United Nations, July 31. /TASS/. Iran has requested an extraordinary session of the United Nations Security Council regarding the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, and Israeli airstrikes on Beirut, according to a letter from the country’s authorities addressed to the UN Security Council.

According to the letter, Iran calls on the UN Security Council to strongly and resolutely condemn such acts of aggression and terrorist attacks on behalf of the Israeli regime against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran, as well as the recent acts of aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon and Syria, to convene for an emergency session in order to respond to the Israeli aggression and terrorist attacks committed in Iran and the [Middle East] region.

Earlier, the Palestinian movement Hamas said that Haniyeh had been killed in an Israeli strike targeting the residence he was staying at in Tehran, where he had arrived for the inauguration of the country's president-elect, Masoud Pezeshkian. The Al Hadath TV channel reported that Haniyeh was killed in a direct missile strike. Deputy Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau Mousa Abu Marzook has warned that Haniyeh’s assassination will not go unanswered. Israeli authorities declined to comment to CNN on Haniyeh's death.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria, followed by a ground operation in the enclave. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.