The killing of Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar by Israeli forces on Wednesday will not stop the fight against Israel, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.
‘His death is painful, but the axis of the resistance [against Israel] will live on and continue the struggle,” Khamenei said on his official website on Saturday.
Al-Sinwar was a colorful personality of the resistance, “who has now ascended to the heaven of martyrs,” Khamenei said.
The slain Hamas leader is believed to be the mastermind behind the massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and sparked the current Gaza war.
After his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh and the head of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, Hassan Nasrallah, al-Sinwar was the third Islamist leader to be assassinated in just a few months.
The Israeli army killed al-Sinwar in the Gaza Strip and Nasrallah in Lebanon, while the death of Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran was also blamed on Israel.
Experts see the targeted killings as a bitter setback for Iran, which is closely linked to both Islamist groups.
