Hamas appoints new leader after Haniyeh assassination
The Islamist Hamas movement has appointed Yahya Sinwar, its leader in Gaza, as successor to former political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran last week.
Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 attack, considered the deadliest against Israel in decades, has been hiding in Gaza, defying every Israeli assassination attempt since the war broke out.
"The Islamic resistance movement Hamas announces the election of Commander Yahya Sinwar as the head of the movement's political body, succeeding the martyred Commander Ismail Haniyeh, may Allah have mercy on him," Hamas said in a short statement.
News of the appointment was greeted with a barrage of rockets from Gaza from militant groups still battling Israeli troops in the besieged enclave.
Sinwar is the most powerful Hamas leader alive after Haniyeh's assassination, which has pushed the region to the brink of a wider regional conflict after Iran vowed harsh retaliation.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the assassination but it has claimed to have killed other senior leaders, including Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, who was killed in Beirut, and Mohammed Deif, the movement's military commander.
A senior Hamas official told AFP that the selection of Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar as Hamas's new political leader sends a "strong message... of resistance" to Israel.
This choice is "a strong message to the occupying forces (Israel) that Hamas continues its path of resistance," the unnamed official said./.
