ALBAWABA — Just a few days after taking over as head of Iran's Supreme Leader's military office, Israel's Defense Ministry declared on Sunday that its forces had assassinated Abolqasem Babayian.
The operation was verified by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, who described it as a new military and intelligence achievement for Israel's security forces. Katz stated in a statement that Babayian had only been appointed to the position last week, taking over for a predecessor who had been killed in a previous strike.
The statement came after a high-level security assessment meeting at the guarded headquarters of the Israeli Defense Ministry. Senior representatives from the Mossad and Shin Bet security services, as well as Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Military Intelligence Director Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, were among the senior military and intelligence officials who attended the conference.
The ministry claims that during the meeting, Israeli officials were given an intelligence briefing that verified Babayian's passing. According to reports, the official was assigned the responsibility of restructuring the military hierarchy pertaining to Iran's Supreme Leader in the wake of earlier Israeli attacks that targeted high-ranking Iranian military officials.
Katz commended the operation, saying it showed that Israel could reach what he called extremely sensitive targets inside Iran's security and military infrastructure.
During the conference, the defense minister spoke to military commanders and urged them to "continue pursuing them" in their operations against Iranian senior people.
Following a string of military clashes throughout the region, including attacks on Iranian military positions and key people, the development coincides with rising tensions between Israel and Iran.
