Haniyeh's assassination in Tehran, Israel's strike on Beirut: what we know so far

Fears of a major regional war surged overnight on Tuesday following the killings of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and an Israeli attack in Beirut targeting Fuad Shukr, a senior commander from the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

While Shukr’s fate is still unknown, Haniyeh's death was confirmed by the Palestinian group in Gaza and the attacks have threatened to embroil the whole region into a more widespread war.

In a separate incident which exacerbated tensions further later on Tuesday night, Iraq’s paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) came under a US air attack which hit a base south of Baghdad in what US officials said was "self-defence".

The PMF is allied with Iran and forms part of the so-called 'Axis of Resistance' in opposition to Israel and US.

The escalations come as Israel’s brutal war in Gaza nears its tenth month and ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have failed to reach an agreement, with Israeli leaders vowing to continue the war.

Lebanon has been on edge since last weekend after Israel vowed to retaliate for an attack in Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights that killed twelve Druze children and was blamed on Hezbollah, despite the group's denial of responsibility.

The precision targeting of Haniyeh in Tehran and Shukr in Beirut showed that Israel is able to conduct pinpoint aerial strikes on targets, even though it has chosen to launch brutal and indiscriminate attacks from the air, ground, and sea against Gaza over ten months, killing over 39,400 people - most of whom were women and children.

Haniyeh's assassination

Haniyeh had travelled to Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday and spent the day attending events with dignitaries and being widely photographed by the media.

Haniyeh alongside his security guard, Wasim Abu Shaban, was reportedly struck by an "aerial projectile" at around 02:00 local time on Wednesday morning in an apartment in a compound for war veterans in north Tehran, according to Iranian media reports.

Iranian media reported that rocket fire came from outside of the country's airspace.

The attack was a major shock to Iran's security reputation. Haniyeh would have considered himself in a safe place as a diplomatic guest of the presidency, especially since he was considered a close ally of Iran.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that the "criminal and terrorist Zionist regime [Israel], with this action, has paved the way for severe punishment for itself".

Hamas issued a statement mourning Haniyeh, who had lived in Qatar since 2019 and recently lost family members in the war in Gaza. The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, said the killing would take the battle in Gaza to “new dimensions”.

Beirut strike: what we know

At around 19:50 local time on Tuesday, an explosion was reported in Dahiyeh, the Shia-majority neighbourhood of south Beirut which Israel has long viewed as a possible attack target amid escalating tensions with Hezbollah. Billows of smoke could be seen from kilometres away.

Footage of the struck building showed the top side of a multistorey block crumbled, with the front facade broken off and rubble and glass strewn across a narrow street.

The strike was near the Bahman Hospital in Haret Hreik, which forms a densely populated residential area.

Within an hour of the strike, Israel announced that its air force had carried out a "targeted strike in Beirut" for the commander who was allegedly responsible for the Majdal Shams attack.

Unconfirmed reports suggested the strike was carried out by drones.

A few hours later, as speculation swirled over which Hezbollah figure had been targeted and Lebanese civil defence teams rushed to the scene, Israel said it had targeted Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander close to leader Hassan Nasrallah and sanctioned by the US government.

It is not yet known whether Shukr, also known as Hajj Mohsen, was killed in the attack as claimed by Israel.

Lebanese media reported that he was trapped under the rubble with emergency services still attending the scene on Wednesday morning.

Lebanon’s ministry of health said four civilians were killed in the strike, including two children and a woman with more than 60 people wounded.

Hezbollah said in a statement that "the great jihadi commander brother Fuad Shukr (Hajj Mohsen) was present" in the building targeted by "the Zionist enemy", but did not confirm or deny his death.

The attack alarmed the Lebanese government which said on Wednesday that it expects the Shia militant group to launch a response.

Prior to the attack, western diplomats had been holding frantic meetings and calls with Lebanese and Israeli counterparts to dissuade an attack on the capital city.

But the strike, which may well have crossed Hezbollah and its backer Iran’s red line, has pushed the region even closer to war as defiant threats of retaliation poured in.