If the rumors are true and Hamas Politburo hardliner Nizar Awadallah has unseated Yahya Sinwar as the terrorist group's military leader in Gaza, that it will send nothing short of a shockwave through Hamas' ranks.
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The real coup in the nomination of the lesser-known and somewhat dreary Awadallah over the charismatic Sinwar reflects Iran's involvement in Hamas and in the Gaza Strip.
When Ismail Haniyeh and Sinwar were elected four years ago to head the terrorist group's political and military arms, it marginalized the members of Islamist group's politburo, who reside outside the coastal enclave. It was also the first time that Hamas' leaders actually hailed from and lived in the Strip, something that lent them even greater support on the ground.
Many in the Hamas Politburo did not take kindly to being pushed out of the centers of power, and a rift soon ensued between Sinwar and the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas military wing, which he once headed.
There are those in the Politburo who also disapprove of Sinwar's alliance with Egypt, the relative lull between Gaza and Israel over the past year, and the efforts to broker a long-term ceasefire between the parties.
It is not a stretch to believe that Awadalla, who has close ties with the Iranian regime was singled out by Tehran as the man they would like to see names as Hamas' military leader in Gaza, even if this comes as the popular Sinwar's expense.
Awadalla's nomination would have significant implications on Egypt's attempts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and it will be a boon form Iran – which will have positioned a man it favors in the second-highest post in the terrorist group.
Clearly, Iran seeks to use Awadalla to regain its hold on the Hamas Politburo and augments the latter's impact on the ground in Gaza.
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