Reuters: Iran lost contact with Quds Force commander after Israeli strikes on Beirut

Reuters quoted two senior Iranian security officials as saying that contact had been lost with the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, since the strikes on Beirut last week, while an Iranian member of parliament said that Qaani was in good health, and that these were just rumors.

Qaani traveled to Lebanon after Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was killed last month in an Israeli airstrike.

One official said Qaani was in Beirut's southern suburbs when Thursday's strike, which reportedly targeted Nasrallah's likely successor, Hashem Safieddine, took place, but the official said Qaani did not meet Safieddine.

The official said Iran and Hezbollah have not been able to contact Qaani since then.

"rumors"

In contrast, a member of the National Security Committee in the Iranian Parliament said that Major General Qaani is in good health and that rumors should not be given any importance, adding that rumors are part of the enemy's strategy to spread despair among the axis of resistance.

While Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qamati said in response to a question about reports about the disappearance of the Quds Force commander in Beirut after an Israeli strike, "I do not have information and we are also looking into the truth of this matter."

This comes after the repeated Israeli assassinations that targeted leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon, during the recent period, and included the party’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Abbas Nilforoushan.

Since September 23, Israel has launched the most violent and extensive attack on Lebanon since the beginning of the confrontations with Hezbollah on October 8, 2023, resulting in hundreds of victims, including dead and wounded, in addition to the displacement of hundreds of thousands, some of whom are homeless.

Source: Agencies