https://www.timesofisrael.com/nyt-haniyeh-was-killed-by-explosive-smuggled-into-...




US officials assess Israel behind assassination of Hamas chief, which Middle East sources say was months in planning; report says Israel briefed US, allies in immediate aftermath

By ToI Staff 1 August 2024, 7:41 pm

The explosion that killed Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard early Wednesday was set off by a sophisticated, remote-controlled bomb smuggled about two months ago into the Hamas leader’s room at the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The report cited one American and seven Middle Eastern officials, including two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It contradicted earlier reports, including by the IRGC’s Tasnim news agency, that a missile had killed Haniyeh. It also cited officials from the United States and the Middle East as saying or assessing that Israel was behind the blast.

According to three Iranian officials cited by the Times, the assassination is a “tremendous embarrassment” for the IRGC, which runs the guesthouse where Haniyeh and other dignitaries were staying.

Haniyeh was in Tehran for the swearing-in of Iran’s newly elected president Masoud Pezeshkian. Jerusalem has neither confirmed nor denied the assassination, but Iran has vowed to exact revenge on Israel.

The IRGC officials cited by the Times noted that while the explosion shattered windows and collapsed a portion of the wall of the compound, there was minimal damage to the building itself. The New York Times said the limited scope of the damage was corroborated by photographs reviewed by the newspaper.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-august-03-2024/#liveblog-entry-3346290





The Mossad enlisted Iranian security agents to plant explosives in the Tehran guesthouse where Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was staying, according to a report in the Telegraph.

The report says the initial plan called for assassinating Haniyeh when visited Tehran in May to attend the funeral of president Ebrahim Raisi, but two Iranian officials tell the newspaper the operation was called off due to the large number of people in the building and seeming high possibility of failure.

The British daily says the agents nevertheless went ahead and planted explosives in three rooms at the compound, and later left Iran. They reportedly detonated the bombs from abroad.

“They are now certain that Mossad hired agents from the Ansar al-Mahdi security unit,” an official in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tells the newspaper, referring to a unit tasked with protecting senior officials.

Another IRGC official says: “It is a humiliation for Iran and a huge security breach.”

“It’s still a question for everyone how this happened, I can’t understand it. There must be something higher in the hierarchy that no one knows about,” the official adds.

TEHRAN — The FBI confirmed this morning that Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas and mastermind of the October 7th terrorist attacks on Israel, fell down after loud popping noises occurred in his immediate vicinity.

Analysts say that the loud popping noises which seemed to have contributed to the terrorist leader's sudden fall may have been potentially related to a predawn flyover of the Iranian capitol by several fighter jets with a blue Star of David painted on their fuselages, but that it is too early to determine whether there is any significant connection at this point.

"Everyone attending the inauguration of the Iranian president was milling around being super peaceful, talking about all sorts of peaceful things," reported Bart Lodge, FBI spokesman. "Bystanders then reported several popping noises — almost like someone popping a packet of bubble wrap — and Ismail Haniyeh seemed to stumble a little bit and then fall down. We are still collecting information and hope to have an answer in a few decades."

Sources within Hamas have confirmed that the terrorist leader was in fact dead and in many, many pieces. Several media sources including The Washington Post have mourned the passing of another "austere religious scholar" who died needlessly at the hands of those violent Israelis.

At publishing time, reports from Lebanon confirmed that Fuad Shukr, a Hezebollah leader who was involved in the 1983 Marine Corps bombing in Lebanon, had also mysteriously fallen down after several noisy popping sounds

Quote:


Indoor press conference with everyone holding machine guns and RPG

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/report-israel-told-us-it-took-out-h...




Today, 5:44 am

    77

Israel informed the US immediately following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh that it was behind the killing, the Washington Post reports, citing sources familiar with the White House’s thought process.

According to the newspaper, Biden administration officials were livid about the decision to take out Haniyeh, worrying it could upend months of careful negotiations toward a truce in Gaza.

The newspaper reports that US officials are also outraged over Israel failing to inform them before launching other operations to assassinate Hezbollah or Iranian commanders.

An anonymous Israeli official quoted by the Washington Post confirms that a phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden last week was “tense.”

Quote:


Enraged Joe Biden?
I like to see that 

Bobby. wrote on Aug 7^th, 2024 at 3:10pm:

Ah, plausible deniability!

Nothing like it for offering many paths out!