National Security Advisor Dr. Walid Phares says the Israeli airstrikes that hit a building next to Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria on Monday eliminated a man who would have eventually become the next Qasem Soleimani, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “It looks like the Israelis understood that the command post in Damascus are in control of the northern front. They are the ones who direct Hezbollah, they are the ones who direct probably even Hamas. That was a message by the Israelis,” says Dr. Phares.