Israel has given a masterclass in how to exact revenge.
The New York Times has an extensive and shocking report on how the Israeli government plotted for months to execute Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, right under the noses of some of the most paranoid and effective intelligence officers in the world.
BREAKING via The New York Times
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 1, 2024
Ismail Haniyeh was killed by an explosive device covertly smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying.
The bomb had been hidden approximately two months ago in the guesthouse.
Once it was confirmed that he was inside the… pic.twitter.com/7aIeE30K4c
Months ago they planted a bomb in the guesthouse run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and patiently waited for their target to come, and once he got settled in they remotely detonated the bomb.
Amazing!
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.
How on Earth do you pull off such an audacious scheme? I guess this is why the Mossad is so feared. Not only are they fiendishly clever but they have the patience of a sloth.
I tip my hat to them.
In the hours after the killing, speculation immediately focused on the possibility that Israel had killed Mr. Haniyeh with a missile strike, possibly fired from a drone or a plane, similar to how Israel had launched a missile on a military base in Isfahan in April.
That missile theory raised questions about how Israel might have been able to evade Iranian air defense systems again to execute such a brazen airstrike in the capital.
As it turns out, the assassins were able to exploit a different kind of gap in Iran’s defenses: a lapse in the security of a supposedly tightly guarded compound that allowed a bomb to be planted and to remain hidden for many weeks before it would eventually be triggered.
Such a breach, three Iranian officials said, was a catastrophic failure of intelligence and security for Iran and a tremendous embarrassment for the Guards, which uses the compound for retreats, secret meetings and housing prominent guests like Mr. Haniyeh.
When the initial reports came in I, too, wondered how Israel could deliver a bomb from the air given the logistics. Not only is the distance prohibitive--about a thousand miles--but timing the strike would be beyond difficult given the technology Israel has. No aircraft Israel could have used, like a stealth F-35, would have any loitering time, and you would still need the intelligence to know that Haniyeh was there.
Israel could no doubt figure out a way to penetrate Iranian airspace if necessary, but with no loitering time at all and likely not without help from the United States.
On the other hand, while smuggling in a bomb sounds like a monumental task, and accomplishing it, having it remain undiscovered, and deploying it months later?
Wow. Just wow.
You have to hand it to the Mossad. They are really good.
I wish the Secret Service were in their league.
Or, maybe not--depending upon what their mission was on July 13th.
