The killings of Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, in Beirut, and Ismail Haniyeh, the political chief of Hamas, in Tehran, within hours on July 30 have taken West Asia to the brink of a wider war. Israel has claimed the strike on Beirut that killed Shukr, but has neither confirmed nor denied its role in the assassination of Haniyeh, a standard approach about its operations inside Iran.