- By Mayukh Debnath
- Mon, 07 Oct 2024 05:32 PM (IST)
- Source:Reuters
Iran Quds Force Commander Update: Esmail Qaani, the top commander of Iran's Quds Force, is in "good health", his deputy Iraj Masjedi said on Monday after reports cast uncertainity about his whereabouts.
"He is in good health and is carrying out his activities. Some ask us to issue a statement... there is no need for this," Masjedi was quoted as saying by state media in reference to Qaani.
A report by news agency Reuters had cited Iranian security sources to claim that Qaani had been out of contact since an Israeli airstrike that took place in the Lebanese capital of Beirut last week.
One of the officials cited by Reuters had said that Qaani was in Beirut's southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh, during a strike last week that was reported to have targeted senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine.
The official had said the Iranian general was not meeting Safieddine. Israel has been hitting multiple targets in Dahiyeh as it pursues a campaign against Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.
WHO IS ESMAIL QAANI?
- Esmail Qaani was appointed the head of the Quds Force after his predecessor Qassem Soleimani was killed in an US drone strike in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad in 2020.
- The Quds Force is the overseas military-intelligence arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), which is the ideological custodian of Iran's ruling Shia Muslim clerical system.
- The Quds Force derives its significance from managing Tehran's ties with the Iranian proxy groups spread throughout the Middle East.
- According to people familiar with both Qaani and Soleimani, as well as Western military and political analysts, Qaani has never commanded the same respect as his predecessor Soleimani or maintained the same close relationships among Iran's allies in the Arab world.
- While Soleimani held the reins of the Quds Force during a time when Iran's proxies - from Lebanese Hezbollah to Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim militias to the Houthis of Yemen - grew their power in the Middle East, Qaani has presided over their battering at the hands of Israeli spies and warplanes.
(With inputs from Reuters)
