AS Pakatan Harapan (PH) backers praised the DAP-led Penang state government for taking the lead to organise the solat jenazah ghaib (absentee funeral prayer) for assassinated Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh after today’s (Aug 1) maghrib (sunset) prayers, a very disturbing scenario is brewing.

This is given threats of revenge on Israel - with Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei reportedly ordered a direct strike on Israel - are bound to fuel further concern that the Gaza conflict will escalate into a wider Middle East war.

Although the strike on Haniyeh who had been the face of Hamas’ international diplomacy since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year was widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, Reuters reported that Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu’s government made no claim of responsibility and said it would make no comment on the killing.

“We are prepared for any scenario and we will stand united and determined against any threat. Israel will exact a heavy price for any aggression against us from any arena,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement Haniyeh’s killing would “take the battle to new dimensions and have major repercussions”.

In his condolences message, PM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim abstained from associating Israel nor the US in Ismail’s assassination.

“The torch of your struggle will continue to shine and burn our spirit to continue opposing tyranny and corruption,” Anwar who last met Ismail in Qatar in May this year penned on his Facebook page.

“After many members of his family were martyred in the struggle, it’s now Ismail’s turn to be shot by the cowardly regime. I sincerely hope that our spirit does not fade and waver but remain strong to create victory. May heaven be with you, my friend.”

US to broker peace?

Vowing to retaliate, Iran has declared three days of national mourning and said the US bore responsibility because of its support for Israel.

In Turkey, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through the streets of central Istanbul late on Wednesday to protest Haniyeh’s killing.

Protesters in Istanbul’s Fatih district held posters with Haniyeh’s photo, chanted “murderer Israel, get out of Palestine” and waved Turkish and Palestinian flags.

Washington expressed concern about the potential for escalation. But White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the US did not foresee that as imminent or inevitable and was working to prevent it from happening.

The risks “are certainly up right now. They don’t make the task of de-escalation, deterrence and dissuasion - which is the goal - any less complicated,” he told reporters.

The US has further advised its citizens not to travel to Lebanon and that its two U.S. airline - United and Delta - paused flights to Tel Aviv.

Ismail’s assassination occurred less than 24 hours after Israel said it had killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander in retaliation for a deadly rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Hezbollah confirmed that senior military commander Fuad Shukr was killed by an Israeli airstrike in a Beirut suburb. - Aug 1, 2024

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