The mass arrests carried out by the Iranian authorities seem to have a clear goal. To find the accomplices of those who killed Ismail Haniya. According to the Telegraph, Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, hired Iranian security agents to plant explosives in the hostel.
In fact, the publication has many details about the way of action of those who carried out the murder. The original plan was to assassinate Ismail Haniya in May when he attended the funeral of Ibrahim Raisi, the former president of Iran.
The operation did not go ahead because of the large crowd inside the building and the high probability of failure, two Iranian officials told the Telegraph. Instead, the two agents planted explosive devices in three rooms of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) guesthouse in northern Tehran, where Haniya may be staying.
The agents were seen moving quietly as they entered and exited several rooms within minutes, according to officials who have footage from the building’s CCTV cameras.
The agents are said to have then sneaked out of the country, but had a source still in Iran. At 2 am on Wednesday, they detonated the explosives from outside in the room where Haniya was staying.
The Iranians are sure
“It is now certain that Mossad used agents from the Ansar al-Mahdi protection unit,” an IRGC official told the Telegraph from Tehran. The official added: “Upon further investigation, additional explosive devices were discovered in two other rooms.”
A second IRGC special forces official told the Telegraph: “This is a humiliation for Iran and a major security breach.” The official said a task force had been formed to find ways to present the killing without being seen as a security breach.
“Everyone is wondering how this happened, I can’t understand it. There must be something higher up the hierarchy that no one knows about,” he added. For his part Esmail Qaani, the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, has called for sackings, arrests and possible executions. “The breach has humiliated everyone,” it said.
Iran is expecting a heavy hit by Hezbollah in Israel
Iran said today that its ally Hezbollah is expected to hit Israel “in depth” and “not be limited to military targets” in response to the killing of the Lebanese Islamist group’s military commander, Fouad Shukr, on Tuesday near Beirut.
After this strike, “we expect that Hezbollah will choose more targets and (hit) deeply (Israel),” Iran’s delegation to the United Nations said today, according to the official Irna news agency.
“Hezbollah and the (Israeli) regime were observing certain lines that the (Tuesday night) attack crossed,” the Iranian delegation said. Now, the Lebanese organization “will not limit its response to military targets,” he added.
New strike by Israel in Gaza
An Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in the occupied West Bank killed a Hamas commander today, Hamas media reported, while the Palestinian WAFA news agency reported that four more people were killed.
The identities of the others have not yet been clarified, according to WAFA.
The Israeli military announced that it carried out an airstrike against a core of militants around the West Bank town of Tulkarem. Hamas media reported that a vehicle carrying militants was hit and one of its brigade commanders was killed in Tulkarem.
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