Adrian Ma

As the war with Iran enters its fourth week, the Trump administration and Israeli government have boasted about their ability to find and assassinate top leaders in the Iranian government.

But that strategy may end up hurting any effort to actually end the war.

From NPR, I'm Adrian Ma.

It's Consider This from NPR.

Yossi Melman is a journalist in Tel Aviv who covers intelligence and strategic affairs.

We spoke with him hours after Iranian missiles hit two cities in the southern part of Israel, where Israel's nuclear research center is.

We wanted to know more about those attacks and how the Israeli government's decapitation strategy is changing the war with Iran.

Let me start with getting your reaction to Iran's overnight strikes in southern Israel.

They struck near a research center, which is widely believed to be connected to Israel's nuclear program.

You're based in Israel.

What is the feeling there right now?

So if not surprised, what do those strikes tell you about the status of the war?

You called it a war of attrition, which...

You know, I presume is not what Israel wants out of this.

Like earlier this week, Israel killed two top Iranian leaders, National Security Advisor Ali Larajani and Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.

They're part of the strategy of so-called decapitation strikes, basically high-level assassinations.

Can you talk about this strategy by the Israeli military?

So Israel has been relying on the strategy for a long time.

What do we know about how they get done?

To zoom out for a second, last June, amid the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, you spoke to a top official from Israel's spy agency, and he told you, quote, a war is measured by how it ends, not by how successful the first strike is.