Mystery surrounds a top Iranian general who has been missing since a huge airstrike amid reports he may have been working for Israeli intelligence.
Esmail Ghaani, leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force, has not been seen in public since Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a huge strike on Beirut on September 27 – but very different reports have emerged as to his whereabouts. Initial reports in Arab media said Qaani is alive but being held under guard as he helps officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) investigate how Israel was able to secure sensitive information which led to the hit on Nasrallah. However, later reports have stated that Qaani is being probed over his alleged ties to Israel.
A huge Israeli strike hit Beirut on Friday morning (
Anadolu via Getty Images)
Sky News Arabic also reported that the general had a heart attack while being questioned. This has been denied by Iranian forces however, and on Tuesday, Iraj Masjedi – deputy commander of al-Quds and a former Iranian ambassador to Baghdad – said Ghaani was “in good health” and is “carrying out his daily duties”.
One Israeli source said that regardless of what had happened to Ghaani, the current panic within the Revolutionary Guard showed how the toppling of the Hezbollah leadership in Lebanon had impacted Tehran – and suggested this was a victory of Israeli intelligence. They said: “This has been a mind-blowing success as a result of a decade of intelligence gathering. An operational shock has been delivered that has eliminated its capability to nominate successors and to conduct a coherent response to Israel.”
Two Israeli strikes hit Beirut on Friday, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens amid fears of an escalating ‘World War Three’ regional conflict in the Middle East. The air raid was the deadliest attack on central Beirut in over a year of war, hitting two residential buildings in neighbourhoods that had been temporary homes for people fleeing Israeli bombardment elsewhere in the country.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television and Israeli media said the strikes had aimed to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group. Al-Manar said Safa was not in either building at the time. The Israeli military has not yet commented on the reports.
Israel has stepped up its campaign against Hezbollah in recent days with several waves of heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground invasion at the border. The same day as the Beirut explosions, Israeli forces fired on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon and wounded two peacekeepers from Indonesia, drawing widespread condemnation.
Hezbollah has meanwhile expanded its rocket fire to target more populated areas deeper inside Israel. On Friday morning, an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon killed a young man from Thailand in the north of Israel. Magen David Adom, from the paramedic service, said that the 27-year-old was killed by a missile that hit agricultural land.