Israel Kills Iran’s ‘Orchestrator’ Of Hamas Massacre And Other Commander
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent, Worthy News
JERUSALEM/TEHRAN (Worthy News) – Israel’s defense minister says the military killed two overseas commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including Saeed Izadi, who helped “finance and arm Hamas” for the October 7, 2023, massacre.
Israel Katz said Izadi died in a strike on an apartment in Iran’s Qom province, ahead of the second anniversary of the Hamas slaughter of 1,200 and abduction of hundreds of Jews in southern Israel.
Izadi led the Guards’ overseas Palestine Corps, or Quds Force, as part of efforts by Iran to support its proxies fighting Israel, military sources explained.
The Israeli military later announced it also killed a second commander of the Guards’ overseas arm, identified as Benham Shariyari, during a strike on his vehicle overnight in western Tehran.
It said the commander “was responsible for all weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to its proxies across the Middle East.”
Shariyari supplied missiles and rockets launched at Israel to Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Hamas in Gaza, and Yemen’s Houthis, according to the Israeli military.
Tehran has not yet confirmed their deaths, but Iranian media reported that nine IRGC members were killed in Israeli attacks at two sites in north-west and western Iran.
QUDS FORCE
The Quds Force built up a network of Arab allies known as the Axis of Resistance, establishing Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982 and supporting the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
But the Iran-aligned network suffered major blows over the last two years, as Israeli offensives since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel weakened both Hamas and Hezbollah, observers say.
Katz described Izadi’s killing as a “major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force.”
The U.S. and Britain sanctioned Izadi over what they said were his ties to Hamas and Palestinian militant faction Islamic Jihad, which also took part in the October 7 attacks.
The commander was seen as “a major orchestrator of the October 7 massacre” and one of the few individuals who knew about it in advance, Israeli sources said.
Their announced deaths came as Iranian state media reported that among nine IRGC members killed by Israel were four gathered at a training site.
“Four people have died as martyrs and three others were wounded in an Israeli attack against a training camp of the Revolutionary Guards in Tabriz,” the ISNA news agency said. The city has been repeatedly targeted since Israel began striking Iran more than a week ago.
MORE KILLINGS
Separately, five IRGC members were killed in Israeli attacks targeting the city of Khorramabad in western Iran, the Iranian Mehr news agency reported on Saturday.
Khorramabad, the capital of Lorestan province, was not previously reported as a target in the ongoing hostilities between Iran and Israel.
Clashes began on June 13 when Israel launched airstrikes on several sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, that it said were aimed at preventing Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
That prompted Tehran to launch what it called “retaliatory strikes” on Israel. At least 25 people were killed and hundreds injured since then in Iranian missile attacks, according to Israeli authorities.
In Iran, 430 people have been killed and over 3,500 wounded in Israeli strikes, according to Iran’s Health Ministry.
Those figures have been difficult to verify independently.
Among those killed in Iran are reportedly numerous key Iranian leaders and nuclear scientists.
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