'It's rare that they [Israel] target high-level figures' Joseph Bahout, director of Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut was on France 24 to talk about the Israeli strike on Damascus. "The strike that occured this morning is both a continuity that we have been witnessing for years now [. . .] but there are also some new elements." Israel has long been conducting strikes against Iranian targets, but "it's rare that they [Israel] target high-level figures", said Bahout.