Tuesday Briefing: Iran said Israel killed top generals
Good morning. We’re covering an Israeli strike in Syria that targeted Iranian commanders and negotiations in the U.S. on aid for Ukraine. Plus, risky climate experiments.
Israeli strike killed Iranian commanders, Iran saidAt least seven officers including three generals overseeing Iran’s covert operations in the Middle East were killed in an Israeli strike in Syria yesterday, according to Iranian and Syrian officials. The strike on the Iranian Embassy complex in Damascus appeared to be among the deadliest attacks in a yearslong shadow war between Israel and Iran. Among those killed was Gen. Mohamad Reza Zahedi, 65, who oversaw Iran’s covert military operations in Syria and Lebanon, two other generals and four officers, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement. Four Israeli officials confirmed that Israel had carried out the attack. Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, said in a statement that the Iranian consulate’s building came under attack by two F-35 fighter jets. “This attack will have our fierce response,” he said, according to Iranian media. Details: The strike targeted a secret meeting between Iranian intelligence officials and Palestinian militants to discuss the war in Gaza, Iranian officials said. Among them were leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group armed and funded by Iran. In Gaza: Israel withdrew from Al-Shifa, a major hospital, after a two-week battle, leaving widespread devastation.
Movement on U.S. aid to UkraineMike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, has begun publicly laying out potential conditions for extending new military assistance to Ukraine. It’s the strongest sign yet that Johnson, a Republican, plans to defy critics in his own party and push through the aid package. His comments strongly suggest that the aid, which has been stalled for months, could clear Congress within weeks. The main obstacle standing in its way has been Johnson’s refusal to bring it up in the House in the face of hard-right opposition. Now, the question appears to be not whether Johnson will allow aid to come to the floor, but in what form and when. Details: Johnson suggested that some of the aid could be paid for by selling off frozen Russian sovereign assets. Only about $5 billion in Russian assets are held in the U.S. More than $300 billion in Russian central bank assets are stashed in Western nations.
India’s economy under 10 years of ModiIn the decade since Narendra Modi became India’s prime minister, the country’s economy has almost doubled. That strong growth — and its accompanying optimism among Indian consumers — are key to his bid for a third term, which Modi seems set to win in elections that begin on April 19. But the economic reality is more complicated than the winning story told by the Modi campaign. While the economy is growing, Modi has benefited from geopolitical currents that have made India more attractive to global financiers. The expansion has also been unequal. The bulk of India’s growth depends on those at the top of the income ladder, and a large proportion of India’s underemployed work force is still waiting to benefit from the success. |
