An Extremely Treacherous Situation In The Middle East

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In the past 24 hours something very significant has happened in the Middle East. The Israelis have officially denied involvement in the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran. Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Haggari has stated that other than the Israeli strike in Beirut (which killed that top Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukri) there were no other Israeli military flight operations 'anywhere else in the Middle East at that time'. Referring to the Ismail Haniyeh assassination in Teheran.
When events like this assassination take place, and if the Israelis are involved, their reaction will be :
1. acknowledge their role (which they did in the killing of Fuad Shukri in Beirut).
2. neither acknowledge nor deny their role, for example the killing of the Iranian nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh in Teheran.  This usually indicates Israeli involvement. 
3. deny their involvement in the operation, which they have said so in the Ismail Haniyeh assassination.It is also a very wrong time for the Israelis to want to assassinate Ismail Haniyeh because there are still over 150 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza. As the Qatari prime minister has said, how can you negotiate ceasefires if you kill the chief negotiator from the Hamas? This is a valid point. Why kill Ismail Haniyeh when there are still over 150 Israelis kidnapped and held by Hamas. That would also be very reckless and irresponsible behaviour by the Israelis. What if Hamas takes revenge and kills the remaining Israeli hostages? The Israeli government would face serious criticism from the Israeli public. Benjamin Netanyahu may be forced to step down as prime minister.

There was no air strike, drone strike or missile strike from outside the building. Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a bomb detonated from inside the bedroom in which he was sleeping. 
The Islamic Republican Guards Corps report directly to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.  And the IRGC had full control over that highly secure safe house where Haniyeh was killed. 
And if the bomb was planted TWO MONTHS earlier it certainly indicates collusion by the IRGC. Because  with the Mossad having assassinated so many high profile targets INSIDE Iran and around the world, it is quite impossible to imagine that an elite military unit like the IRGC would not have performed security sweeps inside Haniyeh's quarters as well as over the whole building FOR TWO MONTHS!!  And since October 7th, Ismail Haniyeh was Israel's Public Enemy No. 1.
All the indications point towards the Ayatollahs. Ali Khamenei immediately said that Iran will attack Israel directly in retaliation for the killing of Haniyeh. He has been pushing for this agenda from the moment Haniyeh was killed.
Why would the Ayatollahs want to kill Ismail Haniyeh? To prolong the war in Gaza and distract the attention of the Iranian people away from the crap situation the Ayatollahs' have created in Iran. The Iranian people are suffering. 
And referring again to the statement by the prime minister of Qatar, it is also possible that Ismail Haniyeh was moving towards accepting a ceasefire. Obviously others did not agree with this. They wanted him dead. Plus the Iranians have given Hamas hundreds of millions of US Dollars - not all of which have been spent in Gaza.

So if the Mossad did not penetrate the IRGC's heavily secured safehouse in Teheran, it could not be the CIA, the Saudis or the Egyptians. This means it was indeed an inside job. The IRGC killed Ismail Haniyeh. The IRGC reports directly to the Ayatollah Khamenei. 
The killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran could become a watershed moment in the history of the Middle East. 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
By Syed Akbar Ali 

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