The assassination of the head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran sparked angry reactions in the streets of Lebanon, Jordan and Morocco on Wednesday, where demonstrations took place condemning the assassination and affirming their support for the resistance.
Massive marches took place in the Galilee camp in Baalbek, eastern Lebanon, and in the Beddawi camp in northern Lebanon, in which participants expressed their anger and condemnation of Haniyeh's assassination.
In southern Lebanon, the Rashidieh, Al-Bass and Burj al-Shamali camps in Tyre organised marches, condemning the assassination of Haniyeh and in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
📸 Safa follow-up | A demonstration in the Galilee camp in Lebanon, denouncing the assassination of the leader Ismail Haniyeh pic.twitter.com/YMg7eccEcl
— Safa Agency (@SafaPs) July 31, 2024
Jordan supports the resistance
In Jordan, Al Jazeera Net correspondent Habib Abu Mahfouz said that various Jordanian governorates and Palestinian camps witnessed massive public marches condemning the assassination of Haniyeh, called for by the National Forum to Support the Resistance and Protect the Homeland.
He added that thousands of Jordanians participated in the angry popular stand near the Israeli embassy in the Rabieh area of ​​the capital, Amman, condemning the assassination of Haniyeh.
He said that hundreds of people in Zarqa Governorate participated in a march that was launched to condemn the assassination of Haniyeh, and the participants in the march affirmed their absolute support for the armed Palestinian resistance factions.
In this regard, the Sheikh of the Bani Sakhr tribe, Tarrad Al-Fayez, described – in his interview with Al Jazeera Net – the targeting of Ismail Haniyeh as a “big mistake”, saying, “The occupation completely controls the Arab nation, with direct support from the American administration, and the peoples and regimes of the Arab countries must stand up to it.”
Former Jordanian Prime Minister Taher Al-Masry also mourned Ismail Haniyeh, who he believed had given everything he had for the Palestinian cause, and that the assassination “will not affect the course of the resistance.”
For his part, the General Supervisor of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Murad Al-Adayleh, said that the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh “represents an additional asset for the Palestinian people and the Hamas movement on the path of liberation, sacrifice and giving.”
Morocco is angry
In Morocco, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the capital, Rabat, and in several cities, including Casablanca, Tangier, and Meknes.
Al Jazeera Net correspondent Youssef Benasria said that the demonstrators denounced the assassination of the prominent Palestinian leader in front of the Moroccan parliament building in Rabat, in a popular demonstration called for by several organizations, including the Moroccan Front to Support Palestine and Oppose Normalization, and the National Working Group for Palestine.
The crowds, which gathered in front of the parliament building, raised Palestinian flags, chanting slogans condemning the Israeli policy of assassinations against symbols of the Palestinian resistance, and the Western support for Israel in its war on the Gaza Strip. They also called for an end to normalization with the occupation.
Abu Al-Shitaa Masa’ef, a member of the National Secretariat of the Moroccan Front to Support Palestine and Oppose Normalization, told Al Jazeera Net that there are about 20 cities in Morocco that witnessed popular demonstrations called for to denounce the assassination of Haniyeh.
Political parties and organizations in Morocco also condemned the assassination of Haniyeh. Secretary-General of the Justice and Development Party, Abdelilah Benkirane, said that the assassination of Haniyeh “will only increase the occupation's defeat and collapse.”
Both the Secretary-General of the Justice and Charity Group, Mohamed Abbadi, and the Secretary-General of the Progress and Socialism Party, Hamad Nabil Benabdallah, condemned the assassination of Haniyeh, saying that it “will be renewed fuel for the resistance.”
Early Wednesday, Hamas announced the assassination of Haniyeh following an Israeli raid on his residence in Tehran, after he participated yesterday, Tuesday, in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian.