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Bomb That Killed Top Hamas Leader In Iran Was Planted Months In Advance By Assassins, Officials Say

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By JAKE SMITH

 

The bomb that killed top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was planted in his guesthouse in Iran two months in advance, according to several reports.

Haniyeh was assassinated after attending the inauguration of the new Iranian president in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday. Initially thought to be an airstrike, Haniyeh was actually killed in an explosion set off by a bomb that had been planted by assassins two months earlier in a Tehran guesthouse where he had been residing, according to five Middle Eastern officials who spoke to The New York Times.

The bomb was detonated remotely once Haniyeh reached his room in the guesthouse, according to the Times. Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Axios that Mossad, Israel’s top intelligence agency, planted and detonated the bomb.

Israel has not taken credit for Haniyeh’s assassination, nor has the U.S. publicly identified who it believes was behind the operation. Israel has taken responsibility for some of its military actions in the past — such as the strike against a high-level Hezbollah operative in Lebanon on Monday — but Mossad’s operations have often been shrouded in mystery and met with silence from the Israeli government.

It is unclear how the assassins were able to plant the bomb to begin with, according to the Times. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Iran’s military, was tasked with running and providing security for the guesthouse, which is located in an upper-class neighborhood of Tehran.

The assassins managed to bypass IRGC security and plant the bomb in a hidden location, according to the Times. That IRGC officials failed to catch the assassin or detect the bomb in the months that it was hidden represents a massive security and intelligence failure, as well as a stain on the IRGC’s reputation, two Iranian officials told the Times.

When the bomb exploded around 2 a.m. local time, the guesthouse shook and partially collapsed, according to the Times. Officials and medical personnel scrambled to Haniyeh’s room to find that he had died immediately, as did his bodyguard, who was also in the room at the time.

Haniyeh’s death is a major blow to Hamas, given his high-level status as the terrorist organization’s political leader. Iran and Hamas declared Israel was responsible immediately following the news of Haniyeh’s death and have vowed revenge; Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reportedly gave the order to strike directly inside of Israel out of retaliation, although the scale or timing of such a strike is unknown, according to the Times.

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Wales Becomes First UK Testbed for Citywide AI-Powered Facial Recognition Surveillance

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Wales is that part of the UK the authorities have picked as the testbed for the first citywide deployment of what some consider to currently be the most radical form of mass biometric surveillance in public places – “AI”-powered live facial recognition.
What is likely to be the reason behind the “trial,” privacy campaigners are warning, is the eventual permanent deployment of this type of biometric surveillance throughout the country.
South Wales Police said that Cardiff will be covered by a network of CCTV cameras with facial recognition tech embedded in them, while the excuse is providing security during the international Six Nations rugby event. But the police also characterized the move as “semi-permanent.”
This appears to be a distinction between what the police in the UK have used thus far to carry out surveillance based on live facial recognition: vans with one camera.
The decision to move to position a host of cameras in the central zone of Cardiff makes this a significant expansion of the technique.
And while the police are reassuring citizens that expanding live facial recognition “really enhances” law enforcement’s ability to do their job –  the Big Brother Watch privacy group slammed the move as a “shocking” development and the creation of an “Orwellian biometric surveillance zone.”
And while capturing everyone’s biometric data, and in that way, according to Big Brother Watch’s Senior Advocacy Officer Madeleine Stone, turning Brits into “walking barcodes” and “a nation of suspects” – in terms of solving crime, this is proving to be a waste of public money.
“This network of facial recognition cameras will make it impossible for Cardiff residents and visitors to opt out of a biometric police identity check,” Stone underlined.
And yet, over the three years that live facial recognition has been in use at sporting venues (only) – the use of the technology has not led to any arrests.
“No other democracy in the world spies on its population with live facial recognition in this cavalier and chilling way,” Stone warned, adding, “South Wales Police must immediately stop this dystopian trial.”
The technology works by capturing the faces of every person passing through an area covered, in real time, to then compare them to a database of those described in reports as “wanted criminals.”
However, when South Wales Police spoke about who is on their “watchlist,” it also included people “banned from the area” and those “who pose a risk to the public.”
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Hamas, Palestinians paraded dead babies coffins through streets before handover to Israel

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MXM logo  MxM News

Quick Hit:

Hamas paraded the caskets of Israeli hostages, including what they claimed were the bodies of a mother and two young children, through the streets of Gaza before handing them over to the Red Cross. Videos show crowds cheering as armed terrorists carried the coffins as part of a prisoner exchange with Israel.

Key Details:

  • Videos from Khan Younis, Gaza, show Hamas and other terrorists parading four caskets, including those of two young children, before handing them to the Red Cross.
  • Crowds cheered as the terrorists, armed and unmasked, carried the coffins, with celebratory music playing in the background.
  • The deceased were identified as members of the Bibas family, including the youngest hostages from the October 7 attack.

 

Diving Deeper:

During a ceremony in Khan Younis, Gaza, Hamas paraded the caskets of Israeli hostages through the streets, including what they claimed were the bodies of a mother and her two small children. The display occurred before the remains were handed over to the Red Cross as part of a prisoner exchange agreement with Israel. Crowds of Gazans were seen cheering and celebrating as the coffins were carried by armed terrorists.

Videos from the event show masked militants loading a casket into a Red Cross aid truck, while another militant, adorned with symbols of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, filmed the procession. Another video shows adults and children waving and celebrating as Hamas fighters, armed and in trucks, paraded through the streets. Reuters footage also captured members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) helping carry a casket, highlighting the involvement of multiple terrorist factions in the display.

Hamas presented the bodies as those of the Bibas family, who were captured during the October 7 attack. The children, aged four years and less than one year, were among the youngest hostages taken during the brutal assault that triggered the ongoing 15-month conflict. The fourth body was identified as 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, according to Jewish News Syndicate. Hamas has repeatedly blamed the deaths on Israeli airstrikes, though no evidence was provided to support the claim.

Israel and Hamas are currently observing a temporary ceasefire agreement, facilitating the exchange of civilian hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Despite the ceasefire, Hamas has continued to celebrate the October 7 attacks, which resulted in the largest mass killing of Jewish people since the Holocaust. During the ceremony, a stage displayed a poster depicting Israel as a “Nazi Army,” underscoring Hamas’s longstanding agenda of hostility towards the Jewish state.

The shocking parade of caskets, accompanied by celebratory music and cheering crowds, has drawn international condemnation and further underscored the brutal nature of Hamas’s actions. As the exchange process continues, the emotional toll on the families of the victims remains immeasurable.

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