Hippo quoted The Worm Ouroboros by Eric Rücker Eddison
The first book of a vast fantasy as rich and strange as Tolkien's "Lord of …
Therewith Lord Gro put up the parchment in his bosom and said, "Swift surgery. Needs must that we take them in their beds to-night; so shall to-morrow's dawn bring glory and triumph to Witchland, now fixed in an eclipse, and to the whole world peace and soft contentment."
— The Worm Ouroboros by Eric Rücker Eddison (Page 52)
Just the flowery language in which this is spoken—and also a reminder that "surgical strike" is by no means a new term! 😉