Military says the five were members of Quds Force’s Palestine and Lebanon corps, were involved in aiding Hezbollah and Hamas; targeted hotel was housing people displaced by war. The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that five top commanders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in an Israeli Navy strike targeting a hotel room in Beirut overnight.
The IDF, in a statement, said the commanders who were killed “while hiding in a civilian hotel” were members of the Quds Force, the IRGC’s extraterritorial arm, in its Palestine and Lebanon corps, and were involved in aiding Hezbollah and Hamas with funds and intelligence. “The Iranian terror regime systematically operates among civilian populations in both Iran and Lebanon, cynically exploiting residents and using them as human shields to further terrorist objectives,” the IDF said in a statement prior to publishing the names of the targets.
The five were named as:
*Majid Hassini, a senior moneyman in the Lebanon Corps, who the IDF says was responsible for transferring funds from Iran to proxy groups in Lebanon, including Hezbollah and Hamas
* Ali Reza Bi-Azar, chief of intelligence in the Lebanon Corps
* Ahmad Rasouli, chief of intelligence in the Palestine Corps
* Hossein Ahmadlou, a lower-ranking intelligence operative in the Lebanon Corps
* Abu Muhammad Ali, Hezbollah’s representative in the Palestine Corps
Lebanese officials had said the strike killed at least four people at a Ramada hotel. An AFP photographer at the bombed seafront hotel saw shattered windows and heavy damage to one room while security forces sealed off the area. Last week, the Israeli military issued an unusual threat against Iranian regime officials in Lebanon, warning that they will be targeted if they do not leave the country. Reuters reported on Saturday that following those threats, more than 150 Iranian nationals, including diplomats and their families, had left Lebanon. (Ed note: Did you notice it was the Israeli Navy? But doesn't that Navy operate on the Mediterranean Sea? Very interesting.) (Read More)
* Ahmad Rasouli, chief of intelligence in the Palestine Corps
* Hossein Ahmadlou, a lower-ranking intelligence operative in the Lebanon Corps
* Abu Muhammad Ali, Hezbollah’s representative in the Palestine Corps
Lebanese officials had said the strike killed at least four people at a Ramada hotel. An AFP photographer at the bombed seafront hotel saw shattered windows and heavy damage to one room while security forces sealed off the area. Last week, the Israeli military issued an unusual threat against Iranian regime officials in Lebanon, warning that they will be targeted if they do not leave the country. Reuters reported on Saturday that following those threats, more than 150 Iranian nationals, including diplomats and their families, had left Lebanon. (Ed note: Did you notice it was the Israeli Navy? But doesn't that Navy operate on the Mediterranean Sea? Very interesting.) (Read More)
