Israel is ratcheting up its shadow war with Iran

It is notirgcirgc the first time Israel has struck Iranian targets, but it marked a serious escalation in its long shadow war with Iran. On April 1st a suspected Israeli air strike flattened a building in the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus. The blast killed seven people, including General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a commander of the Quds Force, the expeditionary wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (). He had served for years as the group’s head of operations in Syria and Lebanon, and was close to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbullah, the Lebanese Shia militia and political party. His deputy and five other officers were also killed in the blast. The general was the highest-ranking Iranian commander to be assassinated since America killed Qassem Suleimani with a drone strike in 2020.Israeli officials did not publicly claim responsibility for the attack. In private, however, they left little doubt about their role. Such attacks aim to exact a price from the Iranian regime for supporting Israel’s enemies. But their point is also to confront the Iranians directly, instead of allowing them to hide behind their proxies. The Israelis admit that this could provoke a vengeful response, but believe that the Iranians are risk-averse, at least when it comes to putting their own people in danger, and will back off. And as Israel looks stuck in both its war with Hamas in Gaza and its standoff with Hizbullah, it seems increasingly willing to take such risks.