Qaani
According to a report by Reuters on the 6th, two senior Iranian security officials revealed that Ismail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force under Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, traveled to Lebanon after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an attack. Since the recent airstrikes on the Lebanese capital Beirut, Qaani has been missing.
Reuters reported that one of the officials disclosed that the Israeli military recently launched an attack on Hashim Safi al-Din, a key figure in Hezbollah considered a “potential successor” to Nasrallah. At the time of the attack, Qaani was in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh. However, the official noted that Qaani was not meeting with Safi al-Din at the time. Both Iranian and Hezbollah sources have been unable to contact Qaani since the attack.
The report also stated that another official confirmed that Qaani traveled to Lebanon after Nasrallah was killed, and since the Israeli military’s attack on Safi al-Din, Iran has been unable to reach Qaani.
When asked about reports suggesting that “Qaani may have been killed in the Israeli strikes on Beirut,” Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said the outcome of the strikes is still being evaluated.
As of the time of publication, Iranian officials have not made any public response regarding Qaani’s status.
On January 3, 2020, the U.S. carried out an attack in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, killing Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force, along with others. After Soleimani’s death, Qaani immediately succeeded him as commander of the Quds Force.
