Article

2009-01-01 Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Senior Hamas leader killed in IAF air strike in Gaza Strip

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Posted by g(r)omgoru 2009-01-01 08:38|| || Front Page|| [11138 views ] Top

#1 gee. That's too bad for Hamas. But I keep logging on to see if the ground invasion has begun yet. I thought they would do it on New Years day when a good percentage of the world would not be paying attention. I thought they were really serious this time. Maybe I was wrong.

Posted by Shalet and Tenille1168 2009-01-01 08:53|| 2009-01-01 08:53|| Front Page Top

#2 You are probably right. They are like a tough woman in a down and dirty biker bar. Maybe it is best for them to not to pick a fight. But they can't leave and they can't stay. There are just no good options available. At least none that I can see.

Posted by Shalet and Tenille1168 2009-01-01 10:02|| 2009-01-01 10:02|| Front Page Top

#3 Not that I give a crap. But there seem to be some confusion concerning the correct spelling of his last name. Jpost and AP is spelling it as, Ryyan and CNN is spelling it as, Rayan.

Again, I don't give a crap. I would like a clarification for research purposes. Nizar Rayan is not listed as a "cleric" also, Rayan has the surname, Dr. (MD or PhD.)

Posted by Poison Reverse 2009-01-01 10:17|| 2009-01-01 10:17|| Front Page Top

#4 Israel assassinated a Hamas strongman Thursday in its first assault on the top leadership of Gaza's rulers, escalating a crushing aerial offensive even as it declared it was ready to launch a ground invasion.
The airstrike targeted the eight-story apartment building that was home to Nizar Rayan, 52, ranked among Hamas' top five decision-makers in Gaza. The attack killed 12 other people including two of Rayan's four wives and four of his 12 children, Palestinian health officials said. The Muslim faith allows men to have up to four wives.

In launching the campaign on Saturday, Israel made it clear that no one in Hamas was immune and Thursday's strike drove that point home. The airstrike blew a huge hole in the side of the building where Rayan lived and sent a thick plume of smoke into the air.

Hamas leaders went into hiding before Israel launched its operation, but Rayan was known for openly defying Israel.

Heh

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2009-01-01 10:19|| 2009-01-01 10:19|| Front Page Top

#5 "but Rayan was known for openly defying Israel"

Now he can be known for openly being dead.

Enjoy eternity in HELL, asshole.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2009-01-01 10:58|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2009-01-01 10:58|| Front Page Top

#6 Remeber that Arabic is written in a different alphabet, Poison Reverse, and the names are being transliterated, based on what the writer is capable of hearing. I'm afraid there will never be perfect consensus on the proper spelling of such names. For that matter, think of the variation in spelling of Slavic names as ambitious but illiterate peasants emigrated to the U.S. Looking randomly in the Cincinnati telephone book, a city full of German rather than Slavic names, I find quite a few variations on a single name (Novak, Nowak, Novick, Nowacki, etc.), and the Poles use the Latin alphabet, not Cyrillic.

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2009-01-01 11:06|| 2009-01-01 11:06|| Front Page Top

#7 More on the ~~gloriously defiant martyr~~ dead guy from the JPOST:

Nizar Rayyan considered successor of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin

Security officials said that Rayyan was not only the religious leader of Hamas's military wing, Izzadin Kassam, but also one of their military commanders. He was often seen in uniform, and participated in military exercises. He was considered one of the most fanatical Hamas commanders, and was said to be close to Hamas terrorist Salah Shehadeh, who was killed by the IAF in 2002.

He was both the director and the financier of the 2004 terrorist attack at Ashdod's port which killed ten Israelis.

In October 2001, he sent his son to perpetrate a suicide attack in the Gush Katif settlement Elei Sinai, in which two young Israelis were killed.

Channel 10 reported that Rayyan had replaced Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as the organization's top clerical authority after Yassin's assassination in 2004.

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2009-01-01 11:23|| 2009-01-01 11:23|| Front Page Top

#8 "In October 2001, he sent his son to perpetrate a suicide attack in the Gush Katif settlement Elei Sinai, in which two young Israelis were killed."

Way to go, Daddy. That'll show those Jooooooos.

Luckily, now you'll have eternity to sit in by the fire and explain to your son what a failure he was for killing only two Jooooooo.

Aren't family reunions heartwarming? *sniff*

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2009-01-01 11:31|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2009-01-01 11:31|| Front Page Top

#9 From Timesonline
Mr Rayyan, a 52-year-old lecturer at Gazas Islamist University who was rated by some amongst Hamas's top decision makers, had mentored suicide bombers and would sometimes go on patrol with Hamas fighters.

Posted by tipper 2009-01-01 12:06|| 2009-01-01 12:06|| Front Page Top

#10 The blowhard on YouTube

Posted by tipper 2009-01-01 12:17|| 2009-01-01 12:17|| Front Page Top

#11 On eve of his death, Hamas leader Nizar Rayan predicted victory
THE day before a powerful blast sent his headless body flying out of his Gaza home, senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan predicted that the Islamist movement would defeat Israel.
"God willing, Hamas will win," Rayan said in a vitriol-laden speech that the movement's television broadcast just after he, his four wives and two of his daughters were killed in the Israeli blitz of the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

Rayan, who was 51, is the most senior Hamas leader killed since Israel unleashed its massive bombardment on Saturday in response to persistent rocket fire from the enclave.

Israeli F-16 jets fired two missiles at Rayan's five-storey house in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. The powerful explosion hurled his decapitated body out into the street, according to witnesses.

"It was like an earthquake," a neighbour said of the massive blast.

A dozen neighbouring houses were destroyed or damaged in the explosion which killed 12 people in all and brought to 414 the death toll since "Operation Cast Lead" started.

The Israeli air force said the secondary blasts demonstrated the house was used for weapons storage, and claimed it was also a communication centre. "In addition, a tunnel was located under the house and was used for the escape of terror operatives," it said.

In the minutes following the strike, dozens of people rushed to the scene, pulling bodies from the rubble including those of the two girls, aged seven and 10.

A neighbour, Mohammed Al-Madhun, 75, watched flames emerging from his building but refused the leave.

"I want to die like Sheikh Nizar," he said, referring to the bearded Hamas commander's honorary title.

Rayan was a hardliner within the Islamist movement.

A few months after Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, Rayan vowed at a Gaza City rally that the Islamists would also seize control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank which is administered by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Posted by tipper 2009-01-01 12:30|| 2009-01-01 12:30|| Front Page Top

#12 Good Shot!!

Posted by 3dc 2009-01-01 12:44|| 2009-01-01 12:44|| Front Page Top

#13 Rayan's five-storey house in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza

The guy had a five-storey house in a refugee camp? Was it one storey for each of his four wives and then a ground floor for communal gatherings? Or one storey for himself where he could get away from all the nagging?

Posted by Abu Uluque 2009-01-01 13:01|| 2009-01-01 13:01|| Front Page Top

#14 Gateway has an update that sez all four naggers bought the farm with the headless Hamas Hamster

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2009-01-01 13:03|| 2009-01-01 13:03|| Front Page Top

#15 tw,

Thanks. You've cleared it up for me.

Posted by Poison Reverse 2009-01-01 13:11|| 2009-01-01 13:11|| Front Page Top

#16 Don't get me started on Gush Katif.

Posted by Poison Reverse 2009-01-01 13:14|| 2009-01-01 13:14|| Front Page Top

#17 THE day before a powerful blast sent his headless body flying out of his Gaza home, senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan predicted that the Islamist movement would defeat Israel.

Can you apply the term "Huzpah" to a Paleo?

Posted by DarthVader 2009-01-01 13:29|| 2009-01-01 13:29|| Front Page Top

#18 Was it one storey for each of his four wives and then a ground floor for communal gatherings? Or one storey for himself where he could get away from all the nagging?

I doubt the wives of a hardcore Islamicist were free to nag. This was a guy who sent his son to suicide - you can be pretty sure he didn't hesitate to beat the women he married.

Posted by lotp 2009-01-01 13:42|| 2009-01-01 13:42|| Front Page Top

#19 the 5 floors were as follows.

1st floor for the wives
2nd floor for young boys
3rd floor for goats
4th floor for sheep
5th floor for watching paleo rockets outbound as aphrodesiac prelude for the other floors and occasional gun seks

Posted by Abu do you love">Abu do you love 2009-01-01 15:11|| 2009-01-01 15:11|| Front Page Top

#20 Here is a compilation of interview blurbs from Bloomberg.

My favorite is, :

"...Abusada [a prof at Alazur U in Gaza which is loosely affiliated with Fatah] said Hamas had to bear some responsibility for the situation in Gaza because it had refused to renew the cease-fire with Israel and had boycotted national unity talks with Abbas. Even though there is some criticism of Hamas, you wont hear it now, he said. People feel this is not the time to criticize Hamas. Not when they are facing aggression from an enemy."

loaded with double and triple meanings

Posted by mhw 2009-01-01 19:10|| 2009-01-01 19:10|| Front Page Top

#21 GEO TV pakiwikiland says:
GAZA CITY: Senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan was killed on Thursday with his four wives and 10 of his children in an Israeli air strike in Gaza, medics and witnesses said.
and 2 other people

Posted by 3dc 2009-01-01 19:40|| 2009-01-01 19:40|| Front Page Top

#22 "God willing, Hamas will win," Rayan said in a vitriol-laden speech that the movement's television broadcast just after he, his four wives and two of his daughters were killed in the Israeli blitz of the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

Hmmmmmmm. It appears God ain't willing...

Posted by tu3031 2009-01-01 20:15|| 2009-01-01 20:15|| Front Page Top

#23 Translation error? - he actually said "Allah", and God didn't understand?

/discuss amongst yourselves, quiz in 1 hour

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2009-01-01 20:19|| 2009-01-01 20:19|| Front Page Top

#24 Frank,

There is absolutely no error. The Hindu's are also known making similar statements. For example, if a family member of a Hindu family is sick, the quote "if it is the will of God, he or she will live but, if he or she dies, God is not God or God doesn't understand," is stated.

My understanding is that all religions quote "if is the the will of God then..." but, Christians refrain from quoting "God is not God or God doesn't understand" when the Christian doesn't get his or her way with God/Jesus.

Posted by Poison Reverse 2009-01-01 20:38|| 2009-01-01 20:38|| Front Page Top

#25 :-(

/sarc? jeebus

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2009-01-01 20:50|| 2009-01-01 20:50|| Front Page Top

#26 PR, as a Catholic, I was always taught that God does answer our prayers. It's just that sometimes the answer is "No".

Posted by Rambler in Virginia">Rambler in Virginia 2009-01-01 21:28|| 2009-01-01 21:28|| Front Page Top

#27 That makes sense, Rambler. Or that God's "Yes," is not in the form we expected.

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2009-01-01 21:42|| 2009-01-01 21:42|| Front Page Top

#28 MONSTER KILL!!

Posted by Mizzou Mafia 2009-01-01 23:13|| 2009-01-01 23:13|| Front Page Top

23:48 Duh!
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