Details Of the Hanieh Assassination Operation, from news sites:
Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader of Hamas, was assassinated Wednesday by an explosive device covertly smuggled into the Tehran, Iran, guesthouse where he was staying, according to seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Iranians, and a U.S. official.
The bomb had been hidden approximately two months ago in the guesthouse, according to five of the Middle Eastern officials. The guesthouse is run and protected by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and is part of a large compound, known as Neshat, in an upscale neighborhood of northern Tehran.
Haniyeh was in Iran’s capital for the presidential inauguration. The bomb was detonated remotely, the five officials said, once it was confirmed that he was inside his room at the guesthouse. The blast also killed a bodyguard.
The explosion shook the building, shattered some windows and caused the partial collapse of an exterior wall, according to the two Iranian officials, members of the Revolutionary Guard briefed on the incident. Such damage was also evident in a photograph of the building shared with The New York Times.
Haniyeh, who had led Hamas’ political office in Qatar, had stayed at the guesthouse several times when visiting Tehran, according to the Middle Eastern officials. All of the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive details about the assassination.
The assassins were able to exploit a gap in Iran’s defenses: a lapse in the security of a supposedly tightly guarded compound that allowed a bomb to be planted and to remain hidden for many weeks before it would eventually be triggered.
Such a breach, three Iranian officials said, was a catastrophic failure of intelligence and security for Iran and a tremendous embarrassment for the Revolutionary Guard, which uses the compound for retreats, secret meetings and housing prominent guests such as Haniyeh.
How the bomb was stashed in the guesthouse remained unclear. The Middle Eastern officials said the planning for the assassination took months and required extensive surveillance of the compound. The two Iranian officials who described the nature of the assassination said they did not know how or when the explosives were planted in the room.
The leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, was staying next door, two of the Iranian officials said. His room was not badly damaged, suggesting precise planning in the targeting of Haniyeh.