Israel confirmed the death of Yahya Sinwar, top leader of Hamas, this Thursday (17).
US officials hope that Sinwar’s death can provide Israel with the political opening needed for a ceasefire agreement.
But depending on who succeeds him, according to sources, it could have a significant impact on whether Hamas will be willing to resume negotiations with Israel regarding the suspension of fighting and the release of hostages.
Who will lead Hamas?
Mohammed Sinwar Yahya Sinwar’s brother, is one of the most senior veteran commanders of Hamas’ armed wing. Born in 1975, he rarely appeared in public or spoke to the media.
Like his brother, he has been one of the main targets on Israel’s wanted list and, according to Hamas sources, he has survived several attempts on his life, including air strikes and roadside bombs.
A US official pointed out that if Mohammed takes command of Hamas, “the negotiations will be completely lost.”
Mohammed Sinwar, according to a former American official, belongs to the same hardliners as his brother and oversaw Hamas’s tunnel construction network.
Another possibility is Khalil Al Hayya who has been one of Hamas’s main negotiators during the ceasefire talks held in Doha.
Because of this, he is “probably who the U.S. would like,” according to one former official. Al Hayya took over as chief negotiator following the assassination of Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran in July, allegedly by Israel.
Hayya was in the same residence when Haniyeh was hit by a short-range projectile, according to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, but not in the same apartment at the time of the attack.
A third option would be Khaled Meshaal – an obvious choice for Hamas, but unlikely given its support for a Sunni uprising against Syrian President Bashar al Assad in the past.
The episode caused a rift between Hamas and Shiites, and also damaged Meshaal’s leadership ambitions.
Meshaal previously led Hamas between 2004 and 2017. He became known around the world in 1997 when Israeli agents injected him with poison in the Jordanian capital Amman in a failed assassination mission.
He is now based in Qatar with several other senior Hamas officials.
Who is Yahya Sinwar?
A long-time Hamas figure, Yahya Sinwar was born in 1962 in a refugee camp in Khan Younis, south of Gaza.
He was responsible for building the group’s military arm before forming important new ties with regional Arab powers as a civilian and political leader.
Sinwar was elected to Hamas’ top decision-making body, the Politburo, in 2017 as Hamas’s political leader in Gaza.
However, he has since become the de facto leader of the Politburo, according to research by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
He has been designated a global terrorist by the US State Department since 2015 and has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom and France.
Find out more about who Yahya Sinwar was through this article.
Understand the escalation in conflicts in the Middle East
Iran’s missile attack on Israel on October 1 marked a new stage in the regional conflict in the Middle East. On one side of the war is Israel, with support from the United States. On the other, the Axis of Resistance, which receives financial and military support from Iran and which has a series of paramilitary groups.
There are seven conflict fronts currently open: the Islamic Republic of Iran; Hamas, in the Gaza Strip; Hezbollah, in Lebanon; the Syrian government and the militias operating in the country; the Houthis, in Yemen; Shia groups in Iraq; and different militant organizations in the West Bank.
Israel has soldiers on three of these fronts: Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the other four, it carries out aerial bombings.
The Israeli Army began a “limited ground operation” in Lebanon on September 30, days after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a bombing of the group’s headquarters in the Beirut suburb.
The Israel Defense Forces say they have killed virtually the entire Hezbollah chain of command in similar bombings carried out in recent weeks.
On September 23, Lebanon had its deadliest day since the 2006 war, with more than 500 fatalities.
At least two Brazilian teenagers died in the attacks. Itamaraty condemned the situation and called for an end to hostilities.
With the increase in hostilities, the Brazilian government announced an operation to repatriate Brazilians in Lebanon.
In the West Bank, the Israeli military is trying to dismantle groups opposed to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
In the Gaza Strip, Israel seeks to eradicate Hamas, responsible for the October 7 attack that left more than 1,200 people dead, according to information from the Israeli government. The Israeli operation killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas.
Alex Marquardt, from CNN, contributed to this article
Who is Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas political leader killed in Iran
*with information from Reuters
This content was originally published in Who could be the new leader of Hamas after the death of Yahya Sinwar? on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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