Was head of Iran's elite foreign force Esmail Qaani the target of Israeli strike on Beirut?

Tehran say Quds Force commander is in 'good health', but sources in Beirut do not rule out Qaani being harmed

Esmail Qaani was appointed as the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Quds Force in 2020. Reuters

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Iran's Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani has faced the difficult task of guiding and uniting Tehran-backed militant groups in the Middle East during the conflict with Israel.

But questions have arisen in recent days after reports he might have been hit in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the Tehran-backed Hezbollah has offices and where its leaders live and operate.

As a unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Quds Force oversees a network of militant proxies and directs Iran’s foreign operations. This so-called Axis of Resistance has been under intense scrutiny since the Gaza war erupted a year ago, facing its biggest test of strength and unity yet.

In recent weeks, the primary group within this axis, Hezbollah, has suffered significant setbacks, including the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike. Many other senior leaders, along with Iranian operatives and Quds Force commanders, have also been killed, marking the force’s most severe intelligence and military defeats since the death of Maj Gen Qassem Suleimani.

Mr Qaani, 67, reportedly travelled to Lebanon after the assassination of Nasrallah on September 27. But since last week, he has been unaccounted for, Reuters reported, quoting Iranian security officials. Hashem Safieddine, Nasrallah's cousin and a candidate to be his successor, has also been missing since a major strike on Friday. Mr Qaani and Mr Safieddine are believed to have been in a meeting together when the strike hit.

But the deputy co-ordinator of the Quds Force, Iraj Masjedi, said Mr Qaani is "in good health and continues his activities" without specifying his location or whether he was the target of an Israeli strike. He added that there is "no need" to issue a statement addressing reports about the loss of contact with him, the Iranian Fars news agency reported.

A source close to Hezbollah told The National on Monday that the group could not "respond or comment on the reports circulating about Maj Gen Qaani, nor to talk about his whereabouts, whether in Beirut or elsewhere. The Iranian side is concerned with that".

"The man usually carries out missions throughout the region and does not announce this officially, and what he does is rarely commented on by the Revolutionary Guards," another source close to the group said. Mr Qaani "might have been targeted, for reasons including that he was likely forced to be in Beirut shortly after the news of Mr Nasrallah’s assassination", the source added.

"It was logical for him to be present alongside senior leaders in Hezbollah, including Hashem Safieddine, at that sensitive and dangerous moment. Therefore, the possibility of him being harmed in the Israeli enemy’s heavy raids cannot be ruled out, without that meaning that he was definitely killed."

Hours after the killing of Maj Gen Suleimani by the US military in Baghdad in January 2020, Mr Qaani confronted the challenge of projecting the same aura of invincibility as his high-profile predecessor, after Iran's clerical leadership appointed him to lead the elite force. Since his appointment, many observers said Mr Qaani had not projected the same strength as his predecessor and had not managed to maintain the same relations among Iran's allies and proxy networks.

Shortly after Israel began its war on Gaza, in response to the October 7 attack, Iran-backed militias across the Middle East announced a “unity front” led by the Quds Force to support their ally, focusing mainly on co-ordinating attacks against Israeli sites.

Hezbollah in Lebanon, Yemen's Houthi rebels and Iraqi factions established a daily co-ordination process through a joint command, launching attacks from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean in an attempt to put pressure on Israel to ease its devastating Gaza offensive. But a year after the war began with Hamas's attacks on Israel, the Tehran-led front appears weakened.

Whether it is a tactic or a necessity after Israel's recent escalation against Hezbollah – which dealt significant blows to the group, including to its communication capabilities – what began as a united campaign that disrupted shipping lanes, struck Tel Aviv and launched hundreds of rockets and drones against Israel, now looks disjointed and stalled.

Mr Qaani became the deputy commander of the Quds Force in 1997 when Maj Gen Suleimani became the leader. When Mr Qaani took over, he vowed to root out US influence from the Middle East in revenge for his predecessor's death.

He was born in 1957 in the conservative and religious city of Mashhad, in north-eastern Iran. He fought for the IRGC during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.

While Maj Gen Suleimani was focused on the Middle East, Mr Qaani has been involved in activities related to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where Tehran has a different set of priorities in dealing with the US. Unlike his predecessor, who spoke communicated easily with militia commanders, Mr Qaani does not speak Arabic.

At the time of his appointment, the American Enterprise Institute described Mr Qaani as “uncharismatic and a less distinguished military commander than Suleimani”.