Mohammad Reza Zahedi

Sardar Mohammad Reza Zahedi
Zahedi in 2017
Other name(s)	Mohammad Riza Zahdi Reza Mahdavi Hasan Mahdawi Ali Reza Zahedi Ali Zahedi
Born	(1960-11-02)2 November 1960 Isfahan, Iran
Died	1 April 2024(2024-04-01) (aged 63) Mezzeh, Damascus, Syria
Allegiance	Iran
Service/branch	Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Years of service	1979–2024
Rank	Brigadier General
Unit	Quds Force
Commands held	Air Force Ground Force
Battles/wars	Iran–Iraq War Syrian civil war Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war † Israel–Hamas war Israel–Hezbollah conflict †

Mohammad Reza Zahedi (Persian: محمدرضا زاهدی; 2 November 1960 – 1 April 2024) was an Iranian military officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He previously commanded the Air Force and the Ground Force.

Zahedi was killed by an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in the Mezzeh district of Damascus. According to The Guardian, Zahedi was most likely a critical figure in Tehran's relationship with Hezbollah and Syria's president Bashar al-Assad.

At the time of his death, the Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria had been designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel, Canada, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain.

Military career

Zahedi joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 1979 and served as a mid-level officer during the Iran-Iraq War. He led the 44th Qamar Beni Hashem Division from 1983 to 1986 and later headed the 14th Imam Hossein Division in the IRGC from 1986 until 1991. He was commander of the Thar-Allah base and had been the deputy of IRGC operations. On 21 January 2006, he was appointed Commander of the Ground Force of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. From 2007 to 2015, he was the head of the Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon.

Quds Force

In 1998, Qasem Soleimani, the new commander of the Quds Force, appointed Zahedi as its Lebanon Corps leader, responsible for providing arms and technical expertise to Hezbollah. According to Arash Azizi, this appointment and that of Hossein Sheikholeslam as Iranian ambassador to Syria were 1998 indications of Soleimani's determination to strengthen Hezbollah in Lebanon and renewal of Iranian–Syrian diplomatic-military collaboration.

Zahedi's first tenure as leader of the Lebanon Corps lasted until 2002. In this capacity, he was instrumental in upgrading Hezbollah's capability for attacks on the Israeli forces occupying Southern Lebanon and in planning Hezbollah's spring 2000 offensive that resulted in the defeat of the Israeli proxy Lebanese Forces militia and the final withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces from Lebanon, which ended the South Lebanon conflict in Hezbollah's favor.

After the Israeli withdrawal and until the end of his first tenure as Lebanon Corps' leader, Zahedi is thought to have been part of a small joint IRGC–Hezbollah command cadre, including Soleimani, General Ahmad Kazemi and Hezbollah chief of military operations Imad Mughniyeh, responsible for directing the construction of a large overground and underground fortification network in Southern Lebanon, which would aid Hezbollah in the 2006 Lebanon War.

In 2008, Soleimani appointed Zahedi to the position of commander of the Quds Force's Lebanon Corps for the second time. His second tenure lasted until his assassination in 2024. Iran's involvement in the Syrian Civil War on the side of the government of Bashar al-Assad has been a source of contention for Israel.

Death

Main article: 2024 Iranian consulate airstrike in Damascus

On 1 April 2024, Zahedi was killed by an Israeli airstrike that targeted the consulate annex building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in the Damascus. Between five and seven people were killed in the airstrike, according to the Iranian ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari. The strike caused "massive destruction" to the consulate building as well as damage to neighboring buildings, according to Syrian state media. He is the most senior IRGC officer to be killed since the assassination of Qasem Soleimani by the U.S. in January 2020. After his death, protesters took to the streets in Tehran to condemn the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran condemned the attacks and said the country reserves the right to carry reciprocal actions against the "aggressors" behind the airstrike. Iran has vowed to give a "decisive response". On 13 April 2024 the Iranian military launched hundreds of drones and fired ballistic missiles at Israel.

External links

• Media related to Mohammad-Reza Zahedi at Wikimedia Commons