Russia strongly condemns assassination of Hamas political bureau chief – Foreign Ministry

Moscow strongly condemns the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of the Palestinian Hamas movement, the Russian Foreign Ministry's deputy spokesman, Andrey Nastasyin, told a news briefing. "We strongly condemn the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of the Palestinian Hamas movement as a result of a missile attack on his residence in Tehran," Nastasyin said. "It is obvious that the organizers of this political assassination were aware of the dangerous consequences for the entire region that this attack is fraught with." As Nastasyin emphasized, it is noteworthy that the attack was carried out while the Hamas leader was in Tehran at an official invitation to participate in the inauguration of Iran's President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian. "There is no doubt that the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh will have an extremely negative impact on the indirect contacts between Hamas and Israel on mutually acceptable terms of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip," he sa id. "Once again, we urge all parties involved to display restraint and refrain from steps that might lead to a dramatic degradation of the security situation in the region and provoke a large-scale armed confrontation," the Russian Foreign Ministry official pointed out. Source: National News Agency - Lebanon