Who is Iranian commander Reza Mohammad Zahedi that killed in Israeli strike

A top Iranian commander among six others were killed in an Israeli missile strike targeting the Iranian Consulate in Damascus, the Syrian capital. Iran confirmed the killing of Brig Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC’s Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon, his deputy Gen Haid Haj Rahimi and five other military personnel.

The other five were identified as Hossein Amanollahi, Seyyed Mahdi Jalalati, Mohsen Sadaqat, Ali Agha Babaei and Syed Ali Salehi Rozbahani, all officers of IRGC.

The airstrike on the Iranian embassy’s five-storey annex killed seven members of the IRGC, which runs Iran’s overseas military operations and Zahedi and Rahimi are the highest-ranking Iranian military official to be killed since 2020 assassination of Gen Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq.

Zahedi held key positions and was responsible for monitoring the region and was considered as a key figure to maintain Iran’s ties with Hezbollah and Syria president, Bashar al-Assad. His deputy, Rahimi was also an important figure in the region and now with their elimination, Tehran could face challenges in its operation across the Middle East as it relies on networks of people to do so and these killed IRGC’s members were playing key roles in this area.

Indeed, the death of Zahedi is a great loss to the IRGC and yet another blow after the assassination Suleiman. The killing of these officers, especially Zahedi and his deputy will definitely create a security-vacuum and IRGC will also lose its networks created by these officials in the region.  Meanwhile, finding a successor to Zahedi in the wake of crisis in the Middle East, will not only be time-consuming, but also a challenge task for Iran.

Mohammad Reza Zahedi joined the IRGC two years after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Zahedi, also known as Hasan Mahdavi, joined the Iranian military forces just two years after the 1979 Islamic revolution. Zahedi was 63 years old, and spent four decades in the Iranian military and his initial command was during the Iran-Iraq war. Zahedi was leading a larger headquarters to focus on training of military students and in 2005, he was appointed as the commander of IRGC’s ground forces and the appointment was approved by the country’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Zahedi was also responsible for regular meetings with Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of the Lebanese Hezbollah group after the death of Sulimani and that’s why the US has imposed sanctions on him.

In contrast to similar attacks, Iran promptly confirmed Zahedi’s death

For the first time in a while, Iran has immediately confirmed the death of Zahedi and pledged to retaliate. Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi said that “Zonists crime will not go unanswered” and called it a fresh act of aggression by the Israeli regime.

He called the Israeli missile attack on Iran’s consulate as a “terrorist crime” and a gross violation of international regulations and expressed condolences to the people of Iran and the families of the killed officers.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Nasser Kanani has said that this is the right of Iran to take countermeasures and Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari also stressed that Tehran will give a decisive response to the Israeli regime.  Zahedi’s son also urged the government of Iran to not let his father’s death go unanswered.

However, Israel has yet to comment on the airstrike and the Biden administration, a close aide to Israel, has also rejected its involvement, stating no consultation was made on the airstrikes between the two countries.

China says it opposes actions cause escalation of tenses in Middle East

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council will discuss the deadly strike later on Tuesday at a meeting requested by Syrian ally Russia.

“Iran reserves its legitimate and inherent right under international law and the United Nations Charter to take a decisive response to such reprehensible acts,” Iran’s mission to the world body said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin said that his country condemns the attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria, and the security of diplomatic institutions cannot be violated.

Syria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity should be respected, and China opposes any actions that lead to an escalation of tensions in the Middle East, CGTN quoted Wang as saying.

Taliban terms Israel’s Iranian embassy attack as violation of diplomatic norms

The interim-government of Taliban in Afghanistan has strongly condemned Israel’s attack on the consular branch of Iranian embassy in Damascus, terming it “a blatant violation of diplomatic norms and attempt at provoking wider regional insecurity.”

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan calls on the influential countries of the world and the region to prevent the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza and beyond the Gaza Strip,” Taliban foreign ministry said in a statement.

It furthered: On the one hand, the continuation of crimes by this (zionist) regime has turned into a serious challenge for regional and world security, and on the other hand, it has raised serious questions about the effectiveness of international laws and institutions.