Kuala Lampur, March 10 -- War in the age of precision missiles is supposed to be neat. Surgical. Decisive. A bunker disappears. A command centre evaporates. A leader is eliminated and the system collapses behind him like a tent without its pole.

That was the theory.

When the United States and Israel launched their coordinated strike on Iran - an operation that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - the message was unmistakable. The strike was meant to decapitate the regime, fracture its command structure, and shock Tehran into paralysis. The campaign itself-known in Israeli planning circles as 'Operation Lion's Roar' - targeted leadership, military infrastructure, and ...