Hamas' armed wing says Haniyeh's assassination takes battle to new dimensions

GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Hamas armed wing said Wednesday that the assassination of the group's political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran is a "landmark and dangerous event" that will have implications on the region.

In a statement, Al-Qassam Brigades said "the criminal assassination" of Haniyeh "will turn battle to new dimensions with big consequences on the entire region."

The statement stressed that Israel had "miscalculated in expanding the circle of aggression and assassinating resistance leaders in various areas as well as violating the sovereignty of the region's countries."

Al-Qassam Brigades noted that the continued Israeli crimes "must be an incentive for everyone to back and support the resistance in Palestine."

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas announced early Wednesday that Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his residence in the Iranian capital Tehran.

Israel has made no immediate announcement about the assassination.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar