


For the second time in less than a month, senior Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard officers have been killed in a suspected Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria. Iran's unofficial Mehr news agency said, "The Revolutionary Guards' Syria intel chief, his deputy, and two other Guards members were martyred in the attack on Syria by Israel." Updated reports say that five IRGC officers, plus some of their Syrian counterparts, were killed in the attack.
The icons are already circulating.
The intelligence chief, Sadegh Omidzadeh, was a close associate of Brigadier General Sayyed Reza Mousavi, the IRGC commander in Syria, who, along with several associates, was killed in a similar manner shortly before Christmas.
BACKGROUND:
Senior Iranian Commander in Syria Killed by an Israeli Airstrike; Iran Vows Retribution
Today's attack and that in December look a lot like preparation of the battlefield for Israel opening hostilities in southern Lebanon with a goal of gutting Hezbollah.
Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted on August 11, 2006, Hezbollah is forbidden to keep an armed presence south of the Litani River. Hezbollah has violated this agreement almost as soon as it was signed. In 2017, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley conducted a very public scolding of the commander of the UN Peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, in that area over Hezbollah's infractions and UNIFIL's refusal to report or confront violations or even acknowledge that documented violations had taken place.
READ: Nikki Haley Hammers UN Peacekeeping Force For Concealing Hezbollah Rearmament
The Hamas rampage through southern Israel on October 7 seems to have convinced the Netanyahu government that Hezbollah needed to be demolished to prevent such an event from happening in Northern Israel.
Several reports say that Israel will launch an offensive against Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon as early as next week unless there are signs that Hezbollah will respect UNSCR 1701.
The targeted killings of senior IRGC officers who control Iranian intelligence and logistics support to Hezbollah and of some senior Hezbollah officers could be a first stage of the operation that would prevent Hezbollah forces from undertaking a prepared defense against Israel.
READ: Israeli Airstrike Kills Senior Hezbollah Commander in Lebanon
In the end, by his timidity and hubris, Jake Sullivan may end up giving Biden the expanded regional war and escalation of hostilities with Iran that he's tried to avoid.