Israel has hunted its high enemies across the Center East. What has it achieved?

Israel’s shock assault in Qatar on Tuesday concentrating on Hamas’ high political management didn’t kill any senior officers, in keeping with Hamas.

But it surely was the most recent in an extended marketing campaign of focused assaults geared toward searching down Israel’s high enemies because the Hamas-led assault on Israel in 2023. Previously two years, Israel is understood to have carried out a string of focused strikes all through the Center East — in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen, and now Qatar — towards high leaders of militant teams, and even Iranian officers themselves.

In Lebanon and Iran, these killings helped result in an finish of hostilities — for now. In Gaza and Yemen, they did little to deliver an finish to conflict.

Listed below are a few of the most distinguished figures Israel has killed within the area up to now two years.

Saleh Arouri, a Hamas chief killed in Lebanon

Arouri was the primary high-ranking Hamas chief to be killed by Israel overseas after the Oct. 7, 2023, assault.

Arouri served a few years in Israeli jail earlier than he was launched in a 2011 prisoner swap with Israel and despatched overseas. From exile, he coordinated Hamas assaults on Israel from the West Financial institution. Israel killed him in a strike in Lebanon in January 2024.

He was succeeded by Zaher Jabareen, whom Israel tried to kill in its Tuesday strike on Doha.

Mohammed Deif, Hamas’ elusive army chief

The highest commander of Hamas’ army wing in Gaza was an elusive determine and had lengthy been on Israel’s kill checklist. A heavy Israeli strike on a tent camp for displaced individuals in Gaza killed him in July 2024. Round 90 different Palestinians are believed to have been killed in that strike, in keeping with Gaza well being officers. Hamas denied Deif’s loss of life for months and acknowledged it solely this 12 months.

Israel’s protection minister on the time referred to as Deif the “Osama bin Laden of Gaza” and stated his loss of life was “a significant milestone in the process of dismantling Hamas as a military and governing authority in Gaza.”

Israel additionally killed Deif’s successor, Mohammed Sinwar, in Could of this 12 months, in a strike on a tunnel below a hospital in Khan Younis. His position is now held by Izzedin al-Haddad, who continues to command Hamas forces combating Israeli troops in Gaza.

Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ high leaders

The top of Hamas’ political wing since 2017, Haniyeh left Gaza together with his household and different Hamas leaders in 2019 and moved to Doha. An Israeli explosion killed him in July 2024 in Tehran, the place he was attending the Iranian president’s inauguration.

Haniyeh was thought of to be amongst Hamas’ extra reasonable leaders, and was seen as extra amenable to negotiating a ceasefire take care of Israel.

He was changed by Yahya Sinwar, who had served as the pinnacle of Hamas within the Gaza Strip — a extra hardline chief, whom Israel accused of masterminding the Oct. 7 assault.

Sinwar was killed by Israeli troops in October 2024. Netanyahu referred to as his loss of life the “beginning of the day after Hamas.” Practically one 12 months later, Hamas nonetheless survives.

Hassan Nasrallah, longtime Hezbollah chief, killed in Lebanon

On Sept. 27, 2024, the longtime chief of the Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah was killed by an Israeli strike on a secret underground Hezbollah facility in Beirut. President Joe Biden cautiously welcomed the killing, saying it delivered “a measure of justice” for hundreds of Nasrallah’s victims.

Nasrallah’s killing — together with Israel’s floor invasion of southern Lebanon and Israel’s exploding pagers maiming a whole bunch of Hezbollah operatives — helped result in a ceasefire and an finish to heavy cross-border combating between Hezbollah and Israel. It additionally weakened Hezbollah, a robust ally of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, resulting in the autumn of his regime.

Since then, Hezbollah has been engaged in negotiations with the Lebanese authorities about disarmament, whereas some Israeli troops stay in strategic positions in southern Lebanon and have continued periodic strikes on Hezbollah targets.

A high Iranian army officer, killed in consulate in Syria

Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a high Iranian normal within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was amongst senior Iranian army officers killed in an airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus in April 2024.

Israel didn’t take accountability, however Iran blamed Israel for the strike, and launched missiles at Israel that month in retaliation. It was the primary direct army confrontation between Iran and Israel, and it led to a full-blown conflict between the international locations this 12 months.

Senior Iranian officers killed in shock Israeli blitz on Tehran

In June 2025, Israel launched a conflict with Iran that started with a shock offensive concentrating on nuclear amenities and senior officers. Amongst these killed have been Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the IRGC’s Aerospace Power, and senior Iranian nuclear scientists.

The battle — which additionally drew within the U.S. with its bombing of Iranian nuclear websites and drew Iranian missile assaults on Israel — lasted 12 days earlier than the U.S. and Qatar brokered a ceasefire.

Since then, no direct army exchanges have taken place between Israel and Iran. However analysts estimate the strikes didn’t eradicate Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile and didn’t deliver a few negotiated decision to forestall Iran from growing nuclear weapons. Some analysts predict Israel and Iran could also be making ready for an additional spherical of conflict.

Houthi leaders killed in Yemen, however Houthi assaults proceed

In late August, Israel carried out an airstrike on Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, killing a variety of senior leaders of the Iranian-backed militant group that guidelines in Yemen’s capital. Amongst these killed was Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi, together with a number of different senior ministers.

The strike was in retaliation to Houthi missile and drone assaults on Israel, one in all which landed close to Israel’s worldwide airport in Could and led to airline cancellations. The Houthis have focused Israel in retaliation for its offensive in Gaza.

Following the August airstrike, Israel’s protection minister declared, “The Houthis will learn the hard way that anyone who threatens or harms Israel will pay many times over — and it will not be they who decide when this ends.”

However Houthi and Israeli assaults haven’t stopped till today.

Bashir reported from Sheffield, England. Stern reported from Tel Aviv. NPR’s Daniel Estrin contributed to this report from Tel Aviv.