Iran’s military has suffered a devastating blow as its Army Chief of Staff, General Mohammad Bagheri, was confirmed dead following a series of Israeli airstrikes, Iranian state television has reported.
Bagheri’s death comes on the heels of the confirmed killing of Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the same wave of attacks.
Earlier statements from Iran’s armed forces indicated that both the regular army and IRGC units were “battling in the sky” with Israeli aircraft, as waves of strikes targeted numerous strategic locations throughout the country.
The military campaign, dubbed “Lion’s Power” by Israel, has zeroed in on high-value targets including IRGC command centers, military bases, and nuclear infrastructure scattered across Iran.
Responding to the strikes, the IRGC declared that there would be a “severe and regretful revenge” for the attacks, warning that “the miscalculation and crime of the sworn enemies of Iran and Iranians will not go unanswered.”
Among the casualties are several prominent figures in Iran’s military and nuclear establishment.
Senior IRGC commander Gholamali Rashid was reported killed, along with nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi and Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi, as per reports from a state-run news agency.
One of the central targets, the IRGC’s headquarters in Tehran, was also struck during the operation, according to Iranian state media.
As the first wave of strikes hit, Tehran responded by shutting down its airspace to all incoming and outgoing flights, flight tracking platforms confirmed.
