Tazeen Akhtar
Who killed Ismail Haniyeh ? is the million dollar question. His martyrdom in Iran , in Tehran , at highly fortified place at very crucial time, when the attack was feared and still the security was compromised, failed and assassins succeeded in their mission impossible.Certainly , the target was always under observation but it was not supposed to be hit in Tehran at least. Iran is facing extremely awkward situation on this high profile murder at its land by unknown persons.
Iran blamed Israel soon after the confirmation of the death of Haniyeh while Netanyahu, in indirect words accepted the responsibility. In his address on media, Israeli Prime Minister counted consecutive attack in previous weeks. He mentioned air strike on Yemen, hitting Hamas commander Shukar in Lebanon and some other what he claimed successful operations. Netanyahu said, we will continue hitting our enemies.
But this is not enough to shift the blame altogether to Israel and USA. Definitely , Israel was on to the same what happened. Haniyeh had escaped 5 attempts on life so far. USA is clearly standing by Israel. Question is what Irani security was doing that Haniyeh only was hit in a room of a multi story hotel?
Palestinian journalists are not satisfied with what Irani officials are stating in response to the murder of Haniyeh in Tehran. Jalaal Alfara, a journalist questions, Irani intelligence was sleeping? What Iran has done than issuing statements only? He questions what damage Irani drones caused in Israel? Not even a cat was hit by the drones. Gazans and the journalists of Palestine criticize President Erdogan as well. They say that Erdogan is the Mujahid of statements only.
Matter of fact is , Israel had already made it clear that Hamas leaders will be killed in Gaza, Iran, Turkiye, Qatar. And one thing is clear that Israel only was not able to conduct this operation inside Irani capital when security was already very tight due to high level activity and movements for the inauguration of the new President.
Many people outside of Palestine or middle east do not know about the differences of Hamas and Fatah. Both are political rivals in Palestine. Fatah is holding the government in West Bank with President Mehmood Abbas who terminated the Premier ship of Ismail Haniyeh in the past. Since then, Hamas is holding Gaza while Fatah is ruling the West Bank.
China mediated only few days ago when the representatives of 14 Palestinian groups gathered in Beijing where they pledged to be united but the assassination of Haniyeh has almost ruined the Chinese effort.
Coming back to the main point , how Israel alone can achieve this target in Iran? Yes! USA is supporting Israel but here not USA alone extended a helping hand to Israel. There is something and someone else as well. And that country is most probably, the least suspicious in the eyes of Iran.
USA denied hand in the attack but on other side it is also a fact that Netanyahu visited Washington only couple of days before the attack in Tehran. Netanyahu address the congress and gathered maximum support. The timing of Israeli PM’s visit to US coincides with attack in Tehran. The observers are connecting the dots to create a picture that may be Netanyahu was there to take the supporters in confidence for some big step.
Big powers not necessarily act themselves everywhere directly. Some small countries also work for the big powers. We have example in Pakistan. Major Aamir, is a renown ISI officer who worked on to thwart Israeli attack on Pakistani atomic site Kahuta. He has stated in a recent media interaction that he took lead to the enemy agents through (what he claimed)a diplomat of Argentine Embassy in Islamabad. Major Aamir said that the diplomat was reporting to Defense official of US Embassy.
During tensions with Pakistan and Iran’s surgical strike into Pakistani territory, it was surfaced that the Revolutionary Guards and the political administration of the then President Raisi lack harmony on some strategic dynamics in and around of Iran. The strike into Pakistan was said to be the result of the differences between the Guards and the Government of Iran.
New York Time’s report about installation of explosive device in the room where Haniyeh was to stay is not necessarily considerable as it serves the purpose of both Israel and USA. They want separation between Iran and Hamas. But the differences, as mentioned above, can at least compromise the attention or focus on security matters.
Another important aspect is the Jew population in Iran. They are in large number there. Keeping in mind a good size of Jew population and complicated apparatus of proxy having different layers no country can claim complete security for anyone in the world.
But still Iran is expected to come clear with exactly what happened with Haniyeh at her territory. Iran is supposed to conclude her investigation as soon as possible. The attack is impossible without some internal support. Iran should point out , single out and punish those facilitators before conducting any attack on Israel. Because,anyway Ismail Haniyeh was guest in Tehran and his security was the most sensitive task for Irani government.
