Why Hamas picked Yahya Sinwar as its new leader

Yahya Sinwar, Israel's most wanted man and believed to be in tunnels deep below the Gaza Strip, is the new political leader of Hamas. 

The assassination of his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last week left the Palestinian movement with a leadership decision to make that would define its direction and outlook.

It is a decision that the internal hierarchy made within a matter of days. 

Internally promoting Sinwar, who headed Hamas in Gaza, was intended as a "bold message", according to academic Khaled Hroub.

It is a message "that the movement is not caving under pressure, and not in the mood of compromising its positions and declared adherence to resistance," Hroub, author of Hamas: A Beginner's Guide, told Middle East Eye. 

Read more: Why Hamas picked Yahya Sinwar as its new leader