The recent spate of assassinations committed by Israel and the United States has drawn attention to what appears to be a growing trend: “decapitation.” War increasingly resembles ordinary criminality punishable under the law, specifically homicide or first-degree murder.
The list of “targeted” assassinations has grown rapidly in recent times. If Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was killed by a US drone on January 3, 2020 in Baghdad, the following assassinations were carried out by Israel, with the support or connivance of the United States: Saleh al-Aruri, Hamas member, by drone in Beyrouth on January 2, 2024; 16 persons killed by aerial bombardment aérien of the Iranian consulate annex in Damascus on April 1, 2024; Ismail Haniyeh , head of the political bureau of Hamas, by attack in Tehran on July 31, 2024; Ibrahim Aqil, Fuad Shokr, Hashem Safieddin and Ali Karake, Hezbollah members killed by aerial bombardment in Beirut between July 20 and October 3, 2024; Hezbollah officials injured and killed by the explosionsof pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon on September 17 and 18, 2024 ; Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah, on September 27, 2024 by aerial bombardment in Beirut (hundreds of inhabitants in the neighborhood were killed by the 85 tons of bombs dropped; Hezbollah had just accepted a European proposal for a ceasefire); Iranian military and scientific figures by aerial attack on June 13, 2025; a failed attempt to assassinate Iranian President Massoud Pezechkian during the Israeli-Iranian war of June 2025; Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed al- Rahawi and some ministers by airstrike in Sana’a on August 30, 2025; failed attempt to assassinate Hamas negotiators by airstrike in Doha, Qatar, on September 9, 2025.
Deception and crime
All these killings took place on foreign soil, with complete disregard for sovereignty. A common feature of the June and September 2025 crimes is the perfidy and active complicity of the United States. In both cases, they were the outcome of traps set by the United States behind the screen of a negotiation. In June, Iran and the United States were preparing to meet for talks when Israel attacked Iran. In September, Trump was pressing Hamas to negotiate and discuss his proposals, which led Hamas negotiators to meet in Doha and provide targets for Israel. The negotiations were nothing more than smokescreens, which will undoubtedly have profound consequences for the future of negotiations around the world and, perhaps, put an end to them. Who will now want to engage in talks that are nothing more than traps for committing murder? Reluctance to be assassinated during negotiations will likely prolong wars. Killing negotiators violates all the prohibitions in the practices and norms of international relations, which have been respected until now even in times of the most intense conflict; it is villainy elevated to state policy; it is gangsterism as a modus operandi.
Serial murders
Israel has a long history of assassination. British leader Lord Moyne was assassinated in Cairo on November 6, 1944, by Lehi, a Zionist terrorist organization. Palestinians were then Israel’s main target. During the 1970s, a campaign of murder was launched to kill Palestinian officials: Wael Zwaiter in Rome on October 16, 1972; Mahmoud Hamshari in Paris on December 8, 1972; Hussein Abad al-Chir in Nicosia on January 24, 1973; Basil al- Kubaisi in Paris on April 2, 1973; Muhammad Youssef Al- Najjar , Kamal Adwan , and Kamal Nasser in Beirut on April 10, 1973; Zaid Muchassi in Nicosia on April 11, 1973; Mohammed Boudia in Paris on June 28, 1973; Ali Hassan Salameh in Beirut on January 22, 1979; Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) in Tunis on April 15-16, 1988.
Hezbollah leaders were assassinated by Israel: Ragheb Harb on February 16, 1984; Abbas al-Moussaoui in southern Lebanon on February 16, 1992; Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus on February 12, 2008. Israel has also targeted Hamas leaders for a long time: Yahya Ayache in Gaza on January 5, 1996; Khaled Meshaal (failed poisoning attempt) in Amman, Jordan on September 25, 1997; Ahmad Yassin in Gaza on March 22, 2004; Abdel Aziz al- Rantissi in Gaza on April 17, 2004; Khalil al- Hayya, targeted many times, including in Doha on September 9, 2025.
Are assassinations a worthwhile approach?
No. It is a long-standing prejudice among dominant powers that opposition to their rule amounts to mere agitation stirred up by a handful of “hotheads” who lead their passive supporters by the nose. Once the “leaders” are eliminated, the supporters would become inert, and their movements disoriented or they would simply disband. However, in reality, no organization or state has changed its course because of assassinations. Fallen victims are replaced, and the same policies are pursued by more seasoned successors. Eliminating leaders is not equivalent to defeating organizations or states. From the point of view of their effect on the ” enemy,” assassinations are futile.
So, why is Israel addicted to assassination? There are two reasons. The first is that assassinations are spectacular acts that compensate for the failures of Israeli policy. They are smoke and mirrors that give the illusion of achieving something and camouflage the difficulty of defeating the adversary. They are also second-best solutions offered as substitutes for objectives that have not been achieved and are often out of reach. For lack of anything better, assassinations are resorted to. Since October 7, Israel has been trumpeting its desire to eliminate Hamas, expel the Palestinians, bring Hezbollah to its knees, destroy the ” Axis of Resistance,” and bring down Iran. Added to this are threats against Ansarullah (Houthis). However, the results are far from the mark.
After 23 months, Hamas and other organizations are still fighting and the occupation army remains wary of confronting them directly. Despite terrible hardships they are undergoing and the crimes committed against them, the Palestinians are proving resilient. Hezbollah is not as weakened as Israel and its Western backers claim: despite aerial bombardments, it has prevailed in all ground clashes with the Israeli army, thus preventing the invasion of Lebanon. The fall of Syria in December 2024 is due more to Turkey than to Israel. The failure of Israel’s aggression against Iran in June 2025 was evident from the first day, when Iranian missiles began raining down on Israel. The deaths of Yemeni civilian leaders have not dented Ansarullah ‘s resolve .
The second reason is more abstract: it is the interest of a dominant power to inspire fear. This is even more true when it comes to a colonial framework where the colonizer must make the colonized believe that he is all-powerful, that he enjoys invincibility and that he knows everything. If he cannot be loved, he must be feared. He must maintain the myth of his omnipotence in the hope of demoralizing the populations he oppresses and instilling in them a feeling of powerlessness. However, the time when an invader could keep an intimidated population in a state of obedience by his apparent power is over. Nowadays, populations resist by all means and undermine those who believe they have established their hegemony.
A new face of war
Increasingly, “decapitation” is becoming a first option for aggressors and this is changing war strategies. The direct collision of masses of soldiers that has constituted traditional warfare has lost favor since the United States’ setbacks in Indochina, Iraq, and Afghanistan, because of the political risks posed by casualties (the return of the body bags). War has been entrusted to “special” forces that are invisible to public opinion and to proxies that absorb human and material losses (proxy war). The puppet masters limit themselves to supplying their auxiliaries and, if possible, bombing with their air forces. The proxy war model did not produce the desired results in Ukraine, as Russia succeeded in thwarting NATO’s strategy. While a return to frontal warfare is not excluded, it is to be expected that, in the immediate future, “decapitation” will be preferred as a means of attack, even if the effectiveness of the method has proven illusory.