Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday publicly acknowledged for the first time that Israel killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran in July, risking further tensions between Tehran and Israel's arch-enemy in a region that has which was shaken by Israel's war in Gaza and the conflict in Lebanon.
He said Israel has defeated Hamas and Hezbollah, “blinded” Iran's defense systems and damaged its production systems. He also said the country had overrun the Assad regime in Syria, dealing a major blow to what he called the “axis of evil”.
“We will also deal a major blow to the Houthi terrorist group in Yemen, which remains the last one standing.”
Israel will “damage their strategic infrastructure, and we will topple their leaders – just as we did with Haniyeh, Sinwar and Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon – we will do it in Hodeidah and Sana 'a, “said Katz at an honorable evening. Employees of the Ministry of Defense.
The Iran-backed group in Yemen has been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea for more than a year to try to impose a naval blockade on Israel, saying it is working in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel's year-long war in Gaza.
In late July, the political leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas was killed in Tehran in an assassination that Iranian authorities blamed on Israel. Israel did not directly claim responsibility for Haniyeh's killing at the time.
Haniyeh, usually based in Qatar, has been the face of Hamas's international diplomacy as the war, launched by the group's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has raged. in Gaza. He had been participating in indirect international negotiations on reaching a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.
Months later, Israeli forces in Gaza killed Yahya Sinwar, Haniyeh's successor and the leader of the October 7 attack.
Earlier this month, Syrian rebels opposed the Assad regime. Israeli forces moved into a part of Syria that is supposed to be a demilitarized zone last week, raising accusations that the country was taking advantage of the unrest in the area to seize territory.
