Israel announced the assassination of three Iranian commanders, with a key figure being Mohammed Said Izadi, a senior official overseeing Iran's proxy militias in the Middle East. Izadi was reportedly involved in planning the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
Izadi headed the Palestinian affairs branch of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. His involvement in the Hamas attack made him a significant target for Israel.
Another assassinated commander, Behnam Shahriyari, oversaw weapons transfers to Iranian-backed paramilitary forces. He had been under US sanctions since 2011 for allegedly supplying weapons to Hezbollah.
Israel stated that the strikes occurred in central Iran. There was no immediate response from Iran.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that it had assassinated three Iranian commanders, one of them a senior figure in the force that oversees proxy militias around the Middle East such as the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
The Israeli defense ministry identified one of those killed as Mohammed Said Izadi. He was a longtime target of Israeli intelligence who oversaw Iran’s ties to groups like Hamas, which led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that ignited the war in Gaza, according to the military.
Mr. Izadi was one of the few people who knew in advance about Hamas’s plan to launch the surprise attack, The New York Times reported last year.
Israeli officials said Mr. Izadi led the Palestinian affairs branch in the Quds Force, the arm of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps responsible for foreign operations. Israel said it had struck an apartment where Mr. Izadi was staying in central Iran overnight between Friday and Saturday.
There was no immediate comment from Iran.
A second commander Israel said it killed was identified as Behnam Shahriyari, another Quds Force commander who oversaw weapons transfers to Iran-backed paramilitary forces in the region.
Mr. Shahriyari had been sanctioned by the U.S. government since 2011 on accusations of transferring weapons on behalf of the Revolutionary Guards to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group.
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