26
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Middle East crisis: Hamas says leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Iran – latest updates
