The death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar may increase the likelihood of Islamic terror attacks in the UK, a former head of MI6 has said.
Sir John Sawers, the chief of the Secret Intelligence Service from 2009 to 2014, warned that Sinwar’s successors may widen the scope of the terror group’s violence to include Western countries.
Sinwar, the mastermind behind the Oct 7 attacks, where more than 1,200 men, women and children were slaughtered by Hamas militants, was assassinated by Israeli forces on Thursday.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said this week the killing marked the “beginning of the end” of Hamas’s rule of Gaza.
Sir John, asked on Sunday by Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips if Sinwar’s death means a ceasefire is more likely in the Middle East, he replied: “Well, In Gaza, I’m not sure it changes things a great deal.
“The Israelis feel that they’ve got both Hamas and Hezbollah, and to some extent Iran as well, on the back foot, they want to press home their advantage.”
However, Sir John later said: “Islamic terrorism may actually get a further boost, if that’s the right word, from events in the Middle East.
“The frustrations that we’ll be seeing because of the lack of movement on the Palestinian question, because of the violence people are witnessing every day.
“And it could be that Hezbollah and Hamas, the new leaderships there, are focused so much on violence that they become not just terrorist organisations designated by western countries and aimed against Israel, but they could revert back to international terrorism, including here in the UK.”