Now in the crosshairs is the elite corps of the Pasdaran, the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards. Israel claims to have eliminated two of the key figures of the Iranian special forces: on the ninth day of conflict with Tehran, the IDF announced the killing of two commanders. They are Saeed Izadi, commander of the Palestinian division of the Quds Force, “eliminated” in a raid in the Qom area and described as a “key figure of coordination between the Iranian regime and Hamas, one of the main architects of the October 7 massacre” of 2023.

Izadi, the BBC reconstructs, had narrowly survived the Israeli air raid that in April last year had hit the Iranian diplomatic representation in the Syrian capital Damascus. The same fate for Behnam Shahriyari, “eliminated” in a raid in western Iran and indicated as the commander of Unit 190, responsible for the transfer of armaments and funds to allies, “responsible – according to the IDF – for all transfers of armaments from the Iranian regime to proxies in the Middle East”. In both cases, no comment yet from Iran.

Founded after the 1979 revolution, the Quds Force bears the Arabic name for Jerusalem and has been responsible for operations outside Iran's borders, coordinating with allied groups from Lebanese Hezbollah to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It has long played a central role in supporting the so-called ‘axis of resistance’, which has been targeted by Israeli military operations since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Over time, according to observers, the Quds Force has trained, armed, and financed various groups, not only Hezbollah and Hamas, but also Shiite militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen. And it has supported the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, where in recent years raids attributed to Israel against targets linked to Iran have often been reported. The United States, the New York Times recalled, accuses the Quds Force of having coordinated operations also in Latin America and Europe.

He is accused of espionage, but also of plans to kill dissidents and arms smuggling. In 2020, General Qassem Soleimani, then head of the Quds Force, was killed in a US raid in the Iraqi capital Baghdad , during Donald Trump 's first term in the White House. Soleimani was replaced by General Esmail Qaani, and rumors of his killing circulated at the beginning of the military escalation between Israel and Iran on June 13. Last Monday, the Israeli military announced that it had struck Quds Force"command centers" in Tehran.