this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2024
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An explosive device hidden in a heavily guarded complex where Ismail Haniyeh was known to stay in Iran was what killed him, according to a Times investigation.

Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader of Hamas, was assassinated on Wednesday by an explosive device covertly smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying, according to seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Iranians, and an American official.

The bomb had been hidden approximately two months ago in the guesthouse, according to five of the Middle Eastern officials. The guesthouse is run and protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and is part of a large compound, known as Neshat, in an upscale neighborhood of northern Tehran.

Mr. Haniyeh was in Iran’s capital for the presidential inauguration. The bomb was detonated remotely, the five officials said, once it was confirmed that he was inside his room at the guesthouse. The blast also killed a bodyguard.

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[–] ralphio 75 points 3 months ago (3 children)

TBH don't know which one would have been more embarressing for the Iranians. That the air defenses would have let an airstrike in Tehran or that they let the Israelis plant a bomb in a secured compound. Honestly I think this is worse for them.

[–] kevindqc 43 points 3 months ago (1 children)

And they didn't find it in two months! No security sweeps?

[–] Plopp 7 points 3 months ago

They didn't think to check the bomb-shaped clock on the table. Too obvious.

[–] ProvableGecko 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Nah, this is definitely worse. As much as they try Iranians are never going to have anything that resembles western technology, they will definitely have to pay the price for that if/when they try anything. This kinda internal betrayal though, this reveals them as the clowns they are selling out one of their most important allies to their nemesis.

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 3 months ago (7 children)

This is some Sam Fisher Splinter Cell infiltration shit that you'd usually expect to see in video games or Hollywood, not in real life.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Based some of the revealed history of some of these agencies, I feel like Hollywood is both closer and much further off than the reality of what happens. Closer in that history is stranger then fiction, and much further off in that these agencies are not monolithic decision makers and the hydraheaded nature of a political/bureaucracy makes for some strange decision.

[–] ours 4 points 3 months ago

I'm quite curious about spycraft and special operations and you're right. There are some real-life ops that a movie audience would dismiss as hard to believe or downright phony.

And Israel is way in the top when it comes to insane military, special operations, spy, and assassination WTFs.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Almost certainly not Splinter Cell, creep around in the dark style. It was probably someone who was invited to stay there that planted it, when their guard was lower, or maybe someone disguised as workers doing electrical repairs or something. You can get almost anywhere with a high-vis vest and confidence. You can't by sneaking around in the dark.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

They probably knocked out a guard and then wore their clothes to get in the building. Because everybody identifies each other according to clothing and not facial features they were able to get in.

Then if the Intruder was caught they could always have thrown their briefcase very slowly across the room.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

The assassination threatened to unleash another wave of violence in the Middle East and upend the ongoing negotiations to end the war in Gaza. Mr. Haniyeh had been a top negotiator in the cease-fire talks.

The other Palestinian negotiators might just possibly take Israel blowing up the guy they're talking to as a sign that Israel is not negotiating in altogether good faith.

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[–] Erasmus 31 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The guesthouse is run and protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and is part of a large compound

A bomb placed two months ago? Geeze, not protected very well by these guys now was it.

I wonder how many more ‘bombs’ are sitting elsewhere waiting to go off.

[–] small44 9 points 3 months ago

I wouldn't be surprised if it was done by a traitor

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That's some Hitman shit right there.

Certainly better than blowing up 100 innocent people to kill one guy who might not have been there anyway.

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[–] sozesoze 28 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Netanyahu really doesn't want these negotiations to come through, does he? How can he go to the hostage families and tell them he's gonna get their relatives back when he bombs the shit out of the country they're hidden in, has blown up and wanted to funnel sea water into the tunnels where they are most likely held (from an outsiders perspective) and now basically shot someone in the face across the negotiating table?

Tell me how that makes sense.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

He wants the Palestinians "gone" - he doesn't care about anything else, certainly not the hostages. In fact having hostages allows him to "keep going".

[–] Glowstick 17 points 3 months ago (2 children)

If this is true, why would they release the information about how they did it?

Yes there is some psychological warfare effect that will make hamas people feel scared for a short amount of time, but it will also make them change their security procedures to help prevent this method from working in the future. Their forensics were going to determine that it was a bomb, but they wouldn't have been able to tell that the bomb was planted so far ahead of time.

I'm not convinced this story is true. I'm not saying it's false, but i am saying they had no incentive to tell the truth, and in fact they have incentive to lie so that hamas puts work into securing against the wrong method.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

What makes you so confident it's Israeli officials leaking the info? The plot would be pretty easy to unravel after the fact by anyone involved in the investigation

[–] Glowstick 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Explain to me how they could easily tell it was a bomb that was placed there 2 months ago. And that it was detonated remotely. And all the other details.

[–] Xeroxchasechase 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

"I don't know" is somewhat different than "I know", you know...

[–] Glowstick 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I have no idea what you're trying to say

[–] Xeroxchasechase 2 points 3 months ago

"Explain to me how" is not a statement that should prove that any point, it's just a pretense for theories and doubt

[–] mlg 5 points 3 months ago

Probably security camera footage and some logic with when the bomb detonated.

I wouldn't be surprised at all knowing Israel successfully pulled this off because they've done similar things before.

The funny part is that it was probably just a sellout that they bought with some chump change to smuggle the device in, and not some super secret undercover spy.

[–] IphtashuFitz 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think it depends greatly on how the bomb was planted. Suppose, for example, the building was undergoing some renovations and the bomb was hidden inside a wall that had been legitimately opened up as part of the renovations. The debris would show the bomb was in the wall, and they could probably easily pinpoint when during the renovations that wall was worked on.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

the bomb that almost got Margaret Thatcher had been placed nearly a month earlier. one of the ones that almost got Hitler had been placed two days prior

[–] IphtashuFitz 7 points 3 months ago
[–] JustZ 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (11 children)

Fantastic. Fuck that guy. How many millions of Palestinians did he condemn to die with no hope or prosperity? Not any more.

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[–] IchNichtenLichten 5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Imagine the outrage if the Iranians returned the favor.

Israel needs to knock this shit off before they start something they can't finish.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Imagine the outrage if Hamas staged a raid on Israeli civilians or Hezbollah rocketed a Druze soccer game.

[–] IchNichtenLichten 25 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Sure, we can go back and tally up all the atrocities on each side. Where would that get us exactly?

My point is that the Israeli government has done nothing but escalate and escalate. They have no interest in peace, only continued bloodshed and theft of land. That is not a viable tactic in the long term.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Worked for plenty of countries before though

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Where would that get us exactly?

True understanding that two terrorist ideologies are at war and there is no moral high-ground to be found.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 8 points 3 months ago

Imagine the outrage if Hamas staged a raid on Israeli civilians

You hardly have to imagine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018%E2%80%932019_Gaza_border_protests

The IDF responded by blowing off the kneecaps of entire families of raiders. Adult male raiders, raider wives, and raider children were stopped dead in their tracks.

Obviously, this is the only sane and rational response to such a vicious terrorist act. I'll be excited to hear Lemmy applaud the response. And the response to the response. And on and on and on, forever.

[–] FlyingSquid 6 points 3 months ago

Netanyahu wants Iran to return the favor. He needs a forever war to maintain his dictatorial war powers.

I keep recommending people read this article. It's from his former best friend and he lays it all out: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-798324

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