Israel’s ‘Decapitation’ Strategy, and the Trump Official Who Resigned Over the War
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Hey, it's Ben Fruman, editor-in-chief of Wirecutter. We put together the ultimate moving guide, and I wanted to find out a few of our writers' favorite tips. When you're first moving into your home, make sure that you change the batteries in your smoke detector. Buy a mattress bag. You can carry a mattress more easily because the handles are built in, and it's going to protect your mattress from the truck and the street. Make sure you have towels on hand. You don't want to end up taking a shower and using a dirty sock to dry off. Yeah. If you're getting ready to move, let Wirecutter help you make a plan at nytimes.com slash moving. From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, March 18th.
Here's what we're covering. As the operation continues, so does our mission. Every day that goes by, we degrade the Iranian regime's capabilities even more. In Iran yesterday, Israel dealt one of the most damaging blows yet to the country's leadership, killing Ali Larjani, the de facto leader of Iran, along with some top militia commanders. Lali Jani became the Iranian regime's number one, until we eliminated him too. Larjani had been an influential force in Iran for decades, at one point leading nuclear negotiations with the U.S. He also personally oversaw the violent crackdown on protesters earlier this year that left thousands dead. His killing demonstrates Israel's ongoing focus on picking off Iranian leaders one by one in hopes of destabilizing the whole regime.
Israel's defense minister has said the goal is to, quote, repeatedly cut off the head of the octopus and not let it grow. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that weakening the country's security forces in particular could pave the way for an uprising by everyday Iranians. Some analysts tell The Times that breaking the chain of command like that could work, but others are more skeptical. A former senior member of Israeli military intelligence said decapitation has its limits and that Iran will be able to find replacements for the commanders and keep fighting. This morning, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps fired missiles at Israel in retaliation, killing at least two people outside Tel Aviv.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which we'll just call the guards, is kind of the shock troops of the Iranian government. My colleague Neil McFarquhar has covered Iran since the early 90s. He says how the guards are structured in what's known as the mosaic strategy was designed for exactly this kind of moment. So the mosaic strategy is something that the Iranians have been developing over decades. two decades and was inspired not least by watching closely what the Americans did when they attacked Baghdad in 2003 in order to overthrow Saddam Hussein. The Iranians saw at that point that the Americans had successfully decapitated the regime basically by leveling Baghdad and they were determined not to allow that to happen.
If Tehran were ever attacked So they spread out the command all over the country, hence the Mosaic name. It seems like it's been what they have applied to this war, and they can live to fight another day. Meanwhile, in Washington. President, your director of national counterterrorism, Joe Kent, he just resigned today. He said he can't support your conflict with Iran. What's your reaction to that? And did you? Well, I read his statement. I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security. One of the U.S. 's top counterterrorism officials has stepped down, becoming the first senior member of the administration to quit over the war. In a letter to President Trump, Joe Kent wrote, "...Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."
Kent is a combat veteran. His late wife, who also served in the military, was killed in Syria. And Kent said this war isn't worth risking American lives. His criticism came as a surprise.
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