Iranian general killed in reported Israeli strike on Hezbollah in Syria
Hezbollah official tells AFP five other Iranians also killed in strike; Israeli security cabinet to convene over concerns of possible escalation along northern border.
By Barak Ravid/Haaretz/ Jan. 19, 2015
Iran has confirmed that a senior Iranian general was killed Sunday in an alleged Israeli strike on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, local media reported. According to the report, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said General Ali al-Addadi was serving in Iran as an advisor to the Syrian Army. A Hezbollah official told AFP that five other Iranian military men were also killed in the strike. Foreign media reports claimed Sunday that Israel had struck a site on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, killing at least six members of Hezbollah, including Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of slain Hezbollah military leader Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in Damascus in 2008. It is widely assumed that Israel planted the car bomb that killed him. The Israeli army has neither confirmed nor denied the reports. Meanwhile, Israel’s security cabinet is planning to meet Tuesday morning to discuss concerns that tensions will escalate on its northern border in the wake of the alleged Israeli strike, according to an official in Jerusalem. Western intelligence sources say that a unit headed by Jihad Mughniyeh plotted to attack Israel with rockets, anti-tank missiles and bombs, and planned to send terror operatives into Israeli territory. The strike came three days after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said he considered frequent Israeli strikes in Syria as major acts of aggression, and that Syria and its allies had the right to respond.
