IDF says Iran’s military intel, IRGC ballistic missile chiefs killed in strikes

The IDF announces that the chiefs of Iran’s military intelligence and the IRGC’s ballistic missile array were killed in recent strikes.

In all, some 20 top military Iranian commanders have been killed since Israel launched its operation against Iran on Friday, the IDF says.

Gholam-Reza Marhabi, head of the intelligence department of the Iranian Armed Forces, was killed in Israel’s opening strikes early Friday, the IDF says.

The IDF says he “was responsible for intelligence situational assessments for the Iranian Armed Forces and was considered Iran’s most senior intelligence officer.”

“Marhabi played a key role in intelligence evaluations, operational planning, and combat preparations against Israel in the past year and before,” the military says, adding that he was a “highly respected senior figure within the regime’s security organization and a close associate of” Mohammad Bagheri, the Armed Forces chief of staff who was also killed on Friday.

Additionally, the IDF says a strike on Friday killed “the commander of the IRGC’s Surface-To-Surface Missile Array, Mohammad Bagheri.”

The IDF says Bagheri “oversaw most of Iran’s long-range surface-to-surface and cruise missile capabilities.”

Bagheri was killed alongside the commander of the IRGC air force and other top commanders in the unit while meeting at an underground command center to prepare to attack Israel, according to the IDF.