Commander of Iran's Quds Force 'in good health', force's deputy commander says

Smoke rises from the residential area after Israeli warplanes target the Dahiyeh district south of the Lebanese capital Beirut with a series of airstrikes on September 28, 2024. [Murat Şengül – Anadolu Agency]

The top Commander of Iran’s Quds Force Esmail Qaani is in “good health”, the force’s Deputy Commander Iraj Masjedi said today after Iranian security sources told Reuters he had been out of contact since strikes on Beirut last week.

“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.

One of the officials speaking to Reuters said 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 said he was not meeting Safieddine.

Israel has been hitting multiple targets in Dahiyeh.

Tehran named Qaani the head of the Revolutionary Guards Corps’ overseas military-intelligence service after the United States assassinated his predecessor Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.

Read: US official says Israel has not guaranteed it would not strike Iran’s nuclear facilities

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