Hamas Leader Killed, Shifting Battleground States

0:02Hamas says someone killed its political leader. The assassination came while Ismail Hainia was visiting Iran. The event touches everything from the war in Gaza to U.S. relations with Iran. Where to begin, we have analysis. I'm Steve Inskeep with A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. Correspondents Daniel Estrin and Gina Raff are tracking the assassination. Also, Vice President Harris challenged former President Trump to show up for a debate. Because as the saying goes, if you've got something to say...

0:38She spoke in Georgia where Democrats are trailing. Can a new candidate put it back in play? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.

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1:37The military leader is believed to be inside Gaza, where Hamas is fighting Israel. The political leader was Ismail Haniyeh. He moved around the region, and he was in Iran for the inauguration of its new president. That is where he was killed. The Hamas leader previously told Al Jazeera the battle for Palestinians comes with a price. And this is an issue that has been made for them.

2:02He said this is a responsibility that has costs and we are prepared for the costs, martyrdom for the sake of Palestine. This is one of several developments through the region we're going to discuss with Jane Araf in Beirut and Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv, NPR's veteran correspondents in the region. Welcome to you both. Thank you, Steve. Jane, what happened in Tehran, as best we know, at this moment? Well, Steve, as best we know, Hamas and Iran both say that Hania, Ismail Hania, the political leader, has been killed in Tehran. And they blame Israel. Israel hasn't commented yet. The Iranian news agency describes an airstrike that targeted his residence in Tehran.

2:45He's normally based in Qatar. Still some remaining questions, obviously, but an extremely dangerous development. Why would that be? Why would this be so important? Well, first, it was the place, targeting the Iranian capital, and then the timing around the inauguration of the new Iranian president. That timing is seen by Iran as particularly provocative. And then there's Haniyeh himself. He was the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, based in Qatar, a former Palestinian prime minister. and perhaps most importantly now, he was a key negotiator in the U.S. and Qatar-mediated cease-fire talks between Hamas and Israel.

3:26And let's not forget, Steve, the killing of Haniyeh and his bodyguard was less than 12 hours after Israel said it killed a very senior commander of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group in Beirut. Okay, so we have two different killings in two different capitals. Israel claims credit for one, does not yet take responsibility for the other. We'll find out what they have to say, and we're going to Daniel in a moment. But how is Hezbollah responding where you are in Beirut? Well, so far, it's pretty measured, I'd say. Israel says categorically that it killed Fawad Shukr, the Hezbollah commander.

4:02But Hezbollah, in its first statement on the attack today, said civil defense workers are still going through the rubble of the building, and they hadn't yet determined whether he's dead. But it did say he had been in the building. So that statement is presumed to mean they haven't identified his body yet. And that buys them a bit of time as these attacks are unlikely to go unanswered. Shukr was described as the second in command of the group close to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who's expected to speak at some point. But he has made clear in the past that any Israeli strikes in Beirut will provoke a greater response on an Israeli city.

4:42And Steve, just one last point. A key part of this is Iran, of course. Iran's ambassador to Lebanon told reporters this morning that since the attack happened a few hours ago, it requires more time and Iran has not yet formulated an official response. Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv, I'm just trying to keep my head around the sheer number of vitally important world news stories that are touched by this. because it's in Iran, because it involves Hamas, because it involves Israel in some way. What is Israel saying about these two assassinations? Well, Israel has no comment on the attack on the Hamas leader, and any official Israeli acknowledgement of that could further escalate tensions and even draw a forceful response by Iran where this attack took place on its own soil.

5:31We did see Iran's president say Iran would defend its territorial integrity. But as for the other attack that happened before that in Beirut, Israel has claimed responsibility for that strike, for killing the Hezbollah official in Lebanon. They are calling him Hezbollah's most senior military commander in charge of Hezbollah's most advanced weaponry and responsible for rocket fire that killed 12 children in the Golan Heights last weekend. And that is what sparked this latest escalation. Jane Araf, I'm just trying to keep everything straight on the map. We have an assassination in Iran. We have an assassination in Beirut.

6:06Each one is a leader of a group that Iran supports. I guess we should note that. And Iran also has allies in Iraq, where you've done much, much reporting over the years. And Iranian proxies in Iraq are saying that the United States has attacked them. What's going on there? Yeah, let's not forget about Iraq. The U.S. says it struck in what it called self-defense, a main base of a group called Khatab Hezbollah near Baghdad. It's as it was targeting the launch of an attack drone that it believed was headed for U.S. forces. That group isn't related to Lebanese Hezbollah, but it is backed by Iran as well and very powerful.

6:45The resistance, the so-called resistance, the Iran-backed militias, are holding emergency meetings to determine a response. And as for U.S. forces, they were on their way out. They're coming to an agreement with Iraq on leaving the country. and leaving some troops here in a new arrangement. But this certainly does complicate things, to say the least. Daniel Lestrin, I've got to come back to you here. And our main news story of all the unbelievable number of news stories we have here, the killing of the Hamas political leader Ismail Hania inside Iran. I would imagine that Ismail Hania had some significant role in the effort to bring a ceasefire in Gaza, where his group has been fighting with Israel.

7:32What does the assassination mean for those talks? Well, sure. He was the number one Hamas contact for the ceasefire mediators for Egypt and Qatar. So this may significantly delay ceasefire talks for some time. And, you know, with his assassination, we now believe that only three of the four top Hamas leaders are now either killed or presumed killed. There was a Hamas official killed in Beirut. There was another Hamas official presumed to be killed in Gaza that only leaves one of the top four, Yeheh Senwar, the head of the Gaza's militant wing alive. And I should just add, Steve, that one political analyst from Gaza that I spoke to, Mohamed Abusada, says that the assassination of this Hamas leader, he was seen as one of the most, the more moderate leaders of Hamas.

8:21And he says that killing Hamas leaders in the past has led to more radical leaders filling Hamas's leadership. Yaya Senwar, of course, is one who's been reported to be in favor of continuing the fighting. NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv, NPR's Jaina Raff in Beirut. Thanks for your insights and your long experience. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Steve.

8:49At least two things were notable about yesterday's campaign speech by Vice President Harris. The first was the attitude. Harris has revived interest in the Democratic presidential campaign, and before a big crowd in Atlanta, she addressed her opponent, former President Trump, as Donald, and challenged him to show up for a debate that he had previously scheduled with President Biden. I do hope you'll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage.

9:19Because as the saying goes, if you've got something to say, Say it to my face. Harris also smiled, as if mocking Republicans who have criticized her for laughing. Aside from the attitude was the location she was in a state that previously seemed lost to Democrats. NPR's Stephen Fowler was at that Atlanta rally. Stephen, what's behind this apparent new focus on Sunbelt states such as Georgia? Well, simply put, it's Kamala Harris. Polls had Biden losing in all the battleground states he won in 2020. The debate made it worse. So his campaign was primarily focused on the Midwestern blue wall of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

10:01Then he dropped out, and all the groups that soured on his campaign, like younger voters, black voters, independents, etc., are moving back to Harris. Now, that diverse coalition A is what made Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, and Georgia competitive in 2020. And with Harris as the nominee, it's likely to make them close again. Basically, thanks to a surge of enthusiasm over the ticket switch, Democrats now have multiple potential pathways to victory. You were there. I mean, was the enthusiasm visible last night? We heard a little bit of that. Absolutely. I mean, Democrats in Georgia and other places in the South I've reported from were telling me the election was about stopping Donald Trump and less explicitly about supporting Joe Biden.

10:40But now it's a vibe shift. This was the largest event of the campaign so far, about 10 ,000 people in Atlanta, all excited for Kamala Harris and beating Trump. It's like a switch was flipped for the base. And not just at these rallies. The campaign's reporting record fundraising, volunteer signups, and interest in supporting Harris. So what are Republicans going to say? Well, it's important to remember that the Trump campaign is already firing on all cylinders. Trump named Republican U.S. Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate to cap off a triumphant Republican convention that cemented the party's unity.

11:16But now Harris has them pivoting both messaging and geography. Vance was in Nevada yesterday, Arizona today and tomorrow. He's got a visit to the border. This is fascinating to note. On Saturday, Trump and Vance will be here in Georgia at the exact same arena as Harris' rally last night, likely with the same capacity crowds and energy. Now, while there's clearly a lot of enthusiasm for Harris in some spots, how much overall visibility does she have with voters, Stephen? So there's this big effort to define Harris to voters since she's less well-known as a presidential candidate for just over a week and even less known as the vice president.

11:54This is happening on both sides. There's multi-million dollar ad spending campaigns in swing states. Trump's video goes on offense. He's attacking Harris' week on immigration issues. The Harris campaign spots as more biographical, highlighting her background as a prosecutor. We should find out within the next few days about Harris' running mate selection. The campaign says they'll barnstorm several battleground states next week because things change day to day. They certainly do. NPR's Stephen Fowler, thank you very much. Thank you.

12:32And before we let you go, we have an update on the Olympics. Hey, everyone. This is NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan coming at you from the Olympic Games in Paris. And actually, to be accurate, I'm not in Paris. I'm at the Palace of Versailles, which is just outside the city where the magnificent grounds here have been partly transformed into a venue for equestrian events. No big deal. Just Versailles. It's pretty amazing. As of Wednesday morning, Team USA is in the lead in the medal count with 26 overall medals. Only four so far are gold, which is behind several other countries, including Japan and China.

13:06But one of those four golds was the U.S. women's gymnastics team reclaiming the throne in the team all-around final. They'd had to settle for silver at the last Olympics in Tokyo after Simone Biles had to drop out in the middle of the competition. The last night they were back on top with Biles looking as amazing as ever. Today, I'm excited to watch the swimmer Katie Ledecky take on her signature event, which is the women's 1500 meter freestyle. And just to give you a sense of her dominance in this event, she holds 23 of the 24 fastest times ever recorded, which is crazy. In basketball, Team USA will have a rematch with South Sudan, who is the mega underdog who came so close to sneaking out a W over Team USA during an exhibition game earlier this month.

13:45So I'm excited to see if LeBron James and his collection of all stars can get right this time around. And personally, I'm also so excited to see the men's gymnastics individual all-around finals. So the U.S. men's team captured America's heart the other night with their bronze medal win in the team final. Now there will be two Americans in the individual event today. They're Frederick Richard and Paul Judah, each of them trying to become the first American man to medal in this event in more than a decade. And one last thing to note, after all the worries about the pollution in the River Seine, officials cleared the way this morning for the triathlons to take place today with the river swim and all.

14:18So that's all from Paris. Talk to you later.

14:25And that's a first for Wednesday, July 31st. I'm Martina. And I'm Steve Inskeep. Your next listen is Consider This from NPR News. We hear it up first, give you three big stories of the day, and then our colleagues take a different approach diving into a single news story and what it means to you in 15 minutes. Just 15 minutes. It's a tight one. It's short. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts to consider this. Today's episode of Up First was edited by James Heider, Ben Swayze, Jenea Williams, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Zia Butch, Ben Abrams, Nina Dumas, and Milton Guevada.

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