Just hours after Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces, Iran remembered Sinwar as a martyr whose vision for a liberated Palestine would carry on.

Sinwar, the architect of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing war between the Jewish state and the Gaza Strip terror group, was killed by Israeli forces in Rafah on Thursday.

“He told you he was a lion, but in reality he was hiding in a dark cave and was killed while fleeing in panic from our soldiers,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised message announcing Sinwar’s death .

In a statement, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations compared Sinwar’s death to the execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was captured by U.S. forces in 2003 and subsequently convicted of crimes against humanity.

WHO IS YAHYA SINWAR?

Yahya Sinwar, terrorist leader, speaks at a podium during a rally. Israel said Thursday that Sinwar was killed by its forces in Gaza. (Mohammed Talatene/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)

“As U.S. forces pulled a disheveled Saddam Hussein from an underground hole, he pleaded with them not to kill him, even though he was armed. Those who looked to Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed,” the statement said.

“However, when Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield – in battle dress and in the open air, not in hiding facing the enemy – the spirit of resistance is strengthened,” the mission said. “He will become a role model for the youth and children who will lead his path towards the liberation of Palestine. As long as occupation and aggression persist, resistance will continue, because the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration.”

Israel’s hunt for Hamas terror leader Yahya Sinwar: “Dead man on the run”

A protester holds a sign about the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during a protest demanding a ceasefire agreement and the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas on Thursday, October 17, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

Hamas is seen as Iran’s proxy, similar to Lebanon-based Hezbollah and other terrorist groups with American blood on their hands. Both groups receive funding and training from Tehran.

Israel has killed top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, which began airstrikes on northern Israel more than a year ago in solidarity with Hamas.

Israel vowed to kill Sinwar at the start of its military campaign against Hamas. Before Sinwar was named the group’s top leader, his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an apparent Israeli attack in the Iranian capital Tehran.

A year after Hezbollah’s attacks, Israel is increasing its troops and questions about the “limited” deployment are increasing

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech during a broadcast following the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli attack and subsequent Iranian attacks on Imam Khomeini Husseiniyah in Tehran, Iran, October 2, 2024. (Iranian Leader’s Press Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

In response, Iran fired nearly 200 rockets at Israel. The Jewish state has promised to respond. It has been for more than four decades Iranian regime has meticulously constructed a “ring of fire” around Israel, using various terrorist groups to expand its influence across the Middle East.

Amnon Sofrin, former head of the Mossad’s intelligence directorate, told Fox News Digital: “A huge clock was erected in the center of Tehran in 2015 that shows how much time Israel has left and indicates that Israel has until 2040.” preparing for this moment. Some of the Iranian-backed militias conducted reconnaissance with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and claimed they would help once the (Israeli Defense Forces) invaded Lebanon.

“However,” Sofrin added, “we are already in Lebanon and no pro-Iranian militia has provided assistance yet. “Iran is not ordering its other proxies in the region to join the ground war – at least not yet.”

On Thursday, Netanyahu vowed to end “the reign of terror that the Iranian regime has imposed on its own people and the peoples of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.”

Hezbollah-Radwan terrorists train in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border. (AP/Hassan Ammar)

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Earlier this month, pro-Iranian militias from Iraq launched explosives-laden drones against an Israeli military base in the Golan Heights, killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding 24.

Efrat Lachter of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.