Beirut, Lebanon – The assassinations of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Lebanon this week could help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regain domestic support as he fights for his political survival, say analysts, even though they may jeopardise hopes for the release of Israeli captives.
“The assassination of Haniyeh is great for Netanyahu’s political and security credentials,” Hugh Lovatt, an expert on Israel-Palestine for the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Al Jazeera. “That is undoubtedly a political fact.”
