Swiss foreign minister: Haniyeh death complicates Middle East situation
Ismail Haniyeh, pictured in 2006.
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Listening: Swiss foreign minister: Haniyeh death complicates Middle East situation
Ignazio Cassis has expressed concern about the latest developments in the conflict between Israel and Iran.
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The killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran creates “a territorial link to another country”, which increases the likelihood of a regional escalation, Cassis told the Keystone-SDA news agency at a press conference at the Olympic Games in Paris on Wednesday.
The question now was what consequences the killing would have at the regional and supra-regional level – as well as for Europe and Switzerland, Cassis said. For him, the killing corresponds with Israel’s stated aim of wanting to eliminate Hamas, and was therefore to be expected.
A possible regional expansion of the conflict must however be prevented, Cassis said.
He appealed to all actors to hold back with further reactions. Since the start of the war in Gaza last year, Switzerland has attempted to contribute to de-escalation via diplomatic channels, and is working day and night to find a solution. “A diplomatic way out must be found. There is always a way if you really want one,” Cassis said.
The news of Haniyeh’s death sent the Middle East into turmoil on Wednesday morning. According to Hamas, Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli attack on his residence in Iran’s capital Tehran. Haniyeh had been chairman of Hamas’ political bureau since 2017.
Just a few hours earlier, Fuad Shukr, a senior commander of the Lebanese Shia militia group Hezbollah, was killed in an airstrike on a suburb of Beirut, according to the Israeli army. Since the start of the Gaza war around ten months ago, a series of Hamas military and political officials have been killed – or are presumed dead.
Translated from German by DeepL/dos
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