New Delhi, March 21 -- Hours after Israel killed the top commander of Iran's Basij this week, it struck again - this time at the rank and file of the feared force that helped crush widespread protests this year. A drone blasted one of the Basij's many temporary roadblocks erected around the capital, Tehran.

Israel and the U.S. say they aim to break the Islamic Republic's tools of domestic control in their campaign of bombardment, now nearly three weeks old. Since the war began, monitors estimate that up to a third of strikes have targeted the top echelons and major bases of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and its Basij volunteers tasked with enforcing loyalty to Iran's theocratic rulers.

Last week, Israel began striking Basij check...