In the first acknowledgement of Israel’s involvement in the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz on December 23, issued a stern warning to the Houthi rebels from Yemen of destroying their infrastructure and ‘decapitating’ its leaders.
Hamas leader Hanieyh’s killing came hours after top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli air attack on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, on July 31.
Yahya Sinwar replaced Haniyeh as the group’s military chief. Sinwar was also killed in an Israeli military operation in southern Gaza on October 16. In another major killing, Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief was also killed by Israel.
At a commemoration event for local security officers, Katz said, “We will strike [the Houthis’] strategic infrastructure and decapitate its leaders. Just as we did to Haniyeh, Sinwar, and Nasrallah, in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon — we will do in Hodeidah and Sanaa.”
Israeli Defence Minister also admitted to overthrowing the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
Opposition forces, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), launched a strong offensive from the northwestern province of Idlib in November. They reached Damascus in the early hours of December 8 and announced the end of more than 50 years of the al-Assad family’s iron-fist rule over Syria.
Katz added, “We have overthrown the Assad regime in Syria, we have dealt heavy blows to the ‘axis of evil,’ and we will also severely strike the Houthi terror organization in Yemen, which remains the last one standing.”
Earlier in August, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) had said that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by Israel using a short-range projectile with a warhead and plans to take revenge “at the appropriate time.
The statement by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on December 21 also accuses the “criminal government” of the United States of supporting the attack, which Iran blames on Israel.
“This terrorist attack was designed and implemented by the Zionist regime (Israel) and supported by the criminal government of America,” the IRNA news agency quoted the statement as saying.
As per the statement, a rocket with a seven-kilogram warhead was used to target the residence of Haniyeh state media IRNA had reported.
It said the attack caused heavy devastation. The IRGC statement also emphasised that it would “avenge blood of Haniyeh,” adding that “the terrorist and adventurist Zionist regime would definitely receive severe punishment and a decisive response at appropriate time and in proper place.”
(with inputs from ANI)
