Following the assassination of political and military leader Yahya Sinwar, the question of who will assume the leadership of Hamas is now under close examination.

According to a report in The National, Hamas will not elect a new leader until 2025. Sources indicate that the six-member Shura Council assumed control of Hamas shortly after Sinwar’s assassination.

The Shura Council represents Hamas members in Gaza, the West Bank, Israeli prisons, and the Palestinian diaspora. The Council, which serves as the supreme decision-making body, will choose a new leader in 2025.

Hamas has been operating under a collective leadership structure, a model that was used in Gaza in the 1990s when Ahmed Yassin served as the group’s spiritual leader.

Sources speaking to The National identified key figures in this collective leadership, including Khaled Meshaal, who led Hamas until 2017, Khalil al-Hayya, and Zahir Jabbarin, the group’s intelligence and finance chief. All three are based in Qatar, though Jabbarin also spends time in Turkey.

The collective leadership also includes Yahya Sinwar’s younger brother, Mohammed Sinwar, and Rawhi Mushtaha, whom Israel claims to have killed, though sources suggest he is still alive. Both men are veterans of Hamas’s military wing and are currently “operational field commanders.” The sixth member is Shura Council Chairman Mohammed Darwish, who is based in Turkey.

While Hamas is not expected to choose a new leader until the elections in early 2025, sources confirm that Khalil al-Hayya has emerged as the most likely successor to Sinwar.

Al-Hayya, 63, is known for his close ties with both Iran and Egypt. He was Hamas’ chief representative in Gaza ceasefire negotiations and has been a key figure in the organization since its founding. In the early 1990s, he was imprisoned by Israel for three years and survived several assassination attempts, during which around 30 members of his family, including two of his sons, were killed.

In the wake of Sinwar’s death, al-Hayya stated that Hamas will continue to work towards the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. However, his ascension to leadership is not guaranteed; some sources believe Khaled Meshaal also has a chance to take over.

Experts suggest that, unlike when Sinwar merged the political and military leadership after replacing political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran, such a merger is unlikely this time. It is expected that Hamas will once again separate its political and military leadership roles.

Fifteen UN peacekeepers have been treated for injuries after Israel allegedly used white phosphorus near a UN base in southern Lebanon, according to a confidential United Nations (UN) report.

Israel, which has previously used white phosphorus in southern Lebanon, is suspected of carrying out similar attacks on UN bases in the same area. UN reports state that 15 peacekeepers were hospitalized following the attack earlier this month.

The report, obtained by The National, indicates that the bases—part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)—were deliberately targeted by Israeli forces. It details how light towers and watchtowers were fired upon, resulting in injuries to peacekeepers.

White phosphorus is a toxic chemical that can cause severe respiratory damage and organ failure if inhaled, and serious burns upon contact with skin. As a highly flammable substance, it can reignite weeks later when exposed to oxygen, causing fires and destruction to civilian infrastructure and agricultural land.

On October 13, UNIFIL reported that two Israeli tanks entered a UN base, creating a security crisis. Approximately 45 minutes after the tanks withdrew, peacekeepers heard an explosion and saw thick smoke billowing from the northern part of the base.

Despite wearing protective masks, 15 peacekeepers affected by the smoke experienced skin irritation and gastrointestinal distress, according to the report. It noted that “suspected white phosphorus” was the cause of the smoke.

White phosphorus is not banned under international law, and the U.S. maintains that its military use is legitimate. However, human rights organizations argue that its intentional use against civilians could constitute a war crime.

Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder declined to comment on the report but noted that white phosphorus can be used “as a signalling capability or to focus on targets,” adding that it has “legitimate uses in combat operations.”

The alleged Israeli use of white phosphorus at UNIFIL bases dates back to November 2002, and was reported to the UN Security Council in March.

Photographs in the report show tanks breaching the gates of the UN base, damaging its walls, with white smoke filling the air. Images also depict wounded Indonesian peacekeepers. The 10-page report concluded that the Israeli army had “deliberately” attacked UNIFIL bases.

On October 10, two Indonesian peacekeepers were injured when an Israeli Merkava tank fired on an observation tower at UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura. On the same day, Israeli forces opened fire on the UN base in Labbouneh, striking the entrance to a bunker housing Italian peacekeepers and damaging vehicles and the communications system.

The following day, two more UN peacekeepers were wounded in an Israeli attack near their watchtower in southern Lebanon.

Afghanistan cannot be exempted from the positive and negative consequences of current tensions in other parts of the world. The war in Eastern Europe and the Middle East has negative consequences for Afghanistan, but not for the Taliban, because they are making efforts to extend their government as much as they can by using the turbulent situation.

In Afghanistan, eyes are focused on the decision of the world, especially the great powers, to open a way to overcome the current impasse. But the countries involved in the Afghanistan conflict have forgotten this country and have defined more important missions for themselves in other parts of the world.

After the Taliban returned to power, the war in Ukraine broke out, where the world has reverted its attention from the Afghanistan crisis, and the war in Ukraine turned into the main topic and agenda of the world leaders.

In the war in Ukraine, not only Russia, but also the United States and the European Union were involved, the two major blocks, and if they want they can end the Afghan crisis.

Now that more than two years have passed since the war in Ukraine, not only is there no news of the end of the crisis, but more costs and resources are pouring in from all sides to sustain the war. Even some security experts admit that the war in Ukraine may last for years.

Before finding a way out of the Ukraine crisis, the Gaza war broke out — the war that has turned the Middle East into a “powder keg” and so far no way to overcome this situation has been found.

The regional and global actors have failed to manage the situation, or even break a deal for a short-term ceasefire to help reduce civilian casualties in Gaza.

The US is not only involved in the war in Ukraine, but also in the war in Gaza — the factor that has caused Washington to think only about the survival and security of Israel and not care about the problem of Afghanistan.

Unfortunately if Tehran and Tel Aviv enter into a cycle of extensive conflict, the war in the Middle East will take on a regional nature

Instead of ending the Gaza war, it became the cause of another war in Lebanon. What is happening in Lebanon these days is the result of the Gaza war and the most annoying is that civilians are again the target.

For the USA, not only the war in Ukraine and Gaza, but also the war in Lebanon is a big concern. Likewise, France, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, is involved in the Lebanon war.

Iran, as a neighbor of Afghanistan and a regional power, finds itself stuck in the battle of Lebanon. The Lebanese crisis is also a concern of Saudi Arabia. The aid that Riyadh has sent to Lebanon in the last few months has not been sent to Afghanistan in the last three years.

Like the other two crises, the prospect of the end of the Lebanon war looks dark, at least in the short term. It is not unlikely that a bigger crisis will be born from it — the war between Israel and Iran.

Not long ago, Tehran launched nearly two hundred ballistic missiles towards Israel, to which Tel Aviv has not yet responded. For three weeks, the eyes of the world’s inhabitants have been focused on Israel’s possible response — an answer that is unlikely to light the fire of a full-scale war between the two sides.

Obviously, when Tehran and Tel Aviv enter into a cycle of extensive conflict, the war in the Middle East will take on a regional nature. When Gaza, Lebanon, Israel, Iran, etc. are involved in war, what is happening in the Middle East can be called a regional war. In that case, the allied militias of Iran from Yemen, Iraq, etc. will also shoot at Israel, and there will be no doubt that the war is regional.

Fortunately, war in Afghanistan has ended

In the meantime, among other crises and conflicts, the Afghanistan crisis would be forgotten. Whereas, if it were not for the above crises, the presence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, especially the rights of women to work and girls to education would be on top agenda of the world leaders.

Now, compared to other crises, the situation in Afghanistan is not described as a crisis. It is true that Afghanistan is suffering from statelessness, but according to many, the war has ended there. If terrorism is active in Afghanistan, it has not seriously and directly threatened the interests of other countries. In case if there is any threat it is nothing in the eyes of the world compared to other current crises.

Even if the economic crisis is rampant in Afghanistan, in the eyes of the world, the image of the refugees and famine victims of Gaza and Lebanon will be better than the hungry people of Afghanistan. This is the image created in the world’s mind of the Afghanistan crisis. The big regional and global actors are looking for their interests in the end of other crises than the Afghan crisis.

The big regional and global actors are looking for their interests in the end of every war

In the last few months, only organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, etc., publish statements describing the situation in Afghanistan as dangerous and calling for the serious attention of the world.

Or the World Food Program and other humanitarian agencies write about the increase in hunger and the spread of diseases such as tuberculosis, etc. that even for that cause, there are no eyes to see and no ears to listen. The rest of the world’s effective institutions and powers involved in Afghanistan are silent and are watching what is happening in Gaza, Lebanon, and Ukraine.

Summarizing the challenges of stateless Afghanistan to seasonal diseases shows that this country has disappeared from the eyes of the world at least for now.

More importantly, ignoring the bad situation of the Afghan media indicates the lack of importance of the country’s crisis in the eyes of the world.

Recently, the media has been subjected to repression and censorship more than before. According to some sources, TVs will be blocked or turned into radios. So far, no serious voice has been raised in support of the media from Western institutions and countries against this decision of the Taliban. 

Only the “Afghanistan Journalists Support Organization” and some other organizations raise their voices, but that would bear no result.

The US presidential elections, which were a source of hope for many, cannot be hoped for too much now because if Democratic Party’s nominee, Kamala Harris wins, she will follow the footstep of Joe Biden regarding policies with Afghanistan. And if Republican Party’s candidate Donald Trump wins, assuming he intends to end the war, and will prioritize the crisis in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, not Afghanistan under Taliban rule. In this case, it still takes a lot of time to resolve the crisis in Afghanistan.