Israel eliminates at least 20 top Iranian military leaders in unprecedented overnight strikes

Israel decapitated Iran’s top military leadership during the night in an unprecedented pre-emptive strike – dubbed “Operation Rising Lion” – targeting Tehran’s nuclear and military facilities.

Two regional sources told Reuters that at least 20 senior commanders were killed in Israel’s strikes on Iran early Friday morning.

Iranian state-controlled media confirmed that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami was killed at the onset of the large-scale Israeli operation against the Ayatollah regime and its strategic assets.

As head of the elite IRGC, Salami was effectively one of Iran’s top military leaders. Several of his bodyguards were also reportedly killed in the strike, according to the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA). The IRGC is responsible for defending the regime and exporting the Islamic revolution through acts of terrorism and military aggression across the Middle East and beyond.

The IDF confirmed that the entire command chain of the IRGC Air Force, including its commander, Brig.-Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, was killed in an Israeli airstrike as they convened to plan the Iranian retaliation against Israel.

The overall head of Iran’s armed forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, was also eliminated in the Israeli aerial strikes. As a former top IRGC official and the head of Iran’s conventional military, Bagheri was at the top of Iran’s military echelon. 

Additionally, Maj. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid, another top Iranian commander, was eliminated in the massive Israeli preemptive aerial strike, according to ISNA.

Rashid served as the deputy chief of the General Staff of Iran’s armed forces – effectively the second-in-command to the now-eliminated General Mohammad Bagheri. He also led the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, Iran’s unified combatant command responsible for coordinating the country’s military operations.

The Israeli Air Force also targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities and reportedly killed several senior Iranian nuclear scientists, including Dr. Fereydoun Abbasi, Dr. Abdulhamid Minouchehr, a nuclear expert and the dean of the Faculty of Iran’s Nuclear Engineering at Shahid Beheshti University, and at least eight others.

The late IRGC commander Salami has a history of repeated threats to wipe the Jewish state off the map. Following the largely failed Iranian missile attack against Israel in October 2024, he threatened to destroy Israel. “You cannot win this conflict, we will destroy you,” he threatened. 

Just a day before he was killed, Salami had vowed that in the case of an Israeli attack, Iran’s retaliation would be “more forceful and destructive” than in the past.

Following Israel’s decapitation of Iran’s military leadership, the Iranian regime announced on Friday morning that it had appointed the senior military official Habibollah Sayyari as the temporary commander of Iran’s conventional armed forces, according to Iranian state media.

In addition, the Ayatollah regime also appointed Ahmad Vahidi as the temporary commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

Vahidi is a former IRGC commander and former defense minister, is wanted by international law enforcement for his central role in the 1994 terrorist attack against the Jewish community building in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.

Some 85 people were murdered in the attack, which is to date the largest terrorist attack in Argentina and South America. 

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel on Friday that it faced a “bitter and painful” response. In an immediate response, Iran launched approximately 100 drones toward Israel, which were all intercepted outside of Israel's borders.