Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran’s capital after attending the inauguration of the country’s new president, Iranian officials and the militant group said early last Wednesday. Both blamed Israel for the strike that killed Haniyeh, and Iran’s foreign ministry said the U.S. bore responsibility for the killing as Israel’s biggest ally.
It was the second Israeli assassination of a senior Iran-allied militant commander in the space of just 12 hours, casting a growing shadow over U.S.-backed efforts to broker a cease-fire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and sharply increasing concern that the Gaza war could spread into a wider regional conflict in the Middle East, where the U.S. has thousands of troops based.
Israel did not confirm that it had killed the Hamas chief, but a U.S. official told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on Wednesday that the U.S. assesses both Haniyeh and top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr were killed in Israeli strikes. Shukr was killed Tuesday in a strike in Beirut, Lebanon, which Israel confirmed it had carried out.
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