Iran and Israel have a long history of clandestine attacks

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Key Points

Iran has largely used foreign proxies to strike Israeli interests, while targeted assassinations of Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists have been a key part of Israel's strategy.. Israel's strike in the Syrian capital, Damascus, that killed three top Iranian commanders Monday was the most brazen attack in years, raising fears of a wider confrontation..

That would be particularly dangerous in a region already in turmoil on multiple fronts, including Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, cross-border skirmishes between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and attacks by Yemen's Houthi militia against Western interests in the Red Sea..

A number of senior Iranian military figures were killed, including the head of intelligence in Syria for the overseas arm of the Revolutionary Guard and his deputy, according to the Iranian news media and an Israeli defense official...

But the Israeli military did acknowledge a strike in southern Lebanon in February that it said killed a Hezbollah commander, and in March, it killed a senior Hamas operative in an airstrike also in southern Lebanon...

Three days later, on Monday evening, Israeli warplanes struck the building in Damascus in the attack that killed the three top Iranian commanders...

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