Iran's elite force commander killed in airstrike near Iraq-Syria border: Reports

A senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is reported to have been killed in the town of Al-Qaimnear near the Iraq-Syria border in a drone strike, just two days after the assassination of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in the outskirts of Tehran.

According to the sources of Arabian news agencies on-ground, the IRGC commander of the elite Quds Force and three additional escorts died in an unmanned aerial strike near the border as their vehicle entered Syria via the Al-Qaim border crossing Iraq, the Iraqi security and local militia officials confirmed. According to Syrian pro-rebel news agencies, the fighter jets of the US coalition forces often carried out strikes on at least 10 targets near the border town of Al-Bukamal, destroying military ammunition depots and killing pro-Iranian militia troops.

The vehicle was reportedly laden with weaponry and was being transported across the Iraqi border. The dead bodies were retrieved by Iran-backed Iraqi paramilitary troops; Iran, however, is yet to confirm the identity of the commander. However, some sources of Iraqi state-run press suspected that the slain military leader is Muslim Shahdan, senior IRGC commander.

The local military reported that Israel often launched airstrikes inside Syrian territory on the Iranian-linked targets. The attack comes after Israel demanded, just last week, that the UN Security Council takes immediate action against Iran’s presence in Syria and had ordered its military troops to cut ties with Iranian forces. 

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Iran-backed Iraqi military suspects 'Israel' 

The Iran-backed Iraqi military personnel suspect Israel, the US, or members of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq and Syria for the attack. The airstrike resembles one conducted by the US in Iraq in January that neutralised Iran’s powerful military commander, General Qassem Soleimani, according to state-run news agencies sources.

The Iran-backed militia figures had then suspected that the strike was ordered by US President Donald Trump, and the incident had escalated tensions between Washington and Tehran as Iran had bolstered Hezbollah in Lebanon and other pro-Iranian militant groups under the leadership of General Soleimani. The Quds Force, an elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, reported directly to Ayatollah and Soleimani. 

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(Image Credit: AP File)