The killing of the Iranian senior security official Ali Larijani this week is the most significant ‘targeted assassination’ undertaken since Israel’s killing (in cooperation with the US) of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the opening day of the war.

These two very high-level hits have been accompanied by a long list of killings of less well-known senior Iranian officials. These have included Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) commander Mohammad Pakpour, intelligence minister Esmail Khatib, armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi, defence minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, military intelligence chief Saleh Asadi, and many others. Around 30 officials in all have met their deaths at the hands of this campaign.

This is the first time that Israel or anyone else has pursued an ongoing and systematic campaign of targeted assassinations of senior enemy officials against a state at a time of war

This is the first time that Israel or anyone else has pursued an ongoing and systematic campaign of targeted assassinations of senior enemy officials against a state at a time of war

Targeted killings have a long history for Israel in its efforts to defeat its enemies. Yet the current campaign is without real precedent and is likely to be regarded as a watershed moment in the employment of irregular methods in conventional warfare. Specifically, what we are currently witnessing involves the use of a familiar tactic in an unfamiliar setting. Israel’s use of its intelligence and its air supremacy to wipe out leaders of hostile entities is not new. But this is the first time that Israel or anyone else has pursued an ongoing and systematic campaign of targeted assassinations of senior enemy officials against a state at a time of war.

Israel’s use of targeted assassinations dates back to before it achieved sovereignty. The first assassination by the modern Zionist movement against a perceived enemy took place in........

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