Assuming the foreign media reports are accurate, any many of them appear to be so, Israel, through its Mossad Intelligence Agency has been operating against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps not only in Syria, but also inside the Islamic Republic.
The reports describe assassinations, destruction of a drone base and yesterday, the killing of the senior official who planned attacks against Israeli targets, including the Israeli Consul General in Turkey.
However, at the request of the United States, Israel has avoided its previous practice of attacking the Iranian nuclear program, and Iran is still proceeding with its race to obtaining a bomb.
Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodayar who was shot five times outside his home in Tehran on Sunday, was responsible for terrorism against Israeli and Jewish targets, which were foiled by Israel.
Among them an attempt to assassinate Israeli business people in Cyprus, Colombia, Kenya and Turkey.
A few months ago, Khodayar dispatched a drug dealer to assassinate the Israeli Consul General in Istanbul.
For Iran, his murder poses an additional blow to Iranian security and took place while the United States was still mulling the removal of the IRGC from its list of terror entities.
Although the American administration has not yet made its decision, Jerusalem understands the removal of the Iranian military group, is still possible.
The last time an assassination in Iran was attributed to Israel, was in Novermber, 2020 when Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a nuclear scientist dubbed the "father of the Iranian bomb", was ambushed when in his car outside Tehran.
Fakhrizadeh was an expert in his field was hard to replace and his assassination was seen as a blow to the Iranian nuclear program.
Before he was killed, sabotage caused delays in Tehran's nuclear military program but since U.S. President Joe Biden came into office, and the negotiations and world powers resumed negotiations for a nuclear deal, no such attacks had taken place.
As a result, Israel has increased its targeting of the IRGC in Syria and inside the Islamic Republic.
The IDF also increased its attacks against Iranian targets in Syria including a strike attributed to Israel last Friday, on the Damascus international airport; all of the purpose of distancing the Quds force as far as possible, from the Israel-Syria border on the Golan Heights.
Much of the military leadership in Syria has been replaced and Israel in the attacks attributed to it, is signaling to the incoming generals, that they have a shared interest in removing Iran from Syria.
Khodayar's assassination can be associated with that policy, after he served as deputy to slain Quds' force commander Qassim Suleimani who was killed in an American strike in March 2020.
He was tasked with liaising between Iran and the Lebanon based Hezbollah terror group.
After Iranian officials described Sunday's assassination of Khodayar as having crossed the line, the IDF was put on high alert in anticipation of a response to the killing.