U.S. airstrikes on Syria kill 37 militants affiliated with extremist groups

[Igel]

3. That's how hierarchies work.

You start counting from the top.

Take out the top 5, and you start counting from the new top.

As long as there's a hierarchy--meaning "as long as there's the organization"--there'll be something like a "top". Maybe 5 people tied for #1 (or #5, if you prefer), but there's still a kind of top. The idea is to make the hierarchy--the organization--go away; perhaps kill them all or, more likely, cause it to atrophy from disinterest and desuetude and simply dissolve.