But while targeted killings may provide tangible achievements that leaders can brand as victories, they rarely address the underlying grievances that propel conflicts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe killing of military chiefs such as Odeh and Haddad points to Israel\u2019s operational ability to reach Hamas\u2019s military leadership,\u201d said Nasser Khdour of the nonprofit ACLED, which tracks reports of political violence and conflict worldwide. But, he added, \u201cthe killing of senior commanders is unlikely, on its own, to push Hamas toward disarmament or make it accept the complete removal of its role in Gaza\u2019s security and governance.\u201d<\/p>\n
An age-old tactic<\/p>\n
Israel has carried out dozens of targeted killings throughout its history, but Palestinian and Lebanese terror groups have often endured and grown even more powerful after the loss of top leaders.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n Take Hezbollah, for example. An Israeli airstrike killed its then-leader Abbas Musawi in southern Lebanon in 1992. Under Hassan Nasrallah, his charismatic replacement, Hezbollah grew into the region\u2019s most powerful armed group and fought Israel to a bloody stalemate in 2006.<\/p>\n \t Nasrallah and nearly all of his deputies were killed in the 2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah. The Iran-backed group suffered other major losses that year, but resumed missile and drone attacks on Israel days after the start of the current war.<\/p>\n Hamas has lost one leader after another. Israel killed its founder and spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, in a 2004 airstrike. Nearly all the architects of the group\u2019s October 7 massacre have since been killed.<\/p>\n But the group remains in control of the nearly half of Gaza that the IDF doesn\u2019t occupy and is still managing to recruit new members and maintain a tight grip on Palestinian society, as no alternative to the terror group has been stood up.<\/p>\n While the US is seeking to install a technocratic Palestinian government to replace Hamas, the plan hinges on the terror group agreeing to disarm, which it has shown little willingness to do.<\/p>\n So both Hamas and Hezbollah press on, fueled by the decades-old grievances stemming from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<\/p>\n The United States has also resorted to targeted killings against al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, taking out Osama bin Laden in a 2011 raid in Pakistan and ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019. Both groups have been vastly diminished, but only after years-long wars involving ground forces.<\/p>\n Who comes after<\/p>\n Yossi Kuperwasser, the former head of Israel\u2019s military intelligence research division, said in March that targeted killings can be an effective tool but are not a \u201ccure for all problems.\u201d<\/p>\n \t \u201cThese operations by themselves don\u2019t dramatically change the ability of those organizations to cause damage and to carry out attacks,\u201d he acknowledged. \u201cBut it\u2019s important for Israel to weaken its enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n In Gaza, Lebanon, and now Iran, he noted, Israel has taken out dozens of figures, reshaping the leadership structure in lasting ways.<\/p>\n Targeted killings were a key strategy in the early days of the Iran war. Top military and political officials up to Supreme Leader Ayatollah\u00a0Ali Khamenei\u00a0were killed in the war\u2019s opening salvos. Khamenei has been replaced by\u00a0his son, Mojtaba,\u00a0who is seen as even less compromising.<\/p>\n Kuperwasser said that targeted killings in Iran hadn\u2019t transformed the theocracy but had changed it.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe there\u2019s not \u2018regime change\u2019 yet, but there is \u2018change in regime.\u2019 The people are not the same people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n US President Donald Trump, for his part, insists that regime change has in fact taken place, citing multiple layers of Iran\u2019s leadership that have been taken out.<\/p>\n And yet, the Islamic Republic remains in power, with authority shifted to its less theocratic but more hardline Revolutionary Guard.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the goals of the operation pertaining to curbing Iran\u2019s ability to threaten its neighbors have gone unmet.<\/p>\n Killing leaders can also backfire<\/p>\n In past instances, targeted killings have served to radicalize followers or members of political movements and terror groups, elevating more extreme successors or turning slain leaders into martyrs with enduring influence.<\/p>\n \t Northeastern University political scientist Max Abrahms said data from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories show violence against civilians spikes after targeted killings.<\/p>\n \u201cLeadership decapitation is risky,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you take out a leader that prefers some degree of restraint and had influence over subordinates, then there\u2019s a very good chance that, upon that person\u2019s death, you\u2019re going to see even more extreme tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n Targeted killings can create leadership vacuums and the potential for change, but only when coupled with a coherent political strategy, said Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can decapitate an organization or defeat it militarily, but if you don\u2019t follow through politically, it doesn\u2019t work. And it\u2019s hard to see how this goes much further,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AFP__20260516__B2ZW7W9__v1__HighRes__PalestinianIsraelConflictGaza-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe funeral for Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, begins as mourners carry his body to burial in Gaza City on May 16, 2026. (Omar AL-QATTAA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26144514231334-e1779643848937-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tA man holds a sign depicting, from left, the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei during a ceremony honoring the armed forces and those killed in the war with Israel and the US at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AP26100533051404-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tA Hezbollah supporter waves a flag with the portrait of the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during a protest against the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in front the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo\/Hussein Malla)<\/p>\n
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