The head of the IRGC’s foreign military intelligence service, who traveled to Lebanon last month after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike, has not been heard from since last week’s raids on Beirut, Iranian officials say.
Reuters reported that two senior Iranian security officials confirmed that the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, has not been heard from since late last week.
One official told the channel that Qaani was in the southern suburbs of Beirut during a missile attack that reportedly targeted senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safi al-Din, although he was not meeting with the Hezbollah leader.
A Hezbollah official said that Israel did not allow them to search for Safi al-Din after the bombing that occurred in the southern suburb of Beirut on Thursday. The group also said that it would not announce Safi al-Din’s fate until the search for him was over.
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There has been no news of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Ismail Qaani since Israel launched an attack on Hezbollah in Beirut last week. (Mortaza Nikoubazel/Nour Photo via Getty Images)
Safi al-Din is said to be a possible successor to Nasrallah, who died when Israel launched a raid on the suburb on September 27.
The Iranian official told The Associated Press that Iran and Hezbollah were unable to contact Qaani after the United States assassinated his predecessor, Qassem Soleimani, in a drone strike in 2020.
The second Iranian official told the Associated Press that Qaani traveled to Lebanon after Nasrallah’s killing, adding that authorities had been unable to contact him since the raid on Safi al-Din.
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Smoke rising from an Israeli airstrike that struck the southern suburb of Beirut on October 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan think tank focused on foreign policy and national security, told Fox News Digital that the higher the position of an official, the harder it is to hide.
“Whatever the ruling on Qaani’s whereabouts, the fact that the regime was unable to extract him to suppress rumors means that he is either injured or in hiding,” Talablou said. He added, “Israel is pressing its advantage in Lebanon against the leaders of the Iranian threat network, leading to the command and control issues and chaos that generate rumors like these.”
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An IDF profile photo shows Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who the IDF confirmed was killed in a raid. (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani was asked about reports that Qaani may have been killed in the Israeli airstrike, and said the results of the strikes were still being evaluated.
Shoshani said that the attack that occurred late last week was against Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut.
Qaani’s Quds Force is responsible for overseeing dealings with Tehran and allied militias such as Hezbollah throughout the Middle East.
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Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Brig. General Abbas Nilvoroushan was killed along with Nasrallah on September 27 when Israeli bombs hit his hideout.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Greg Weiner is a breaking news correspondent for Fox News Digital.
Story tips can be sent to Greg.Wehner@Fox.com and on Twitter @GregWehner.
