News Mania / Piyal Chatterjee / 18th October 2024
Hopes that the murder of Hamas commander Yahya Sinwar might contribute to the end of over a year of rising Middle East warfare were shattered on Friday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vows to continue Israel’s conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. While Iran, a supporter of Hezbollah, said “the spirit of resistance” will be strengthened by the murder of its Palestinian ally Sinwar in Gaza, the Lebanese militant group pledged to intensify its war against Israel.
A key moment in the year-long struggle occurred Wednesday when Israeli soldiers assassinated Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that set off the Gaza war, during a raid in the Palestinian territory.
“The war, my dear ones, is not yet over,” Netanyahu told Israelis, saying fighting would continue until hostages held by Hamas are released. “We have before us a great opportunity to stop the axis of evil and create a different future,” he added, referring to Iran and its militant allies across the region in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
The U.S. wants to kick-start ceasefire talks and secure the release of hostages, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, adding that Sinwar had been refusing to negotiate. “That obstacle has obviously been removed. Can’t predict that that means whoever replaces (Sinwar) will agree to a ceasefire, but it does remove what has been in recent months the chief obstacle to getting one,” he said.
One senior diplomat working in Lebanon told media that hopes Sinwar’s death would end the war appeared misplaced. “We had hoped, really throughout this, that getting rid of Sinwar would be the turning point where the wars would end … where everyone would be ready to put their weapons down. It appears we were once again mistaken,” the diplomat said.
Sinwar was thought to have been hiding in the maze of tunnels that Hamas has constructed beneath Gaza over the past 20 years. Sinwar was the general head of Hamas after political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran in July.
According to Israeli sources, Israeli troops murdered him during a gunfight on Wednesday, not realizing at first that they had captured their top adversary.
The military published drone footage of what it claimed was Sinwar inside a demolished building, seated on an armchair and covered in dust. The video showed the drone tracking him as he lay dying. In what appeared to be a desperate attempt, he was seen on camera hurling a stick at the drone as it hovered close by.
