Netanyahu, Katz authorize IDF to take out senior Iranian, Hezbollah figures without usual prior approval — report

In a rare move, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have recently instructed the military to immediately eliminate any senior Iranian or Hezbollah figure when intelligence allows, without waiting for traditional approval from military and political chains of command, Channel 12 reports.

The directive aims to prevent delays in operational activity during the ongoing US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran and Israel’s fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to the Hebrew network.

The report follows last night’s targeted assassinations against senior Iranian officials Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, on which the network reports additional details.

The attack on Soleimani, the former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Basij Force, targeted not only the commander, his deputy, and other Basij commanders in Shiraz and additional cities, but also killed hundreds of Basij operatives as well, according to the report.

Israeli sources tell the network that in the coming days, Israel intends to continue targeting the Basij — the paramilitary force known to brutally suppress domestic opposition to the Iranian regime — “to the point where the Iranian public understands that this is its moment to rise up.”

“We are aiming for a certain point in time when we will call on the masses to take to the streets,” a senior Israeli official tells Channel 12.

Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed that the operation against Iran will “create the conditions” for the Iranian people to rise up and topple the regime.