Israel and its Iran-aligned foes vow more war after Hamas leader’s death

[Pelican Press 0]

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******* and its Iran-aligned foes vow more war after ****** leader’s ******

By James Mackenzie, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Samia Nakhoul

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -Pledges from ******* and its enemies ****** and Hezbollah to keep fighting in Gaza and Lebanon dashed hopes on Friday that the ****** of ************ militant leader Yahya Sinwar might hasten an end to more than a year of escalating war in the Middle East.

*******’s arch-foe and the militants’ main backer Iran also said Sinwar’s ****** would only fuel “the spirit of resistance”.

****** leader Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, ******* that triggered the Gaza war, was ******* by ******** soldiers in the ************ enclave on Wednesday.

Video showed him tossing a stick at a drone as he sat dying.

******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his ******** a milestone but vowed to keep up the war, which in recent weeks expanded from fighting ****** in Gaza into an invasion and pursuit of Hezbollah of Lebanon.

“The war, my dear ones, is not yet over,” Netanyahu told Israelis late on Thursday, saying fighting would continue until hostages held by ****** are released.

“We have before us a great opportunity to stop the axis of evil,” he added, referring to Iran and its militant allies across the region, also in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

****** said hostages would only be released with a halt of hostilities in Gaza, an ******** withdrawal and the release of its prisoners.

“The martyrdom of our brother, the leader Yahya Sinwar … will only increase the strength and resolve of ****** and our resistance,” it said, confirming his ******.

That rhetoric from the warring parties contrasted with Western leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, who said Sinwar’s ****** offered a chance for negotiations. Sinwar had been refusing talks, Washington said.

*******’s government has rejected several attempts by the ******* States, its main ally, at brokering ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon.

One senior diplomat working in Lebanon told Reuters that hopes Sinwar’s ****** would end the war appeared misplaced.

“We had hoped, really throughout this, that getting rid of Sinwar would be the turning point where the wars would end … where everyone would be ready to put their weapons down. It appears we were once again mistaken,” the diplomat said.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said he feared the war was only going to get worse.

“Unfortunately, we are on the verge of a comprehensive regional war,” he told state-affiliated Al-Qahera News TV channel. “There are parties keen on escalation.”

He said international mediators – which included Egypt – had been close to reaching a ceasefire in Gaza but ******* lacked the political will.

Families of ******** hostages said that while the ******** of Sinwar was an achievement, it would not be complete while captives were still in Gaza.

The conflict has caused direct Iranian-******** confrontations, including missile attacks on ******* in April and on Oct. 1.

Netanyahu has vowed to respond to the October *******, though Washington has pressed it not to strike Iranian energy facilities or nuclear sites.

Biden, on a visit to Berlin on Friday, said there was a possibility of working towards a ceasefire in Lebanon but it would be ******* in Gaza. He also told reporters he had an understanding of how and when ******* would respond to the missile attacks by Iran. He declined to elaborate.

TRACKED AND *******

Sinwar, ******’ overall leader following the ************** of political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, was believed to have been hiding in the warren of tunnels ****** has built under Gaza.

He was ******* during a **** battle on Wednesday by ******** troops initially unaware they had caught their number one ******, ******** officials said.

The military released drone video of what it said was Sinwar, sitting on an armchair and covered in dust inside a destroyed building. He was tracked by the drone as he lay dying, the video showed, desperately throwing a stick.

The Oct. 7, 2023 attacks he masterminded in ******* ******* some 1,200 people, according to ******** authorities. ******* has subsequently ******* more than 42,000 people, according to ************ officials. Its offensive has made most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people homeless, maimed tens of thousands, caused widespread hunger and destroyed hospitals and schools.

Hezbollah, which began ******* rockets at ******* in support of its ****** ally on Oct. 8, is the target of *******’s intensifying ******** on Lebanon, which has ******* more than 2,000 people and displaced 1.2 million.

******* has now ******* several of ******’ top leaders and in a matter of weeks decapitated the Hezbollah leadership, mainly through air strikes.

The killings have dealt a ***** to what anti-******** forces call the Axis of Resistance: a group of proxy militant groups that Iran has spent decades supporting across the region.

Experts said the ************ militant group was likely to replace Sinwar with a new political leader based outside Gaza while his brother Mohammad Sinwar was expected to assume a ******* role directing the war against ******* in the territory.

Iran showed no sign Sinwar’s ******** would shift its support.

“The spirit of resistance will be strengthened,” its mission to the ******* Nations said.

Hezbollah was also defiant, announcing “the transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with *******”.

The ******** military said on Friday it had also ******* Muhammad Hassin Ramal, Hezbollah’s commander of the Tayibe area in southern Lebanon.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, visiting Beirut, called for the U.N. peacekeeping mission to Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, to be strengthened. Italy contributes troops to the force.

“I repeat that I consider targeting UNIFIL is unacceptable,” Meloni told a ****** news conference with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, referring to recent ******** attacks involving the mission’s troops.

She said she planned to hold talks with Netanyahu after her visit to Lebanon and Jordan.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Timour Azhar in Beirut; Maayan Lubel and James Mackenzie in Jerusalem; Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; Lena Masri, Elwely Elwelly in Dubai; Costas Pitas in Washingtonand Michelle Nichols in New York; Writing by John Davison and Angus MacSwan; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Christina Fincher)

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