Hours after Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Iran remembered Sinwar as a martyr whose vision of a liberated Palestine would be carried forward.
Sinwar, the architect of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the ongoing war between the Jewish state and the terrorist group in the Gaza Strip, was killed on Thursday by Israeli forces in Rafah.
“He told you he was a lion, but in reality he was hiding in a dark den and died when he fled in panic from our soldiers,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised message announcing Sinwar's death.
In a statement, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations compared Sinwar's disappearance to the hanging of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was captured by US forces in 2003 and later convicted of crimes against humanity.
WHO IS YAHYA SINWAR?
Terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar speaks at a podium during a rally. Israel said Thursday that Sinwar was killed by its forces in Gaza. (Mohammed Talatene/Image Alliance via Getty Photographs)
“When American forces pulled a disheveled Saddam Hussein from an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. “Those who considered Saddam Hussein as their model of resistance eventually collapsed,” the statement said.
“However, when Muslims admire martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield, in combat attire and in the open, not in a hiding place, facing the enemy, the spirit of resistance will be strengthened,” the mission said. “He will become a model for young people and children who will continue their path towards the liberation of Palestine. As long as there is occupation and aggression, the resistance will endure, because the martyr is still alive and is a source of inspiration.”
ISRAEL'S HUNT FOR HAMAS TERRORIST LEADER YAHYA SINWAR: 'DEAD MAN WALKING'
A protester holds a sign about the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during a protest calling for a ceasefire agreement and the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas on Thursday, October 17 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP/Ariel Shalit)
Hamas is considered a proxy for Iran, similar to Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, and other terrorist groups with American blood on their hands. Both groups receive funding and training from Tehran.
Israel has killed top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, who began launching airstrikes against northern Israel more than a year ago in solidarity with Hamas.
Israel vowed to kill Sinwar at the start of its military campaign against Hamas. Before Sinwar was elevated to the group's top leader, his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an apparent Israeli attack in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
ONE YEAR AFTER HEZBOLLAH ATTACKS, ISRAEL REINFORCES ITS TROOPS AND QUESTIONS INCREASE ABOUT 'LIMITED' OPERATION
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech during a program held after the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli attack and subsequent Iranian attacks on Imam Khomeini Husseiniyah in Tehran, Iran, on 2 October 2024. (Iranian leader's press office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Photographs)
In response, Iran launched nearly 200 missiles at Israel. The Jewish state has promised to respond. For more than four decades, the iranian regime has meticulously built a “Ring of Fire” around Israel, employing various terrorist groups to spread their influence throughout the Middle East.
Amnon Sofrin, former head of the Mossad Intelligence Directorate, told Fox Information Digital: “In the center of Tehran, there is a huge clock that was installed in 2015, which shows how much time Israel has left, indicating that, for 2040, Israel should no longer exist. They have been preparing for this moment. Some of the Iranian-backed militias carried out reconnaissance with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and said they would help once it was over. [Israel Defense Forces] The IDF entered Lebanon.
“However,” Sofrin added, “we are already inside Lebanon and no pro-Iran militia has provided help yet. Iran is not giving the order to its other proxies in the region to join the ground war, at least not yet. “
On Thursday, Netanyahu vowed to end the “reign of terror that the Iranian regime has imposed on its own people and the people of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.”
Hezbollah Radwan terrorists train in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel. (AP/Hassan Ammar)
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Earlier this month, pro-Iran militias from Iraq launched explosive-laden drones at an Israeli military base in the Golan Heights, killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding 24.
Fox Information Digital's Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.
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