Media: Iran's Quds Force chief missing in action since Beirut strikes

Esmail Qaani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force, has not been heard from since Israeli airstrikes targeted Beirut late last week.

According to two senior Iranian security officials, Qaani had travelled to Lebanon following the killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike last month, Caliber.Az reports via Reuters.

One of the officials revealed that Qaani was present in the Dahiyeh area, a southern suburb of Beirut, during a strike that reportedly aimed at senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine. However, the official clarified that Qaani was not meeting Safieddine then.

"Since the strike, we have been unable to contact Qaani," the official stated, indicating growing concerns about his whereabouts.

Israeli forces have been conducting a series of attacks in the Dahiyeh area as part of their campaign against Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. The second Iranian official confirmed that Qaani had arrived in Lebanon after Nasrallah’s death and that Iranian authorities had lost contact with him since the strike against Safieddine, who was widely anticipated to succeed Nasrallah as Hezbollah's leader.

Notably, Hezbollah has yet to comment on the situation concerning Safieddine.

In response to speculation regarding Qaani's fate, Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said, "The results of the strikes are still being assessed. We conducted an attack late last week against Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in Beirut. When we have more specific results from that strike, we will share them. There's a lot of questions about who was there and who was not."

The Quds Force, which is the overseas branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, is responsible for managing relations with militias allied to Tehran throughout the Middle East, including Hezbollah.

It is worth noting that Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan was killed alongside Nasrallah when Israeli bombs struck their bunker on September 27.

By Aghakazim Guliyev