Iran's Revolutionary Guard leader Salami killed in Israeli strikes
Iranian state television confirmed the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed in
Israel's strikes on Friday morning.
General Hossein Salami was the chief of one of the country's most powerful centres, and his death was a tough blow to Iran's embattled leadership, which has had a series of setbacks in the past 20 months of Middle Eastern war and unrest.
Salami rose to power six years ago and had a history of threatening the US and Israel.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard was created after its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Since it was established, it's evolved from a paramilitary, domestic security force to a transnational force that has come to the aid of Tehran's allies in the Middle East, from Syria and Lebanon to Iraq.
Hossein Salami, 65, was appointed head of the Guard in 2019 by the country's supreme leader. File photo: AFP
It operates in parallel to the country's existing armed forces and controls Iran's arsenal of ballistic missiles, which it has used to attack Israel twice during the Israel-Gaza war.
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