Yahya Sinwar
Yahya Sinwar, known as "Abu Ibrahim", is the head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, in the Gaza Strip. He became the successor of Ismail Haniyeh in 2017. He is the founder of the security service of Hamas, called "Majd". The security apparatus focuses on internal security cases.
| Yahya Sinwar | |
|---|---|
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| name | Yahya Sinwar |
| other names | Yahya Ibrahim Hassan al-Sinwar, Abu Ibrahim |
| Personal details | |
| birth place | Khan Yunis, Palestine |
| religion | Islam |
| faith | Sunni |
| works |
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| known for |
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Abu Ibrahim was arrested by the Israeli regime forces in 1988 and sentenced to four life imprisonment. However, in 2011, he was released in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners with "Gilad Shalit", an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas. Many Israeli analysts believe that freeing Yahya Sinwar was the biggest mistake that the Israeli regime made against its own interests.
Biography
Yahya was born on October 19, 1962, in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. He is originally from the city of Majdal in Palestine. He got married after being freed from the Zionist regime's prisons in 2012 and has two sons and one daughter.
Education
He studied at the schools of the Jenin refugee camp until he completed his secondary education. He entered the Islamic University of Gaza and obtained a bachelor's degree in Arabic language.
Student activities
He was active in the student council of the Islamic University for 5 years and was elected as the secretary and daputy of the cultural and mathematical committee. After that, he took over the presidency of the mentioned council and later was elected as its deputy again. (1982 - 1987) He participated in the student debates among different currents as a theorist of the Islamic current and he also was in charge of the Islamic current. He founded and led the group "Return to Islamic Art" with the help and cooperation of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.
Militant and jihadist activities
He participated in the establishment of the security institution of the Hamas movement under the leadership of Ahmad Yassin in 1983. In 1986, he and some others were appointed by Sheikh Ahmad Yassin to form the Jihad and Invitation Organization (Majd), which is one of the most important leaders of this organization. Guidance and leadership of some of the popular clashes with the Zionist enemy (1982 - 1988).
Arrests
He was arrested in 1982 for 6 months following participation in resistance actions. Also, he was arrested in 1985 for 8 months due to participating in security and resistance actions. Again, he was arrested in 1988 and sentenced to 4 life imprisonment. He spent 22 years of his life consecutively in the enemy's prisons, of which about 4 years were in solitary confinement.
He led the prisoners of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the prisons for several years. He and some of his brothers led several hunger strikes, the most important of which were in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004.
Works
He is fluent in Hebrew and has political and security writings and translations. His most important activities in this area are as follows:
- Translating the book Shabak Everywhere
- Translating the book Israeli Parties in 1992.
- writing the book "Hamas Experience and Error"
- writing the book "Majd and Monitoring the Performance of Shabak"
- writing a novel titled "The Shock of the Carnation" which tells the story of a Palestinian's militant experience from 1967 to the Intifada
- Also, he has Numerous writings in security literature that strengthened the security understanding of the Hamas movement.
After-freedom Activities
He was released in 2011 during the agreement "Loyalty to the Liberators" (Shalit) between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Zionist enemy. He had a great influence on determining the borders and conditions of this agreement and for this reason, the Zionist enemy kept him in solitary confinement before the success of this agreement. He was elected as a member of the political bureau of Hamas in the Gaza Strip in 2021 and took over the security file of this movement. Then, in 2013 he was elected as a member of the general political bureau and was in charge of the military file of this movement. The United States blacklisted him as an international terrorist in September 2015. The Hamas movement appointed him as the head of the file of Israeli prisoners held by the Qassam Brigades in 2015. He was elected as the head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip in February 2017. He was re-elected as the head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in March 2020. His house was bombed and destroyed three times. The first time in 1988, the second time during the 2014 war against the Gaza Strip and the last time during the 2021 war against this region.
Letters
About the Achievements of the Resistance Against the Zionist Occupiers
Al-Jazeera reported that Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sent an important and long letter to the head and members of the political bureau of this movement in the last two days, in which he referred to the achievements of the Qassam Brigades in the unprecedented battle with the army of the Zionist regime in the Gaza Strip and inflicting heavy blows and casualties on them.
According to the Palestine Information Center, sources close to Hamas confirmed that Sinwar wrote in his letter that the Qassam Brigades targeted about 5,000 Israeli officers and soldiers during the ground attack by the Zionist enemy on Gaza, of which one-third were killed, one-third were severely wounded, and another third became permanently disabled. He also wrote about the enemy's military vehicles that 750 vehicles were completely or partially destroyed.
He has written in another part of this letter that the Qassam Brigades have shattered the Zionist army and continue to inflict hard and painful blows on them and will not succumb to the enemy's conditions.
Yahya Sinwar, in his letter, appreciated the resilience of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and emphasized that the residents of the Gaza Strip showed an unparalleled example of self-sacrifice, heroism, chivalry and solidarity and that the political leaders must immediately strive to heal the wounds and sufferings of these people and strengthen their resilience.
Sinwar's letter to the leaders of Hamas has been sent following the proposals of the Zionist regime to this movement through the Egyptian and Qatari mediators regarding a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. This is while the Hamas movement has announced that they will not accept a temporary ceasefire any more and the goal of this movement is to stop the war against Gaza completely.
Israel's Fear of Abu Ibrahim
From the perspective of the Israeli regime and its intelligence and security agencies, Yahya Sinwar is a more extremist figure than other Hamas leaders. The Israel Policy and Strategy Center, affiliated with the Herzliya Center, points out in a report that Yahya Sinwar has been able to change the rules of confrontation between the Palestinian resistance and Israel. The Sword of Jerusalem operation, which Hamas entered to support Jerusalem and its residents, is a manifestation of Sinwar's specific approach in confronting Israel. This centre advises the Israeli regime to prepare itself sooner or later for a large-scale attack by the Palestinian resistance. This is a recommendation that became a reality in the form of the Al-Aqsa Storm operation and Israel largely attributes the engineering of this issue to Yahya Sinwar.
Israel's Intelligence War for Assassination
The senior Israeli officials have spoken and taken positions so much about the necessity of assassinating Yahya Sinwar that it seems they can no longer back down from this issue. This approach has made the assassination of Yahya Sinwar a matter of prestige for the Israeli regime. Yahya Sinwar and the Hamas movement are also trying to impose another intelligence and security victory on this regime in the framework of the equation defined by Israel. Sinwar is now managing the war against the Israeli army alongside other high-ranking leaders of the military and political branches of Hamas. At the same time, there is also a serious security focus on protecting him. Because his assassination by Israel could transmit negative pulses to the Palestinian resistance and the battlefields of Gaza. Yahya Sinwar and the security apparatuses of the Hamas movement, which he was one of the main founders of, are now facing a very big test. It seems that both Yahya Sinwar and Hamas, in general, have expected the current scenario, which is the widespread attack of the occupying regime of Jerusalem on the Gaza Strip and the attempt to assassinate the commanders and senior officials of this movement, and have made the necessary preparations for themselves in this regard. This makes Israel's efforts to assassinate the mysterious man of Hamas face many serious challenges.