Yahya Sinwar and senior Hamas officials are running scared after the wave of assassinations in Lebanon. Al Arabiya reports Saturday that, after the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Sinwar changed his location in Gaza. It was also reported that in recent days Hamas has changed security protocols for the organization's leader in the Gaza Strip.
Sources told the channel, which is owned by Saudi Arabia and broadcasts from Dubai, that Hamas leaders want any future cease-fire to ensure that they will not be harmed. As an additional precaution, Hamas decided to stop the organization's meetings in Lebanon in the near future. In addition, Hamas is limiting communication within the organization to correspondence only to prevent the possibility of intercepting conversations or locating locations.
Senior Islamic Jihad officials also decided to suspend meetings in Lebanon in the wake of the strike on Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders, according to the report.
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Yahya SInwar, airstrike on Hezbollah headquarters which killed Hassan Nasrallah
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas issued a statement following the assassination of Nasrallah.
"We mourn for His Honor Hassan Nasrallah and remember his life and the journey full of sacrifices for the liberation of Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and his honorable roles in supporting the Palestinian people, our brave resistance and our legitimate rights , and his insistence on continuing on the heroic front of supporting our people and our resistance in the Al-Aqsa flood.
"We are sure that this crime and all the crimes and assassinations of the occupation will not affect the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine except with determination, and continue with all the strength, courage and pride, in the way of martyrs, follow their path and in their footsteps, and continue the path of resistance and steadfastness until victory and defeating the occupation."
Nasrallah's maternal cousin, Hashem Safi al-Din, is believed to have survived the attack or was not in the bunker with Nasrallah when it happened. He was designated as Nasrallah's successor and reportedly has taken over, although perhaps secretly for the time being, until the official meetings of the Shura Council are held to appoint a successor.
The appointment of Safi al-Din is a step with a double declarative meaning – both to show continuity and continuity in command and leadership, and also to entrust it to someone who is known for his extreme positions toward Israel and the struggle against it.