Iran Says Haniyeh Was Killed by Short-range Projectile

A child holding a Palestinian national flag takes part in a protest against the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in an air strike in Tehran, in Lahore on August 2, 2024. (Photo by Arif ALI / AFP)
A child holding a Palestinian national flag takes part in a protest against the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in an air strike in Tehran, in Lahore on August 2, 2024. (Photo by Arif ALI / AFP)
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Iran Says Haniyeh Was Killed by Short-range Projectile

A child holding a Palestinian national flag takes part in a protest against the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in an air strike in Tehran, in Lahore on August 2, 2024. (Photo by Arif ALI / AFP)
A child holding a Palestinian national flag takes part in a protest against the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in an air strike in Tehran, in Lahore on August 2, 2024. (Photo by Arif ALI / AFP)

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was slain in Tehran by a short-range projectile with a warhead of about 7 kg, and vowed severe revenge.

Wednesday's assassination has drawn fears of direct conflict between Tehran and its arch-enemy Israel in a region shaken by Israel's war in Gaza and a worsening conflict in Lebanon.

Revenge for the killing of the Hamas leader will be "severe and at an appropriate time, place, and manner," the Guards' statement added, blaming the "terrorist Zionist regime" of Israel for his death.

Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out the strike that killed Haniyeh hours after he attended the inauguration of Iran's new president.

Israeli officials have not claimed responsibility.

According to Reuters, the statement by the Guards force also accused the "criminal US government" of supporting the attack which Iranian media said was in a northern suburb of Tehran.

Haniyeh was buried on Friday in Qatar, where he was based.



Cairo Concerned Over Escalating Regional Crisis

A photo taken from a position in southern Lebanon, close to the border with Israel shows smoke billowing from the site of a rocket fired from the Lebanese side towards the Israeli village of Metullah on August 3, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by AFP)
A photo taken from a position in southern Lebanon, close to the border with Israel shows smoke billowing from the site of a rocket fired from the Lebanese side towards the Israeli village of Metullah on August 3, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by AFP)
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Cairo Concerned Over Escalating Regional Crisis

A photo taken from a position in southern Lebanon, close to the border with Israel shows smoke billowing from the site of a rocket fired from the Lebanese side towards the Israeli village of Metullah on August 3, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by AFP)
A photo taken from a position in southern Lebanon, close to the border with Israel shows smoke billowing from the site of a rocket fired from the Lebanese side towards the Israeli village of Metullah on August 3, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by AFP)

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty expressed on Saturday to his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib his country's "deep concern over the dangerously increasing pace of escalation" in the region.

Abdelatty affirmed, in a phone call with Bou Habib, Egypt's support to Lebanon in confronting the threats surrounding it, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Wednesday's assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran has aroused fears of direct conflict between Tehran and its arch-enemy Israel in a region shaken by Israel's war in Gaza and a worsening conflict in Lebanon.

Revenge for the killing of the Hamas leader will be "severe and at an appropriate time, place, and manner", the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said in a statement, blaming the "terrorist Zionist regime" of Israel for his death.

Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out the strike that killed Haniyeh hours after he attended the inauguration of Iran's new president.

The assassination of a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon has also the region holding its breath for retaliation against Israel on either front, or both. Calls for people to leave Lebanon sharpened as flight activity there cooled.