From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tavernisi, and this is The Daily. Now to the Middle East, where fears of a wider war are growing. Over the past few days, simmering tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia on Israel's northern border, have reached a tipping point.

A loud explosion has been heard in the Southern suburbs of Beirut.

Densely populated Southern Dahlia neighborhood, showered in debris following a precision strike by Israeli fighter jets. Israeli military says it has carried out a strike targeting the Hezbollah commander, allegedly behind Saturday's deadly attack in the Golan Heights. Raising fresh fears of a wider war in the Middle East. With the State Department insisting an all-out war is not inevitable, the following tonight's attack has-Today, my colleague Ben Hubbard why these attacks are different and why getting them to stop could be so tough. It's Wednesday, July 31st. Ben, the Daily has been following the war in Gaza and the risk that it could spread to the broader region. Over the past few days, there have been this series of attacks on Israel's northern border, the border with Lebanon. They really felt like a ratcheting up and potentially even a turning point. We're talking to you on Tuesday afternoon in New York, and we want to dig into what happened. Tell us what we know so far.

Well, it's after midnight here in the Middle East, and we're still reporting out exactly what happened. What we know is that Israel carried out an airstrike on a building in a Southern suburb of Beirut that targeted a senior military official in Hezbollah, part of the city where Hezbollah basically runs the show. They largely destroyed a building and Israel has claimed that they succeeded in assassinating a senior military leader in Hezbollah. This all comes in the context of this ongoing exchange of attacks across the Lebanese Israeli border that have been going since near the start of the Gaza War. While the focus has been mostly on Gaza, there's been this secondary battle taking place across Israel's northern border. This is between Israel, one of the most sophisticated militaries in the Middle East, and on the Lebanese side, Hezbollah, which is an Iranian-backed militia that is probably one of the most powerful nonstate militias in the world. This is a hostile border. It's been hostile for decades. But since the war in Gaza started in October, Hezbollah began striking targets inside of Israel across the border. It is a regional ally of Hamas and said that it wanted to basically help Hamas out by trying to bog down Israeli forces in the north so that they couldn't focus all of their energy on the south.

This has continued to escalate. There have been strikes on both sides. There have been more than 150,000 people displaced from communities on both sides of the border. There have been hundreds of people killed. But all along, there's been this idea that both sides didn't want this to escalate into another gigantic war. But of course, the risk when you have two military powers striking each other on a daily or sometimes hourly basis is that somebody's going to make a mistake. Somebody is going to strike something that they shouldn't strike or carry out a strike that kills too many civilians, and that that's going to put the other side on the hook for retaliation. This is basically what everyone has been worried about for the last nine months. All of a sudden, we seem to have reached that point where we're very much on the precipice of seeing whether this is really about to launch into a new level of confligration.

Ben, where did this begin? How did this new precipice you're talking about start?

What we saw on Tuesday was an Israeli retaliation to a strike on Saturday that killed 12 teenagers children in an Israeli-controlled town.

Tell us what happened on Saturday.

Just after 6:00 PM in a town called Majdash Shams, which is in the Golan Heights, this is a territory that Israel occupied in the 1967 war. Many of the residents there are from the Arab Druh's minority. Many of them are not even Israeli citizens. There are kids, teenagers out playing soccer. Siren goes off. And then within a few seconds, some a rocket comes down, hits the edge of the soccer pitch, and it all happened incredibly quickly. And this was the deadliest attack inside of Israel since October seventh in terms of civilian deaths. Twelve people killed in one day, one attack. This has sent this shockwave through Israel that, how can we allow this to happen?

Tell me about the response to this, Ben. Who claimed responsibility?

Well, earlier, Hezbollah had said that it was striking targets along the border. There are military bases in the area that Hezbollah considers fair game in terms of the rules of this battle as it's taking place. But as soon as it became apparent that this had killed civilians, and especially civilian children, Hezbollah very quickly issued an on-the-record denial saying, We had absolutely nothing to do with this, which is something that they don't usually do. happened since then?Well, I think from that lesson, they realized that they also needed to prepare for the next round. So Hezbollah regrouped with help from Iran and other supporters. It was able to build its military force, get more sophisticated weapons, more precise rockets. During the Civil War in Syria, next door to Lebanon, which started in 2011, Hezbollah ended up playing a very powerful role on the Crown, supporting President Bachar al-Assad, went in and played difficult spot when it comes to the war in Gaza. He promised at the start of this war that the two goals were to bring the hostages home and to destroy Hamas. And so far, Israel has really accomplished neither of these things. And it's been nine months of incredibly, incredibly destructive warfare because they want to make more progress in getting rid of Hamas in Gaza, and they this massive number of people displaced, this ratcheting up. Is this it? Are we now tipping into an all-out war?We're very much standing on a precipice. We're in a very different place than we were just a few days ago. Then we were primarily watching this back and forth, tit for tat, that seemed to be organized in some confines, that there was a general understanding of what kinds of you could do and how to keep this thing contained. The question right now is, is there any way for the sides to step back from this, or is it going to get worse? I was in Lebanon the week before last and did a number of interviews with families who've been displaced from the south, living in quite poor conditions. Then their main concern was whether they would be able to go back, whether their homes were destroyed. Now the question is very much, is the whole situation going to get worse and are more people going to be displaced? My colleague Isabel Kirschner in Jerusalem did similar interviews on the Israeli side and found very similar things, Israelis who have been outside of their homes since early on in the war. If this battle along the border escalates to another level, that it's going to make it even harder for these people to return home.We're in a critical new stage here. What the two sides decide to do in the next few days is going to really determine where this goes.Ben, thank you.Thank you.As of Tuesday night, the death toll from the strike in Beirut had reached at least three civilians, including two children, and more than 70 people had been injured. In a dramatic development early Wednesday morning, Hamas announced that its political leader, Ismail Haneia, had been assassinated in Tehran. A key figure in Hamas's leadership Haneia was in Iran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the country's new President. The killing raised the specter of a wider war with Iran, which is likely to see the killing on its soil as an act of aggression by Israel. It could also complicate efforts for a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza, as Haneia was central to those talks. We'll be right back. Here's what else you should know today. In Venezuela, at least 16 people have died and about 750 have been arrested as a result of protests following the highly contentious presidential election over the weekend. The nation's autocratic leader, President Nicolaus Maduro, who claimed victory, has refused to release the full results, and many countries have said the vote was marred by widespread irregularities. Both sides of the country's political divide called unfollowers to take to the streets. And on Tuesday, the US women's gymnastics team won its first gold at the Olympic Games in Paris, led by Simone Biles, who is now the most decorated gymnast in history, and Sunisa Lee, the defending all-around champion.Biles called the Paris Games her redemption tour after she withdrawn from the Games in Tokyo three years ago because of a mental block. Italy took home the Silver, and Brazil won the Bronze for the all-around team event. Today's episode was produced by Rochelle Bonja and Sydney Harper, with help from Shannon Lynn and Will Reid. It was edited by Lexie Diao and Patricia Willings. Contains original music by Dan Powell and Sophia Landman, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Lansberg of WNDYRLE. Special thanks to Isabel Kirschner, Fernas Fasighi, Yuin Ward, and Hueda Sa. That's it for The Daily. I'm Sabrina Tavernisi. See you tomorrow.

happened since then?

Well, I think from that lesson, they realized that they also needed to prepare for the next round. So Hezbollah regrouped with help from Iran and other supporters. It was able to build its military force, get more sophisticated weapons, more precise rockets. During the Civil War in Syria, next door to Lebanon, which started in 2011, Hezbollah ended up playing a very powerful role on the Crown, supporting President Bachar al-Assad, went in and played difficult spot when it comes to the war in Gaza. He promised at the start of this war that the two goals were to bring the hostages home and to destroy Hamas. And so far, Israel has really accomplished neither of these things. And it's been nine months of incredibly, incredibly destructive warfare because they want to make more progress in getting rid of Hamas in Gaza, and they this massive number of people displaced, this ratcheting up. Is this it? Are we now tipping into an all-out war?We're very much standing on a precipice. We're in a very different place than we were just a few days ago. Then we were primarily watching this back and forth, tit for tat, that seemed to be organized in some confines, that there was a general understanding of what kinds of you could do and how to keep this thing contained. The question right now is, is there any way for the sides to step back from this, or is it going to get worse? I was in Lebanon the week before last and did a number of interviews with families who've been displaced from the south, living in quite poor conditions. Then their main concern was whether they would be able to go back, whether their homes were destroyed. Now the question is very much, is the whole situation going to get worse and are more people going to be displaced? My colleague Isabel Kirschner in Jerusalem did similar interviews on the Israeli side and found very similar things, Israelis who have been outside of their homes since early on in the war. If this battle along the border escalates to another level, that it's going to make it even harder for these people to return home.We're in a critical new stage here. What the two sides decide to do in the next few days is going to really determine where this goes.Ben, thank you.Thank you.As of Tuesday night, the death toll from the strike in Beirut had reached at least three civilians, including two children, and more than 70 people had been injured. In a dramatic development early Wednesday morning, Hamas announced that its political leader, Ismail Haneia, had been assassinated in Tehran. A key figure in Hamas's leadership Haneia was in Iran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the country's new President. The killing raised the specter of a wider war with Iran, which is likely to see the killing on its soil as an act of aggression by Israel. It could also complicate efforts for a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza, as Haneia was central to those talks. We'll be right back. Here's what else you should know today. In Venezuela, at least 16 people have died and about 750 have been arrested as a result of protests following the highly contentious presidential election over the weekend. The nation's autocratic leader, President Nicolaus Maduro, who claimed victory, has refused to release the full results, and many countries have said the vote was marred by widespread irregularities. Both sides of the country's political divide called unfollowers to take to the streets. And on Tuesday, the US women's gymnastics team won its first gold at the Olympic Games in Paris, led by Simone Biles, who is now the most decorated gymnast in history, and Sunisa Lee, the defending all-around champion.Biles called the Paris Games her redemption tour after she withdrawn from the Games in Tokyo three years ago because of a mental block. Italy took home the Silver, and Brazil won the Bronze for the all-around team event. Today's episode was produced by Rochelle Bonja and Sydney Harper, with help from Shannon Lynn and Will Reid. It was edited by Lexie Diao and Patricia Willings. Contains original music by Dan Powell and Sophia Landman, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Lansberg of WNDYRLE. Special thanks to Isabel Kirschner, Fernas Fasighi, Yuin Ward, and Hueda Sa. That's it for The Daily. I'm Sabrina Tavernisi. See you tomorrow.

difficult spot when it comes to the war in Gaza. He promised at the start of this war that the two goals were to bring the hostages home and to destroy Hamas. And so far, Israel has really accomplished neither of these things. And it's been nine months of incredibly, incredibly destructive warfare because they want to make more progress in getting rid of Hamas in Gaza, and they this massive number of people displaced, this ratcheting up. Is this it? Are we now tipping into an all-out war?We're very much standing on a precipice. We're in a very different place than we were just a few days ago. Then we were primarily watching this back and forth, tit for tat, that seemed to be organized in some confines, that there was a general understanding of what kinds of you could do and how to keep this thing contained. The question right now is, is there any way for the sides to step back from this, or is it going to get worse? I was in Lebanon the week before last and did a number of interviews with families who've been displaced from the south, living in quite poor conditions. Then their main concern was whether they would be able to go back, whether their homes were destroyed. Now the question is very much, is the whole situation going to get worse and are more people going to be displaced? My colleague Isabel Kirschner in Jerusalem did similar interviews on the Israeli side and found very similar things, Israelis who have been outside of their homes since early on in the war. If this battle along the border escalates to another level, that it's going to make it even harder for these people to return home.We're in a critical new stage here. What the two sides decide to do in the next few days is going to really determine where this goes.Ben, thank you.Thank you.As of Tuesday night, the death toll from the strike in Beirut had reached at least three civilians, including two children, and more than 70 people had been injured. In a dramatic development early Wednesday morning, Hamas announced that its political leader, Ismail Haneia, had been assassinated in Tehran. A key figure in Hamas's leadership Haneia was in Iran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the country's new President. The killing raised the specter of a wider war with Iran, which is likely to see the killing on its soil as an act of aggression by Israel. It could also complicate efforts for a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza, as Haneia was central to those talks. We'll be right back. Here's what else you should know today. In Venezuela, at least 16 people have died and about 750 have been arrested as a result of protests following the highly contentious presidential election over the weekend. The nation's autocratic leader, President Nicolaus Maduro, who claimed victory, has refused to release the full results, and many countries have said the vote was marred by widespread irregularities. Both sides of the country's political divide called unfollowers to take to the streets. And on Tuesday, the US women's gymnastics team won its first gold at the Olympic Games in Paris, led by Simone Biles, who is now the most decorated gymnast in history, and Sunisa Lee, the defending all-around champion.Biles called the Paris Games her redemption tour after she withdrawn from the Games in Tokyo three years ago because of a mental block. Italy took home the Silver, and Brazil won the Bronze for the all-around team event. Today's episode was produced by Rochelle Bonja and Sydney Harper, with help from Shannon Lynn and Will Reid. It was edited by Lexie Diao and Patricia Willings. Contains original music by Dan Powell and Sophia Landman, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Lansberg of WNDYRLE. Special thanks to Isabel Kirschner, Fernas Fasighi, Yuin Ward, and Hueda Sa. That's it for The Daily. I'm Sabrina Tavernisi. See you tomorrow.

this massive number of people displaced, this ratcheting up. Is this it? Are we now tipping into an all-out war?

We're very much standing on a precipice. We're in a very different place than we were just a few days ago. Then we were primarily watching this back and forth, tit for tat, that seemed to be organized in some confines, that there was a general understanding of what kinds of you could do and how to keep this thing contained. The question right now is, is there any way for the sides to step back from this, or is it going to get worse? I was in Lebanon the week before last and did a number of interviews with families who've been displaced from the south, living in quite poor conditions. Then their main concern was whether they would be able to go back, whether their homes were destroyed. Now the question is very much, is the whole situation going to get worse and are more people going to be displaced? My colleague Isabel Kirschner in Jerusalem did similar interviews on the Israeli side and found very similar things, Israelis who have been outside of their homes since early on in the war. If this battle along the border escalates to another level, that it's going to make it even harder for these people to return home.

We're in a critical new stage here. What the two sides decide to do in the next few days is going to really determine where this goes.

Ben, thank you.

Thank you.

As of Tuesday night, the death toll from the strike in Beirut had reached at least three civilians, including two children, and more than 70 people had been injured. In a dramatic development early Wednesday morning, Hamas announced that its political leader, Ismail Haneia, had been assassinated in Tehran. A key figure in Hamas's leadership Haneia was in Iran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the country's new President. The killing raised the specter of a wider war with Iran, which is likely to see the killing on its soil as an act of aggression by Israel. It could also complicate efforts for a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza, as Haneia was central to those talks. We'll be right back. Here's what else you should know today. In Venezuela, at least 16 people have died and about 750 have been arrested as a result of protests following the highly contentious presidential election over the weekend. The nation's autocratic leader, President Nicolaus Maduro, who claimed victory, has refused to release the full results, and many countries have said the vote was marred by widespread irregularities. Both sides of the country's political divide called unfollowers to take to the streets. And on Tuesday, the US women's gymnastics team won its first gold at the Olympic Games in Paris, led by Simone Biles, who is now the most decorated gymnast in history, and Sunisa Lee, the defending all-around champion.

Biles called the Paris Games her redemption tour after she withdrawn from the Games in Tokyo three years ago because of a mental block. Italy took home the Silver, and Brazil won the Bronze for the all-around team event. Today's episode was produced by Rochelle Bonja and Sydney Harper, with help from Shannon Lynn and Will Reid. It was edited by Lexie Diao and Patricia Willings. Contains original music by Dan Powell and Sophia Landman, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Lansberg of WNDYRLE. Special thanks to Isabel Kirschner, Fernas Fasighi, Yuin Ward, and Hueda Sa. That's it for The Daily. I'm Sabrina Tavernisi. See you tomorrow.