Latest news with #Sinwars
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Hamas won't collapse, even with the death of both Sinwars
The Sinwars helped build Hamas into the genocidal powerhouse it was on October 7. However, their deaths have appeared to come and go without much of a change in the organization's behavior. Mohammed Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, was killed on May 13. His death has now been confirmed. It was widely rumored to be true over the last ten days. However, Hamas hasn't appeared to change its behavior in Gaza. The group continues to cling to the central camps area of Nuseirat, Maghazi, Bureij and Deir al-Balah. It still has fighters in Gaza City. It also has some limited control over other parts of Gaza. Hamas has lost its entire chain of command inGaza. In many cases, its brigade and battalion commanders have been killed more than once. It has replaced them, and they were killed again. Sometimes it's possible that the commanders on October 7 were replaced, and not only was the replacement killed, but his replacement as well. Company commanders of the group are also decimated. This is according to the IDF reports and other assessments. It's possible the reports are rosy and Hamas is in a better position than it looks. For instance, Israel has been wrong in the past about assessments of success in Gaza. After the eleventh day of 2021 it was widely reported that the Hamas 'Metro' of tunnels in Gaza was set back 'years.' These reports were wrong. The metro was apparently not damaged very much, and Hamas repaired it in time for the October 2023 attack. Hamas has always grown more powerful after wars with Israel. It has also replaced numerous leaders in the past. It has come back from blows such as losing Sheikh Yassin to an IDF airstrike, as well as Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi. Mahmoud Abdel Rauf al-Mabhouh, who was key to procuring weapons for Hamas, was also killed in 2010. A long list of Hamas leaders have come and gone. The Sinwars helped build Hamas into the genocidal powerhouse it was on October 7. However, their deaths have appeared to come and go without much of a change in the organization's behavior. Yahya Sinwar was hunted down and killed in Tal al-Sultan near Rafah in October 2024. He was alone when he was killed. A few of his last comrades scattered. His death reminds us of the death of the Persian leader Darius III who died fleeing Alexander the Great. He also died after his empire and his men had melted away. However, Hamas doesn't seem to be willing to give in. This is what is perplexing about these tactical triumphs over the Hamas leaders in Gaza. Israel possesses great excellence in hunting down Hamas leaders and eliminating Hamas commanders. However, the larger strategy appears not to have met with tactical success. What that means is that as Hamas loses leaders, Hamas doesn't seem to actually cave in. Now that could be changing as situations change on the ground in Gaza. The IDF's new plan Gideon's Chariots is supposed to press home the attack and seize ground, rather than the raiding strategy the IDF conducted in 2024. However, the lack of collapse among the Hamas cadres in the Central Camps is still striking. The group appears to be recruiting many young people who are not willing to stand and fight. Its arsenal is depleted. It doesn't seem to have much left. However, it holds 58 hostages and appears to continue to be able to communicate with its leaders in Doha when it comes to hostage deals. In fact, the Hamas terms for these deals don't seem to change, despite leadership losses. The deal of January 2025, was primarily similar to the one Hamas wanted throughout 2024. The deal being discussed now is similar to the one offered Hamas in March. Hamas has some things it wants. It wants an end to the war. However, it never seems to be on the verge of collapse. Even if it is, the deaths of its leaders don't seem to be leveraged in any kind of Clausewitz-like stratagem. Instead, Israel plods forward in tactical successes, without a clear post-war strategy or an exit strategy for Gaza, or even a way to replace Hamas with some other type of civilian authority. Hamas assumes all it has to do is wait and it will maintain some kind of control. Then it can find the next Sinwar to replace those who came before.
New Straits Times
29-05-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Mohammad Sinwar, 'ghost' who outmanoeuvred Israeli intelligence
MOHAMMAD Sinwar, the elusive Hamas military chief in Gaza who Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday had been eliminated, has long been at the top of Israel's most wanted list. Sinwar was elevated to the top ranks of Hamas in 2024 after the death in combat of his brother Yahya, mastermind of the 2023 attack on Israel that led to the war in Gaza and later named as overall Hamas leader. Hamas has yet to confirm Mohammad Sinwar's death, which would leave his close associate Izz al-Din Haddad, who currently oversees operations in northern Gaza, in charge of Hamas' armed wing across the whole of the enclave. It is unclear how Mohammad Sinwar's death, if confirmed, would affect decision-making in the overall group – for example whether his death would bolster or diminish the influence of exiled members of the group's leadership council in deciding policy in ceasefire negotiations. Hamas officials describe Sinwar and Haddad as "ghosts" who have long outfoxed Israel's intelligence agencies. Like his brother Yahya, Sinwar had survived many Israeli assassination attempts, including airstrikes and planted explosives, Hamas sources said. When Sinwar once visited a cemetery, his comrades discovered that a remote-controlled explosive resembling a brick had been planted along his path, according to the Hamas sources. In 2003, Hamas operatives discovered a bomb planted in the wall of Mohammad Sinwar's house, foiling an assassination attempt that the group blamed on Israeli intelligence. Known for clandestine operations, Mohammad Sinwar played a central role in planning and executing Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the country's worst security failure, Hamas sources said. He was also widely believed to have been one of the masterminds of the 2006 cross-border attack and abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas held Shalit for five years before he was swapped for more than 1,000 Palestinians jailed by Israel. Under the deal, his brother Yahya Sinwar, whose meticulous planning for the 2023 attack shattered Israel's reputation as an invincible power in a hostile region, was among those who were released. Netanyahu has vowed to eradicate Hamas, and the offensive against Gaza by the Middle East's most sophisticated and advanced military has severely weakened the organisation. But the group that was created during the first Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in 1987 and which carried out suicide bombings that traumatised Israelis in the second one, is still standing. Born on September 16, 1975, Sinwar has rarely appeared in public or spoken to the media. Yahya Sinwar was killed in combat during a routine Israeli patrol in Gaza in 2024. Israel released footage of a severely wounded Yahya Sinwar throwing a piece of wood at a hovering drone, his last act of defiance towards his old foe before his death and his brother's rise. The Sinwars originally came from Asqalan - now the Israeli city of Ashkelon — and became refugees like hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians in what they call the Nakba, or catastrophe, during the birth of Israel during the 1948 war. The family settled in Khan Younis in Gaza, which has been largely reduced to rubble in the latest war. Mohammad Sinwar was educated in schools run by the UN Palestinian relief agency (UNRWA), which has long had tense relations with Israel, including during the current war in Gaza. He joined Hamas shortly after its founding, influenced by his brother Yahya, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest and at one time most influential Islamist group in the Middle East. His reputation as a hardliner helped him rise through the group's military ranks, and by 2005, he was leading Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade. The unit, one of the largest and most powerful battalions in Hamas's armed wing, has been responsible for cross-border attacks, firing rockets and planting bombs along the frontier. It also watches the movement of Israeli soldiers around the clock and in 2006, elite commandos led by Sinwar took part in Shalit's abduction. Sources close to Hamas say Sinwar developed close ties with Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas's military wing, and Mohammed Deif, the aloof military chief assassinated by Israel.
