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Top Iranian Commander Killed: Israel dealt a major blow to Iran on Monday when it carried out an air strike in the neighbourhood of Syria’s capital Damascus. Seyed Raji Mousavi, a longtime adviser to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, was killed in the attack. This incident is being compared to the death of Iran’s powerful intelligence commander Major General Qasim Sulemani in 2020, who was killed in a US attack in Baghdad in 2020.
The development comes amid fears that the Israel-Hamas war could expand as clashes between Hezbollah and Israel intensify along the Lebanon-Israel border.
After all, who was Mousavi and what was his connection with General Sulemani? What is Iran’s paramilitary force ‘Revolutionary Guard’ that has been knocking in the eyes of America and Israel?
Was Mousavi Close To General Sulemani?
General Mousavi is being described as a close aide of Major General Qasim Sulemani, Iran’s most popular intelligence commander. Let us tell you that Sulaimani was killed in the US attack in Baghdad in 2020.
Who Was General Soleimani?
General Sulaimani has the status of a national hero in Iran. He was considered a strong pillar of Iranian power. Several reports also claimed that he was the second-largest force in Iran after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He is considered to have an important role in making better relations with many countries and deepening Iran’s influence in the Middle East.
General Sulaimani was the chief of a military unit named Quds Force. The Quds Force supports someone according to Iranian interests in different countries and opposes someone. It is said that the Quds Force reports directly to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The US had declared Quds Force and Sulaimani as terrorists.
In 2012, after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, Soleimani helped strengthen the Syrian government and its president, a key Iranian ally, Bashar al-Assad.
Soleimani’s Assassination
On January 3, 2020, a convoy of Soleimani’s cars was targeted by US drones at Baghdad International Airport, Sulaimani was killed in the attack. He was accompanied by Kataib Hezbollah leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. He died in this attack. Kataib Hezbollah was declared a terrorist organization by the US.
Why Is The Iranian Military Present In Syria?
Iranian forces have been in Syria since the beginning of the Syrian civil war. Iranian forces have joined the president in a broader uprising against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks on government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years. Israel does not usually accept its airstrikes on Syria.
But whenever he does, he says that he is targeting Iranian-backed groups there, who have supported Assad’s government.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
The IRGC is the branch of the Iranian armed forces. It was officially established as a military branch by Ruhollah Khomeini in May 1979 after the Islamic Revolution. The Iranian military protects the country’s sovereignty in conventional capacity, the IRGC’s constitutional responsibility is to ensure the integrity of the Islamic Republic.
Under this, the IRGC has the responsibility of preventing foreign intervention in Iran, thwarting a coup by the military, and crushing movements that harm the ideological legacy of the Islamic Revolution. The IRGC is designated as a terrorist organization by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the United States.
As of 2011, the IRGC had at least 250,000 troops in total. The IRGC Navy is now Iran’s principal power with operational control over the Persian Gulf. The IRGC has about 90,000 active personnel in Basij, a paramilitary volunteer militia. Emerging as an ideological militia, the IRGC has played a huge role in almost every aspect of Iranian politics and society.
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