DOHA: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Friday met with Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban leader in Doha while attending the funeral of martyred Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Haqqani is part of the Taliban delegation led by Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, the political deputy prime minister, that traveled to Doha from Tehran to attend the funeral of Ismail Haniyeh.
The killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in an attack on Wednesday in Tehran has aggravated fears of a regional conflict.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already announced a day of national mourning over the assassination of Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Tehran, as well as Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah movements, have blamed Israel for the attack, which has not commented. Israel, however, claimed responsibility for the killing of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in suburbs of Beirut.
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.
