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Erdogan calls Hamas a ‘liberation group’ that is ‘waging a battle to protect its lands’
(JTA) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised Hamas and canceled a trip to Israel as it fights a war with the terror group in Gaza.
“Hamas is not a terrorist organization, it is a liberation group, mujahideen waging a battle to protect its lands and people,” Erdogan said Wednesday in remarks to his ruling AK Party, as translated by Reuters. “Mujahideen,” an Arabic term, means “holy warrior.”
Erdogan said calling Hamas a terrorist group is a policy of the West. “We aren’t indebted to Israel,” he said. “But the West is.”
Turkey condemned Hamas’ invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, in which terrorists killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, wounded thousands and abducted more than 200.
Israel subsequently declared war and has launched airstrikes on Gaza, killing more than 5,000, including a large number of children, according to the territory’s Hamas-controlled health ministry. It is not clear how many of those killed in Gaza are terrorists.
Erdogan’s statement Wednesday is an example of how the war’s ripple effects across the Middle East. Before Oct. 7, Turkey was reconciling with Israel after more than a decade of tensions that were sparked in 2010 by a deadly Israeli raid on a Turkish flotilla attempting to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Then, as now, the territory was under Hamas control.
Turkish-Israeli ties began warming again after the 2020 Abraham Accords. The treaty normalized relations between Israel and four Arab countries, boosted regional commerce and left Iran increasingly isolated. The Biden Administration encouraged Turkish-Israeli reconciliation, seeing it as a key piece of further isolating Iran, and its ally Russia, which invaded Ukraine.
Turkey is a member of the NATO military alliance, and Biden is rushing defense assistance and U.S. military personnel to the Middle East to deter an expansion of the war. Erdogan’s hostility toward Israel could complicate aspects of that effort.
The Israel-Hamas war has also led to the suspension of U.S.-led negotiations over an Israel-Saudi Arabia treaty, another diplomatic process that grew out of the Abraham Accords.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.