Mohammad Reza Zahedi | |
---|---|
Native name | محمدرضا زاهدی |
Other name(s) | |
Born | [3] Isfahan, Imperial State of Iran | 2 November 1960
Died | 1 April 2024 63) Mezzeh, Damascus, Syria [4] | (aged
Cause of death | Assassination by airstrike |
Allegiance | Islamic Republic of Iran |
Service/ | IRGC |
Years of service | 1980–2024 |
Rank | Major-General |
Commands | |
Battles/wars |
Mohammad Reza Zahedi (Persian : محمدرضا زاهدی; 2 November 1960 – 1 April 2024) was an Iranian military officer. A senior figure within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), he had previously commanded the IRGC Aerospace Force and the IRGC Ground Forces, [6] and was commanding the Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria at the time of his death. [2]
In 2024, Zahedi was killed by an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. [7] [8] According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he was the only Iranian to sit on the Shura , or guiding council, of Hezbollah. [9] According to The Guardian , he was most likely a critical figure in coordinating Iran's relationship with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Assad government of Syria. [10]
Canada, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Sweden, and the United States have designated either or both the IRGC and/or the Quds Force as terrorist organizations.
Zahedi joined the IRGC at the age of 19 [5] and served as a mid-level officer during the Iran–Iraq War. He led the 44th Qamar Beni Hashem Division from 1983 to 1986 and later headed the 14th Imam Hossein Division from 1986 to 1991. He was also the commander of the Thar-Allah Headquarters in Tehran and had been the deputy of IRGC operations. [6] He was briefly the commander of the IRGC Air Force in 2005. [5] On 21 January 2006, he was appointed as the commander of the IRGC Ground Forces. [6] From 2007 to 2015, he headed the Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon. [3]
In 2008, Soleimani appointed Zahedi to the position of commander of the Quds Force's Lebanon Corps for a second time. [11] This tenure lasted until his assassination by Israel in 2024. Iran's involvement in the Syrian Civil War on the side of the government of Bashar al-Assad has been a source of contention for Israel. [4] Irani advisors and Iran-backed fighters have aided in tipping the balance in favor of Assad's government. [12] According to Al Jazeera, Israeli media had frequently published images of him along with Saeed Izadi, a top Iranian military liaison to Palestinians who was initially rumored to have been killed in the same strike, as the main IRGC-Quds Force officials sought by the country. [5]
"Ultimately, he reached his longstanding wish for martyrdom. I cannot say anything other than he was rewarded by God."
Zahedi's son on his father's death. [5]
On 1 April 2024, Zahedi was killed by an Israeli airstrike that targeted the consulate annex building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Syria's Damascus. [7] Fifteen others were killed in the airstrike. [13] The strike caused "massive destruction" to the consulate building as well as damage to neighbouring buildings, [14] including the Canadian embassy. [9] Zahedi is the most senior IRGC officer to have been killed since the assassination of Qasem Soleimani by the United States in January 2020. [15] After his death, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran condemned the attacks and said that the country reserves the right to execute a "decisive response" against the "aggressors" behind the airstrike, though the Israeli government avoided issuing any statements claiming responsibility. [16]
On 13 April 2024, Iran launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel; the Israeli government stated that it intercepted 99% of the Iranian projectiles, but the attack critically injured a child. [17] On 19 April 2024, Israel attacked an Iranian air defense system in response to the drone and missile barrage a week prior. [18]
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khomeini as a military branch in May 1979, in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution. Whereas the Iranian Army protects the country's sovereignty in a traditional capacity, the IRGC's constitutional mandate is to ensure the integrity of the Islamic Republic. Most interpretations of this mandate assert that it entrusts the IRGC with preventing foreign interference in Iran, thwarting coups by the traditional military, and crushing "deviant movements" that harm the ideological legacy of the Islamic Revolution. Currently, the IRGC is designated as a terrorist organization by Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the United States.
The Quds Force is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War General Stanley McChrystal describes the Quds Force as an organization analogous to a combination of the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the United States. Responsible for extraterritorial operations, the Quds Force supports non-state actors in many countries, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Houthi movement, and Shia militias in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. According to Michael Wigginton et al., the Al-Quds Force is "a classic example of state-sponsored terrorism."
Qasem Soleimani was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until his assassination by the United States in 2020, he was the commander of the Quds Force, an IRGC division primarily responsible for extraterritorial and clandestine military operations, and played a key role in the Syrian Civil War through securing Russian intervention. He was described as "the single most powerful operative in the Middle East" and a "genius of asymmetric warfare." Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen said Soleimani's strategies had "personally tightened a noose around Israel's neck."
The Axis of Resistance is a network of Iranian-backed militias and political groups in the Middle East, formed by Iran by uniting and grooming armed groups that shared hostility toward Israel and the United States. The U.S. designates most of these groups as terrorist organizations.
The Iran–Israel proxy conflict, also known as the Iran–Israel proxy war or Iran–Israel Cold War, is an ongoing proxy conflict between Iran and Israel. In the Israeli–Lebanese conflict, Iran has supported Lebanese Shia militias, most notably Hezbollah. In the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Iran has backed Palestinian groups such as Hamas. Israel has supported Iranian rebels, such as the People's Mujahedin of Iran, conducted airstrikes against Iranian allies in Syria and assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists. In 2018 Israeli forces directly attacked Iranian forces in Syria.
The May 2013 Rif Dimashq airstrikes were a series of aerial attacks made on targets in Syria on 3 and 5 May 2013. The 3 May attack was on targets at Damascus International Airport. The 5 May attacks were on targets at Jamraya, and the Al-Dimas and Maysalun areas in Rif Dimashq. Although officially Israel neither confirmed nor denied its involvement, former Mossad director Danny Yatom and former government member Tzachi Hanegbi inferred Israel's involvement in the attack. Official Syrian sources denied any attack on its soil on 3 May, but did accuse Israel for the attacks on 5 May.
The Islamic Republic of Iran and the Syrian Arab Republic are close strategic allies, and Iran has provided significant support for the Syrian government in the Syrian civil war, including logistical, technical and financial support, as well as training and some combat troops. Iran sees the survival of the Syrian government as being crucial to its regional interests. When the uprising developed into the Syrian Civil War, there were increasing reports of Iranian military support, and of Iranian training of the National Defence Forces both in Syria and Iran. From late 2011 and early 2012, Iran's IRGC began sending tens of thousands of Iranian troops and foreign paramilitary volunteers in coordination with the Syrian government to prevent the collapse of the Syrian Arab Army; thereby polarising the conflict along sectarian lines.
The January 2015 Mazraat Amal incident was an airstrike against a two-car convoy that killed six Hezbollah fighters, including two prominent commanders, and a general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, at al-Amal Farms in the Quneitra District of Syria, in the Eastern Golan Heights, on 18 January 2015, during the Syrian Civil War. The attack was largely attributed to Israel, which did not officially confirm that it carried it out. Hezbollah and IRGC held Israel responsible and threatened to retaliate. On 19 January 2015, Al-Nusra Front member Abu Azzam al-Idlibi claimed that Jihad Mughniyeh and the other Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Al-Nusra Front ambush at Jaroud in the Qalamoun Mountains in the Al-Qutayfah District northeast of Damascus, claiming that it "will be the end of the Persian project, God willing."
Hassan Shateri, also known as Hesam Khoshnevis, was an Iranian military officer and Major General of Iran's elite IRGC Quds Force. He was a veteran of the Iran–Iraq war and head of the Iranian Committee for the Reconstruction of Lebanon after the 2006 Lebanon War, according to Iranian media. He was assassinated in February 2013.
The Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war refers to the Iranian–Israeli standoff in and around Syria during the Syrian conflict. With increasing Iranian involvement in Syria from 2011 onwards, the conflict shifted from a proxy war into a direct confrontation by early 2018.
Events in the year 2024 in Iran.
Events in the year 2024 in Syria
Razi Mousavi was an Iranian military officer serving in the IRGC's Quds Force. He was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Sayyidah Zaynab, Rif-Dimashq, Syria during the Israel–Hamas war. At the time of his death, Mousavi was described as Iran's most influential military commander in Syria.
Sadegh Omidzadeh, also known as Hojatollah Omidvar, was an Iranian general and head of the Quds Force intelligence unit in Syria. He was killed by an Israeli airstrike during the Israel–Hamas war.
Since the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war, which has mostly been confined to the Gaza Strip and Gaza Envelope, a number of armed clashes and standoffs have been reported in other parts of the Middle East, particularly involving Shia Islamist militias backed by Iran. There has been speculation that any escalation of these incidents, specifically between Israel and Hezbollah—an Iranian-backed Shia militia which is based in southern Lebanon and which is more powerful than the Lebanese Armed Forces —could bring the entire region into a full-scale military conflict.
On 1 April 2024, Israel conducted an airstrike on the Iranian embassy complex in Damascus, Syria, destroying the building housing its consular section. Sixteen people were killed in the strike, including eight officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and two Syrian civilians. The airstrike took place during a period of heightened tension between Israel and Iran, and amidst the Israel–Hamas war and the Israel–Hezbollah conflict.
In the southeastern border province of Sistan and Balochistan, an attack on an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) headquarters happened on the night of 4 April 2024. At least 16 Iranian security force members were killed in this attack. The clashes occurred in the towns of Chabahar, Rask and Sarbaz. Jaish ul-Adl, a Sunni armed group, was involved in the attack and lost at least 16 members during the clashes. This incident is one of the deadliest attacks carried out by Jaish ul-Adl. The region has a predominantly Sunni Muslim population and has witnessed frequent clashes between Iranian security forces and militants. The attack took place following an Israeli missile strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria that killed Quds Force Brigadier-General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and his deputy, General Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi.
In 2024, the Iran–Israel proxy conflict escalated to a series of direct confrontations between the two countries. On 1 April, Israel bombed an Iranian consulate complex in Damascus, Syria, killing multiple senior Iranian officials. In response, Iran and its proxies seized the Israeli-linked ship MSC Aries and launched strikes inside Israel on 13 April. Israel then carried out retaliatory strikes in Iran and Syria on 19 April.
On 19 April 2024 at 5:23 a.m. IRST, the Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes targeting an air defense facility within Iran. The limited airstrikes targeted an air defense radar site at an airbase near Isfahan, in central Iran. Israeli missiles appear to have hit their target directly. Satellite images suggest that a surface-to-air missile battery was damaged or destroyed. There was no extensive damage to the base itself. The attack was launched in response to the Iranian drone and missile strikes in Israel, which itself was an Iranian retaliation for the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
Abbas Nilforoushan was an Iranian brigadier general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who served as Deputy of Operations. He began his military career in 1980 with the Basij, then joined the IRGC and was a member of this organization throughout the Iran–Iraq War.