Who is Iran's Quds Force general Esmail Qaani and where is he now?
Esmail Qaani became the head of the Quds Force after the US killed his predecessor in a drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.
Iranian state television has aired footage that appears to show senior Revolutionary Guard commander Esmail Qaani attending a memorial ceremony.
Questions around Qaani's whereabouts have been in the spotlight in the last few weeks.
Here is what we know about Qaani and the Quds Force, the elite Guard unit he commands.
Who is Esmail Qaani?
Esmail Qaani, 67, was born in Mashhad in north-eastern Iran and fought for the Revolutionary Guard during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
He was named as the head of the Quds Force after the US killed his predecessor Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.
This position saw him manage Tehran's paramilitary allies across the Middle East.
Qaani had worked alongside Soleimani as the deputy commander of the Quds Force in the late 1990s.
Qassem Soleimani had the backing of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
When he became the head of the Quds Force, Qaani promised to push US forces out of the Middle East in revenge for Soleimani's death.
But Qaani did not maintain the same close ties with allies in the region as his predecessor, according to Western political and military experts.
Compared to Soleimani, Qaani has kept a lower profile and has less of a public persona.
Why has there been uncertainty about Qaani's whereabouts?
Rumours about Esmail Qaani's whereabouts have been swirling for weeks.
Qaani was reported missing by two senior Iranian officials a few weeks ago, according to Reuters.
One of the officials said he was in Beirut's southern district of Dahiyeh during an Israeli strike which was reported to have targeted the next presumed Hezbollah leader, Hashem Safieddine.
On Monday October 7, Quds Force deputy commander Iraj Masjedi denied claims that Qaani had been harmed in the Israeli bombing.
A woman reads the Koran at the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs.
The Quds Force said Qaani was in "good health".
Reuters reported that Qaani was well and was set to receive a medal from Iran's Supreme Leader, citing Iranian news reports.
"Commander Qaani is in perfect health and will receive the Fath medal from the Supreme Leader in the coming days," Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to Qaani, told the Tasnim news agency.
However, assurances from the Revolutionary Guard not stop a growing number of rumours around Qaani's whereabouts, with the rumours fuelled by the fact that he did not appear in public.
Some reports from the Middle East suggested he had been taken in for questioning as part of a Revolutionary Guard probe into possible Israeli penetration of their networks.
Israel has pulled off a number of high-profile strikes on targets linked to the Guards and killed senior figures in the Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah..
What does the latest supposed footage show us?
The footage aired on Tuesday showed Qaani at a memorial ceremony for a senior Revolutionary Guards commander killed in Lebanon, according to the Iranian media outlet.
It does not tell us much about where Qaani has been the last few weeks, nor does it provide information on the state of his health.
In the video, the man identified as Qaani is seen wearing a black bomber jacket, wiping away tears at an event said to have occurred early on Tuesday morning at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport.
The video showed Qaani for over a minute, and the footage from the airport ceremony was later shared online.
The Associated Press reported that Qaani was attending the memorial for prominent Revolutionary Guard General Abbas Nilforushan, 58, who was killed in the Israeli air strike that killed Hezbollah leader Nasrallah in Beirut.
A selfie posted on social media by an Iranian journalist showed him posing with a man who he said was Qaani.
Younes Shadlou said the photo was taken at Mehrabad airport.
What is the Quds Force?
The Quds Force is the international arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC), or Revolutionary Guard.
The Revolutionary Guard was formed in 1979, after the country's revolution, to provide a counterweight to Iran's regular armed forces, and is under the direct control of the country's Supreme Leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
The IRGC has an estimated 125,000-strong military, including army, navy and air units.
Qaani's role at the top of the Quds Force sees him manage ties with groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.
As the IRGC's international arm, the Quds Force has developed strong relations with armed groups across the Middle East.
The branch manages Iran's relations with the so-called "Axis of Resistance", a collection of Iran's proxies which include Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, Yemen's Houthis and armed groups in Iraq.
In recent years, the Quds Force also helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fight a bloody civil war, and also supported Iraqi forces against Islamic State militants.
ABC/Reuters
By：https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-15/iranian-revolutionary-guards-quds-force-general-esmail-qaani/104460926(责任编辑：admin)
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