Tehran: Iran on Wednesday condemned the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Isreal and asserted that the final moments of "Martyr Sinwar" will become a "model for the youth and children."
The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations early this morning also recalled the hanging of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
In a post on X, the Iran mission said, "As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration."
The remarks followed the announcement by Israeli Defense Force (IDF) that the Hamas chief, the mastermind behind the group's October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, had been killed in an Israeli military operation in southern Gaza on October 16.
When U.S. forces dragged a disheveled Saddam Hussein out of an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. Those who regarded Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed. However, when Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the… pic.twitter.com/S1QUN47y83
— I.R.IRAN Mission to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) October 17, 2024
The Iranian mission in its post attached a screenshot from the raw footage shared by Israeli military of Sinwar's last moments.
A 2003 United States-led invasion in Iraq toppled Saddam Hussein who was captured by the American troops . The late dictator was tried in an Iraqi court for crimes against humanity and executed by hanging in the year 2006.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video statement on October 17 confirmed that Yahya Sinwar has been eliminated. "Today, as we promised we would, we settled accounts with him. Today, evil suffered a heavy blow, but our mission is not yet completed," he said as per the statement published by the Times of Israel.
"To the residents of Gaza, I say: Sinwar destroyed your lives. He told you he was a lion but in practice, he hid in a dark tunnel and was eliminated when he fled in a panic from our soldiers. His elimination is an important milestone in the demise of the Hamas axis of evil," Netanyahu said.
The Israeli military said Sinwar was among three militants killed on Wednesday in Rafah. Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said that three gunmen were sighted "fleeing from house to house" by Israeli soldiers and upon being fired upon, they split up and Sinwar entered a building alone.
He was spotted sitting in a chair by a drone at a which he threw a piece of wood at, Hagari said. Sinwar had 40,000 shekels on him when he was killed in Rafah yesterday, Hagari said as he presented a drone video of Sinwar's final moments. "We found him with a flak jacket and a gun and NIS 40,000," the IDF spokesperson said.
Hagari said that the IDF was tracking Sinwar for months, and that his DNA had been found in a tunnel a few hundred meters from where Hamas murdered six hostages in August.He added that Israel is actively searching for Muhammad Sinwar, brother of the slain Hamas leader, and all Hamas military commanders.
Sinwar's killing comes after Hamas's political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran earlier in July. Sinwar was later named the chief of Hamas.
Meanwhile, the Hezbollah in Lebanon has announced it will "transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with Israel", which will become clear in the coming days, according to Al Jazeera.