In the coming week, the Mideast braces for a major escalation after strikes kill Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.

Venezuela struggles with a flawed presidential vote.

Edinburgh's Fringe Festival spotlight's up-and-coming talent and a historic prisoner swap with Russia is reportedly underway.

It's August 1st, 2024 in time for the world next week.

I'm Bob McMahon.

And I'm Carlyan Robbins.

Bob, let's start with the Middle East, an enormous amount of news this week. Within hours of each other,

Fuad Shukar, a senior Hezbollah commander, was killed in Beirut, and Ismail Haniyah, Hamas's political leader,

and one of its top negotiators was killed in Tehran, where he had traveled for the inauguration

of Iran's newly elected president. Israel claimed

the Lebanon strike was retaliation for an attack in the Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teens.

No one has taken responsibility for the Henea killing, but there's little doubt about Israel's role.

Now, today Thursday, the Israeli military has announced that it killed Mohamedaif, the leader of Hamas's armed wing in Gaza and an architect of the October 7th attack.

He was killed in an airstrike last month that left some 90 people dead, according to Gaza's health officials.

The United States and others are calling for restraint from all sides, but are we now on the brink of this wider regional war that we've been

fearing ever since the October 7th attacks on the war in Gaza began? I'm sorry to say it does seem

that way, Carla. And let's look to the next theater for this, which is a decision-making going on

in Iran right now. The Supreme Leader somewhat unusually attended a top-level

security briefing the full day after the attack and clearly indicated that there will be a response,

a reprisal by Iran against Israel, seeing this as a grave violation of Iranian sovereignty,

its role as a host of Isma Hanja and so forth.

So we are looking to see in the coming days some sort of an Iranian attack. Recall in April,

...