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The Israeli airstrike on Monday that eliminated Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, plus one other general and five officials, is the most significant strike on Iran since Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
The Times of Israel noted that Zahedi was “the most senior IRGC Quds Force commander in Syria.” The airstrike also killed his deputy, Mohammad Haj Rahimi. Syria is a key conduit for Iranian forces to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The media are describing Zahedi’s death as an escalation. But Iranian proxies have been escalating their own attacks , with an Iranian-controlled militia in Iraq claiming credit for a drone attack Sunday on an Israeli navy base in Eilat.
Monday’s airstrike could also, like the Soleimani attack, serve as a deterrent against further Iranian escalation.
As Breitbart News reported at the time, President Donald Trump ordered an airstrike on January 2, 2020, that killed General Soleimani, leader of the IRGC’s Quds Force, who directed Iranian terrorist proxies throughout the Mideast.
Soleimani was killed at the Bagdhad airport in a U.S. airstrike that took out 10 military officials without one civilian casualty. The airstrike came after Iranian-controlled militias began threatening the U.S. embassy and other targets.
The death of Soleimani was a major setback for Iran. The regime retaliated by firing cruise missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq, but was careful not to kill any U.S. soldiers, lest it risk an even bigger escalation from the unpredictable Trump.
Some U.S. troops suffered head injuries — such as concussions — from the impact of the incoming missiles, but there were no other casualties. (Then-candidate Joe Biden, who opposed the Soleimani strike, played up these injuries.)
Iran vowed to respond. Friday is Quds Day in Iran — the last Friday of Ramadan and an occasion for anti-Israel hate.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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