Iranian Gen. Esmail Ghaani (Qaani), commander of the IRGC Quds Force, May 24, 2017. (AP/Hossein Zohrevand -Tasnim News)
Esmail Qaani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ overseas operations, reportedly incommunicado for days following Israeli airstrike that killed new Hezbollah chief.
By World Israel News Staff
The commander of the force responsible for the overseas operations of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday, The New York Times reported over the weekend.
Citing reports by Iranian media outlets, the Times claimed that Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, commander of the IRCG’s Quds Force, was likely either injured or killed in the October 3rd bombing of a Hezbollah position in Beirut, during which Hashem Safieddine is believed to have died.
Safieddine, the cousin of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, replaced Nasrallah as commander of the Lebanese Shi’ite terror group after Nasrallah was killed in an IDF bombing on September 27th.
According to Iranian officials cited by Persian media outlets, Tehran has not been in contact with Qaani since the October 3rd bombing, and Iran’s leadership itself is unsure of his condition.
One member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the silence from Iran’s leadership regarding the sudden disappearance of the senior Quds Force officer was fomenting panic within the IRGC.
Qaani was conspicuously absent from a memorial service hosted in Tehran by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, honoring Nasrallah.
The 67-year-old officer was tapped to head the Quds Force in 2020, after an American drone strike killed his predecessor, Brigadier General Qasem Soleimani.
Three Iranian officials cited in the Times report claimed that Qaani was in Beirut last week to help Hezbollah’s leadership regroup following a string of deadly attacks targeting its top echelon, including the killing of Nasrallah, the elimination of top leaders of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force in September, and a string of pager and radio bombings that killed dozens of operatives and injured thousands.
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