PHOTO: Jihad Imad Mughniyeh, son of famed Hezbollah commander, reportedly killed in Israeli airstrike inside Syria
UPDATE 0015 GMT: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has confirmed that one of its senior commanders, General Allahdadi, was killed by the Israeli airstrike.
#Iran #IRGC Gen. Allahdadi martyred in tonight's Israeli attack in #Syria along w/ #Hezbollah commanders pic.twitter.com/kSX0TUcQbo
— H.Soleimani (@MashreghNews_ir) January 18, 2015
Allahdadi may be the “General Hushang Allahdad” who was one of four Revolutionary Guards commanders added to a US sanctions blacklist in August 2010 for “their role in the Revolutionary Guards-Qods Forces’ support of terrorism”.
Allahdadi was specifically cited for acting as a “liaison to Hezbollah and Syrian intelligence services” as well as “guaranteeing weapons shipments” to Hezbollah.
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/08/iranian_qods_force_c.php#ixzz3PDujrTAz
Another Iranian serving as a Hezbollah commander, Abu Ali Tabatabai, was slain in the Israeli attack.
Lebanese organization Hezbollah says five of its members, including a commander, were killed on Sunday when an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles in Quneitra Province in southwest Syria, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
“A group of Hezbollah mujahedeen were martyred in a Zionist rocket attack in Quneitra, and their names will be revealed later,” said a message flashed on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar news channel.
An unnamed source told Lebanon’s Daily Star that the son of famed Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh — assassinated by Israel inside Syria in 2008 — was among the casualties.
The source named the Hezbollah field commander as Mohammad Issa and said an Iranian field commander, Abu Ali Tabatabai, was also killed. One Hezbollah vehicle was destroyed and another damaged.
However, Hezbollah-watcher Phillip Smyth identified Tabatabai as a member of the Lebanese organization, rather than of Iranian forces.
Hizballah's Abu Ali Tabtabai, reportedly killed with Jihad Mughniyeh during the Golan airstrike. #HizballahCavalcade pic.twitter.com/3hItyRp5Ph
— Phillip Smyth (@PhillipSmyth) January 18, 2015
Journalist Carol Malouf says Tabatabai, a pseudonym, is Iranian but is in Hezbollah and not Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Tabatabai has been identified by other observers as Hezbollah’s “Special Forces Commanding Officer” and as the Iranian field commander for the Golan Heights.
Issa reportedly commanded Hezbollah operations in Syria and Iraq.