New Hamas leader named, US urges 'maximum restraint' from Israel

12.00pm

GAZA/WASHINGTON - Palestinian militant leader Khaled Meshaal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 1997, has been named Hamas' overall chief, replacing the group's slain founder Ahmed Yassin, according to a Hamas source.

It was not immediately clear whether Meshaal, head of Hamas' politburo who lives in exile in the Arab world, was assuming the position permanently or on an acting basis until the group holds a leadership election.

The Hamas source said Meshaal had taken over the duties of Yassin, the wheelchair-bound spiritual leader killed in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza on Monday. Hamas is the main group behind a campaign of suicide bombings against Israelis.

Meshaal was the target of an Israel hit squad who were caught by Jordanian authorities in 1997 after they injected him with a drug during a daring daylight attack on an Amman street.

Jordan's King Hussein was so enraged by the attack he talked of hanging the captured Israelis unless they handed over an antidote to save Meshaal, who lay unconscious in hospital, his respiratory system collapsing under the effects of the drug.

Eventually Jordan returned Israel's would-be assassins in return for the antidote to save Meshaal and the release from Israeli jail of dozens of Palestinians, including Yassin.

Israeli security sources believe Meshaal is now based in Syria.

Also on Tuesday, senior Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi was named leader of the group for the Gaza Strip, assuming some of Yassin's responsibilities.

Sayed Seyam, a Hamas political leader, said Rantissi, who acts as the group's chief spokesman, had been given responsibility for the Gaza Strip but not for the West Bank.

The United States has urged Israel to exercise "maximum restraint" after Israel said all Palestinian militant leaders were targets.

"It's important during this time that everybody exercise maximum restraint in order to restore calm in the region. That's the (US) president's message," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

He was responding to an Israeli order to target all senior militants after the assassination of Yassin.

A White House spokesman has said the United States was "deeply troubled" by that killing.

"We want to get the parties back working together to move forward on the peace process," McClellan said.

Yassin's killing, which prompted threats of reprisal from Hamas against Israel and the US, was a major setback to the stalled US "road map" to Middle East peace, already mired in tit-for-tat violence.

Israel stepped up strikes on militants after suicide bombers killed 10 people at a port last week. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ruled out peace talks with the Palestinians until attacks on Israelis stop.

- REUTERS