IDF eliminates over 20 senior Iranian military commanders

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it had eliminated more than 20 senior Iranian military and security officials, including two top commanders, during the opening strike of its newly launched Operation “Rising Lion.”

According to the IDF, Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets operating on intelligence provided by the IDF Intelligence Directorate, eliminated both the head of the Intelligence Directorate in the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff and the commander of the IRGC’s Surface-To-Surface Missile Array, Caliber.Az reports. 

The IAF targeted and killed Gholam-Reza Marhabi, the head of the Intelligence Directorate within the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff. Marhabi was responsible for strategic intelligence assessments and played a key role in Iran’s operational planning and military activities against Israel. The IDF stated that he was a close associate of Iran’s Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, who was also killed in the strike.

Bagheri was said to oversee Iran’s long-range missile and cruise missile programs and had allegedly been involved in planning missile strikes against Israel in 2024. He was killed along with IRGC Air Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh and other senior personnel at an underground command site in Tehran.

Besides, Israel killed nine scientists and experts involved in Iran’s nuclear program during its strikes on the country, raising the figure from a previous toll of six.

By Sabina Mammadli