Israel waited until after the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to carry out the assassination of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, according to Channel 12, which revealed new details of the operation. Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed Israel’s involvement last week. Haniyeh was killed in his guest house by a remotely detonated bomb during his visit to Tehran for the July inauguration. The operation, months in the making, nearly failed when an air conditioner in Haniyeh’s room malfunctioned in the middle of the night. Haniyeh left the room to wait for repairs, sparking fears that he might avoid the bomb if he switched rooms. However, the air conditioner was quickly fixed, and Haniyeh returned to his room, where the bomb was detonated around 1:30 a.m. After Haniyeh’s death, Yahya Sinwar, previously Hamas’s military chief, succeeded him as the group’s political leader. Sinwar’s leadership ended when he was killed in Rafah, Gaza, in October. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)