World reacts to killing of Hamas leader Haniyeh in Tehran

Ismael Haniyeh, Palestinian leader of the militant group Hamas, surrounded by lawmakers flashes the victory sign during the swearing in ceremony for the new Iranian President, at the parliament in Tehran on July 30, 2024. Iranian reformist Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn as the Islamic republic's ninth president. (Photo by AFP)
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Updated 31 July 2024
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World reacts to killing of Hamas leader Haniyeh in Tehran

DUBAI: The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Iran drew regional and global reactions, raising fears of wider escalation in a region shaken by Israel’s war in Gaza and a worsening conflict in Lebanon.

Hamas said that Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the inauguration of the country’s new president. 

Israel itself did not immediately comment but it often doesn’t when it comes to assassinations carried out by their Mossad intelligence agency.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States was “not aware of or involved in” the killing of Haniyeh in Iran.

“I can't tell you what this means. I can tell you that the imperative of getting a ceasefire, the importance that that has for everyone, remains,” Blinken said, according to a transcript shared by his staff from an interview with Channel News Asia in Singapore.

However, Iran said that the United States bears responsibility in the assassination of Haniyeh because of its support for Israel.

Attack risks to escalate regional fighting
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed revenge on Israel over the killing of Hamas' political chief, saying Israel “prepared a harsh punishment for itself.”

“We consider his revenge as our duty” in a statement on his official website, saying Haniyeh was “a dear guest in our home.” Iran also declared three days of mourning following the killing of the Hamas chief.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters: “This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas.”

He said that Hamas would continue the path it was following, adding: “We are confident of victory.”

Hamas senior official Moussa Abu Marzouk, meanwhile, said that Haniyeh’s assassination will not go unanswered, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Wednesday. He also called the assassination a cowardly act.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing of Haniyeh, and Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank called for a general strike and mass demonstrations.

Russia on Wednesday denounced the killing of Haniyeh as an “unacceptable political assassination.”

“It is a completely unacceptable political assassination, and this will lead to a further escalation of tensions,” Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

Konstantin Kosachev, the vice president of Russia’s upper house Federation Council, said that he expected a “sudden escalation of mutual hatred in the Near East.”

“The most difficult period of confrontations is beginning in the region,” he wrote on Telegram.

On Haniyeh’s death, China’s foreign ministry said that China opposes and condemns the act of “assassination.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the “perfidious assassination” in Tehran of his close ally and “brother” Haniyeh. 

“May God have mercy on my brother Ismail Haniyeh, fallen in martyrdom after this odious attack,” Erdogan wrote on the X social media platform, denouncing “Zionist barbarity.”

“This shameful act aims to sabotage the Palestinian cause, the glorious Gazan resistance and our Palestinian brothers' just fight, and to intimidate Palestinians,” Erdogan added.

Qatar and Egypt say assassinations damage Gaza truce chances

Qatar strongly condemned the assassination of Haniyeh considering it a heinous crime, “a dangerous escalation, and a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law.”

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed in a statement that “the assassination and reckless targeting of civilians will lead the region into chaos and undermine the chances of peace.”

Egypt said that Israeli escalation indicated a lack of political will from Israel for de-escalation, after the killing of Haniyeh. 

A statement from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said this escalation, along with making no progress in Gaza ceasefire talks, was complicating the situation.

Iraq's foreign ministry in a statement described the killing as a “flagrant violation of international law and a threat to security and stability in the region.”

Iran-backed groups condemn Haniyeh killing

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards military force confirmed the death of Haniyeh and said in a statement that “Iran and the resistance front will respond to this crime," employing a term Tehran uses to refer to allied militant groups across the Middle East.

Yemen’s Iran-backed militant Houthi group called Haniyeh’s killing a “heinous terrorist crime”.

“Targeting him is a heinous terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Huthis' political bureau, posted on X.

The Yemeni rebels have been launching drones and missiles at shipping in the Red Sea since November, saying that they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war.

Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah issued its condolences on Wednesday but did not specifically accuse Israel. It said that Haniyeh’s killing would make Iran-aligned groups, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, more determined to confront Israel.

Iraqi armed faction Kataib Hezbollah, part of a pro-Iran alliance of armed groups, said the Israeli killing of Haniyeh in Tehran “broke all rules of engagement,” in a statement on its official Telegram account on Wednesday.


 


Rubio steers clear of branding Putin ‘war criminal’

Updated 2 sec ago
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Rubio steers clear of branding Putin ‘war criminal’

“Crimes have been committed in the war on Ukraine, and there will be accountability for that,” Rubio said
Keating accused Rubio of being “inconsistent” and “equivocating“

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday steered clear of calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” saying the priority was negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict.

In a fiery congressional hearing, Democratic Representative Bill Keating recalled Rubio’s heated criticism of Putin’s record when the top US diplomat served as a senator, and asked him if he still believed Putin is a “war criminal.”

“Crimes have been committed in the war on Ukraine, and there will be accountability for that, but our goal right now is to end that war,” Rubio said.

“Because let me tell you, every single day that that war goes on, people are killed, more people are maimed and, frankly, more war crimes are being committed,” he said.

Keating accused Rubio of being “inconsistent” and “equivocating.”

Rubio later responded to a fellow Republican by saying there was a value in speaking to Russia.

“If there had not been communications between the US and Russia in 1961,” Rubio said, “the world could have ended during the Cuban Missile Crisis.”

President Donald Trump spoke Monday by telephone to Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his latest effort, so far unsuccessful, to end the war.

Putin, who had faced international isolation during former president Joe Biden’s administration, has rebuffed US calls backed by Ukraine for a 30-day ceasefire.

Tens of thousands have died, mainly civilians, since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Early in the war, dozens of civilians were found dead in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha following a months-long occupation by Russian forces.

Putin faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over the transfer of children from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine into Russia.

Israel supreme court rules security chief sacking ‘unlawful’

Updated 13 min 14 sec ago
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Israel supreme court rules security chief sacking ‘unlawful’

  • The ruling is the latest twist in a judiciary and political affair
  • Wednesday’s ruling noted “irregularities” in the process that led to Bar’s sacking

JERUSALEM: Israel’s supreme court on Wednesday ruled as “unlawful” the government’s decision to fire domestic security chief Ronen Bar in March, a move which had triggered mass protests in the country.

“The Supreme Court ruled that the government’s decision to terminate the head of the Shin Bet’s tenure was made through an improper and unlawful process,” the court ruling said.

The ruling is the latest twist in a judiciary and political affair that shook Israel since the government’s decision to sack Bar in March, which the supreme court froze.

Israel’s government said in late April it had canceled its decision to fire Bar, a day after he announced he would stand down following weeks of tension with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Wednesday’s ruling noted “irregularities” in the process that led to Bar’s sacking, as well as “a disregard for fundamental principles regarding internal security.”

The move to sack the security chief sparked large protests across Israel led by the opposition, which saw it as a sign Netanyahu’s government’s was slipping toward autocracy.

Netanyahu had argued that the government was allowed to sack Bar, whom he blames for the security failure that allowed Hamas’ deadly October 7, 2023, attack to unfold.

Noting Bar’s decision to quit the job, the supreme court ruling said that “this announcement puts an end to the (legal) procedure.”


UK FM facing calls to recognize Palestine statehood

Updated 38 min 18 sec ago
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UK FM facing calls to recognize Palestine statehood

  • Labour’s chair of foreign affairs committee says recognition would be ‘first step’
  • Major conference promoting two-state solution will be co-hosted by Saudi Arabia in June

LONDON: The governing Labour Party chair of the foreign affairs committee is pushing for UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy to recognize Palestine as a state, the Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday.

MP Emily Thornberry said the move would be a “first step” if Lammy announced British recognition next month at a high-level conference co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France.

It follows Lammy’s halting of trade talks with Israel and the summoning of the country’s ambassador in response to Tel Aviv’s renewed Gaza offensive.

Labour’s manifesto at the last general election said the party was “committed” to recognizing Palestine within the context of a two-state solution.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long vowed to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Thornberry told the Telegraph: “I think Britain and France should recognize Palestine at the New York conference chaired by Saudi Arabia in June.

“The two signatories of the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement, which created the borders of the Middle East as we see today, would be very powerful.

“It would be a first step in working multilaterally to update Oslo, build on the Arab Deal and create a new peace deal proposal.”

The conference in the US will be held from June 17-20, and aims to galvanize support for the two-state solution.

French diplomats have said the event will likely lead to more countries recognizing Palestine as a state.

David Cameron, who served as foreign secretary in the previous Conservative government, said last year that Britain was weighing whether to recognize Palestine.

In the UN, 139 of 193 member states recognize Palestine, while Israel is recognized by 165. In 2021, the UK abstained in a UN General Assembly vote that granted Palestine “non-member observer” status.

Labour MP Rachael Maskell said: “With the imminent catastrophic loss of life through starvation and military operations, the government must hesitate no longer in fully recognizing the state of Palestine.

“The reprehensible actions of the Israeli government must be held to account, so full sanctions and ceasing all arms sales must also take place immediately.”

Lammy, speaking in the House of Commons this week, condemned Israel’s expansion of the Gaza war as an “affront to the values of British people.” He added: “History will judge them.”

Lammy outlined a series of sanctions against Israeli settlers who are targeting Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.

“Blocking aid, expanding the war, dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners. This is indefensible and it must stop,” he said.

Some MPs say the government should take further action over the Gaza war, such as a complete arms embargo on Israel and sanctions on senior members of its government, including Netanyahu.


In Syria, a Shiite shrine and community navigate a changed landscape

Updated 21 May 2025
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In Syria, a Shiite shrine and community navigate a changed landscape

  • It’s more than just religious devotion that the golden-domed shrine became known for during Syria’s prolonged civil war
  • With such a legacy, local Shiite community leaders and members are now navigating a dramatically altered political landscape around Sayyida Zeinab and beyond

SAYYIDA ZEINAB, Syria: At the Sayyida Zeinab shrine, rituals of faith unfold: worshippers kneel in prayer, visitors raise their palms skyward or fervently murmur invocations as they press their faces against an ornate structure enclosing where they believe the granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad is entombed.

But it’s more than just religious devotion that the golden-domed shrine became known for during Syria’s prolonged civil war.

At the time, the shrine’s protection from Sunni extremists became a rallying cry for some Shiite fighters and Iran-backed groups from beyond Syria’s borders who backed the former government of Bashar Assad. The shrine and the surrounding area, which bears the same name, has emerged as one symbol of how the religious and political increasingly intertwined during the conflict.

An altered landscape after Assad’s ouster

With such a legacy, local Shiite community leaders and members are now navigating a dramatically altered political landscape around Sayyida Zeinab and beyond, after Assad’s December ouster by armed insurgents led by the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS). The complex transition that is underway has left some in Syria’s small Shiite minority feeling vulnerable.

“For Shiites around the world, there’s huge sensitivity surrounding the Sayyida Zeinab Shrine,” said Hussein Al-Khatib. “It carries a lot of symbolism.”

After Assad’s ouster, Al-Khatib joined other Syrian Shiite community members to protect the shrine from the inside. The new security forces guard it from the outside.

“We don’t want any sedition among Muslims,” he said. “This is the most important message, especially in this period that Syria is going through.”

Zeinab is a daughter of the first Shiite imam, Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad; she’s especially revered among Shiites as a symbol of steadfastness, patience and courage.

She has several titles, such as the “mother of misfortunes” for enduring tragedies, including the 7th-century killing of her brother, Hussein. His death exacerbated the schism between Islam’s two main sects, Sunni and Shiite, and is mourned annually by Shiites.

Zeinab’s burial place is disputed; some Muslims believe it’s elsewhere. The Syria shrine has drawn pilgrims, including from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon. Since Assad’s ouster, however, fewer foreign visitors have come, an economic blow to those catering to them in the area.

The shrine’s locale has faced many attacks

Over the years, the Sayyida Zeinab area has suffered deadly attacks by militants.

In January, state media reported that intelligence officials in Syria’s post-Assad government thwarted a plan by the Daesh group to set off a bomb at the shrine. The announcement appeared to be an attempt by Syria’s new leaders to reassure religious minorities, including those seen as having supported Assad’s former government.

Al-Khatib, who moved his family from Aleppo province to the Sayyida Zeinab area shortly before Assad’s fall, said Assad had branded himself as a protector of minorities. “When killings, mobilization ... and sectarian polarization began,” the narrative “of the regime and its allies was that ‘you, as a Shiite, you as a minority member, will be killed if I fall.’”

The involvement of Sunni militants and some hard-line foreign Shiite fighters fanned sectarian flames, he said.

The Syria conflict began as one of several uprisings against Arab dictators before Assad brutally crushed what started as largely peaceful protests and a civil war erupted. It became increasingly fought along sectarian lines, drew in foreign fighters and became a proxy battlefield for regional and international powers on different sides.

Post-Assad, new tensions center on the shrine

Recently, a red flag reading “Oh, Zeinab” that had fluttered from its dome was removed after some disparaged it as a sectarian symbol.

Sheikh Adham Al-Khatib, a representative of followers of the Twelver branch of Shiism in Syria, said such flags “are not directed against anyone,” but that it was agreed to remove it for now to keep the peace.

“We don’t want a clash to happen. We see that ... there’s sectarian incitement, here and there,” he said.

Earlier, Shiite leaders had wrangled with some endowments ministry officials over whether the running of the shrine would stay with the Shiite endowment trustee as it’s been, he said, adding “we’ve rejected” changing the status quo. No response was received before publication to questions sent to a Ministry of Endowments media official.

Adham Al-Khatib and other Shiite leaders recently met with Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa.

“We’ve talked transparently about some of the transgressions,” he said. “He promised that such matters would be handled but that they require some patience because of the negative feelings that many harbor for Shiites as a result of the war.”

Many, the sheikh said, “are holding the Shiites responsible for prolonging the regime’s life.” This “is blamed on Iran, on Hezbollah and on Shiites domestically,” he said, adding that he believes the conflict was political rather than religious.

Early in the conflict, he said, “our internal Shiite decision was to be neutral for long months.” But, he said, there was sectarian incitement against Shiites by some and argued that “when weapons, kidnappings and killing of civilians started, Shiites were forced to defend themselves.”

Regionally, Assad was backed by Iran and the Shiite militant Lebanese group Hezbollah, whose intervention helped prop up his rule. Most rebels against him were Sunni, as were their patrons in the region.

Besides the shrine’s protection argument, geopolitical interests and alliances were at play as Syria was a key part of Iran’s network of deterrence against Israel.

Emotions can run high; for some, fears persist

Today, rumors and some social media posts can threaten to inflame emotions.

Shrine director Jaaffar Kassem said he received a false video purporting to show the shrine on fire and was flooded with calls about it.

At the shrine, Zaher Hamza said he prays “for safety and security” and the rebuilding of “a modern Syria, where there’s harmony among all and there are no grudges or injustice.”

Is he worried about the shrine? “We’re the ones who are in the protection of Sayyida Zeinab — not the ones who will protect the Sayyida Zeinab,” he replied.

While some Shiites have fled Syria after Assad’s fall, Hamza said he wouldn’t.

“Syria is my country,” he said. “If I went to Lebanon, Iraq or to European countries, I’d be displaced. I’ll die in my country.”

Some are less at ease.

Small groups of women gathered recently at the Sayyida Zeinab courtyard, chatting among themselves in what appeared to be a quiet atmosphere. Among them was Kamla Mohamed.

Early in the war, Mohamed said, her son was kidnapped more than a decade ago by anti-government rebels for serving in the military. The last time she saw him, she added, was on a video where he appeared with a bruised face.

When Assad fell, Mohamed feared for her family.

Those fears were fueled by the later eruption of violence in Syria’s coastal region, where a counteroffensive killed many Alawite civilians — members of the minority sect from which Assad hails and drew support as he ruled over a Sunni majority. Human rights groups reported revenge killings against Alawites; the new authorities said they were investigating.

“We were scared that people would come to us and kill us,” Mohamed said, clutching a prayer bead. “Our life has become full of fear.”

Another Syrian Shiite shrine visitor said she’s been feeling on edge. She spoke on condition she only be identified as Umm Ahmed, or mother of Ahmed, as is traditional, for fear of reprisals against her or her family.

She said, speaking shortly after the coastal violence in March, that she’s thought of leaving the country, but added that there isn’t enough money and she worries that her home would be stolen if she did. Still, “one’s life is the most precious,” she said.

She hopes it won’t come to that.

“Our hope in God is big,” she said. “God is the one protecting this area, protecting the shrine and protecting us.”


UK pledges over $5 million in aid to Gaza

Updated 21 May 2025
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UK pledges over $5 million in aid to Gaza

  • Announcement follows Britain's freezing of free-trade talks with Israel over its Gaza offensive

LONDON: Britain pledged $5.4 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza, the government said on Wednesday, as its Minister for Development Jenny Chapman visited Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
“The Israeli government’s failure to allow full humanitarian access to aid workers is abhorrent. Far too few trucks are crossing into Gaza,” Chapman said.
“The UK is clear — Israel will not achieve security through prolonging the suffering of the Palestinian people.”
Britain on Tuesday paused free trade talks with Israel over its new offensive in Gaza, with foreign minister David Lammy calling for an end to the blockade of aid.
The British Red Cross will receive the new aid package and deliver it through the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, Britain said.