TEL AVIV: Iran plans to attack Israel on Tisha B’Av known as the Jewish Disasters Day in response to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which starts on August 12 and ends on August 13, Western media reported quoting intelligence sources on Friday.
The intelligence sources said that they had evidence Iran plans to attack Israel on Tisha B’Av. According to the reports Iran’s attack will reportedly be coordinated with Hezbollah.
On Tisha B’Av, Jews mourn the destruction of the first and second Temples. During the annual event, there is mourning, fasting and a practice of self-denial.
The report shows that there is an emotional and psychological impact in targeting Israel on the holy day of mourning. According to the reports there is also reportedly a symbolic reason for attacking on this particular date, reviving historical traumas and replaying the images of destruction.
Iran allegedly thinks that attacking on this day would bring an element of surprise. As security forces may be occupied with their own religious rituals or settling disagreements, they may be unprepared for a military attack.
The killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in an attack on Wednesday in Tehran has aggravated fears of a regional conflict.
Caretaker Foreign Minister of Iran, Ali Bagheri Kani has said that Iran will exercise its “legitimate and inherent right” to punish the “criminal Zionists”, Iranian state media reported on Friday.
Tehran, as well as Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah movements, have blamed Israel for the attack, which has not commented.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered at a mosque in Qatar on Friday to bid farewell to the martyred Hamas leader. Haniyeh’s assassination comes almost 10 months into an Israeli military offensive that has ravaged the Gaza Strip.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has issued directives Iran to strike Israel directly, in retaliation for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, New York Times reported, quoting three Iranian officials, briefed on the order, including two personnel of the Revolutionary Guards.
The Iranian leader gave the order at an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning, shortly following Iranian officials announced that Ismail Haniyeh had been assassinated in Tehran.
Many countries including Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, China, Russia, Egypt and Jordan strongly condemned the assassination of Hamas leader in Theran, Iran.
