Esmail Qaani missing: Did Israel kill Soleimani's successor in Beirut?

Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Brigadier-General Esmail Qaani's whereabouts are not currently known, according to a New York Times report, citing Iranian media. 

According to the Israeli N12 on Saturday, the Iranian brigadier-general may have been wounded in the Israeli strike that targeted Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's presumed successor, Hashem Safieddine, in southern Beirut.

The NYT report cited local media as saying that officials in Iran had no clear answers yet regarding what may have occurred to the Quds Force chief. 

Two days after Israel eliminated Nasrallah, Qaani was seen in  Hezbollah's Tehran offices. However, he was not present at the Friday commemoration of Hezbollah's chief led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

Qaani in Beirut

However, according to the NYT report, citing three Iranian sources, Qaani had traveled to Beirut to convene with Hezbollah officials amid the Israeli strikes on the terror organization. 

An IRGC member said, according to the NYT report, that Iranian officials' muteness on the subject was spreading panic among the IRGC members. 

Later on Sunday, Army Radio reported, citing local Iranian reports, that Qaani would conduct an interview later in the day. 

Nevertheless, The Jerusalem Post was unable to later find any such interview.

On Sunday, two Iranian security officials confirmed to Reuters that Qaani hasn't been heard from since last week.

One of the officials said Qaani was in Beirut's southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh, during a strike on Thursday that was reported to have targeted senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine but the official said he was not meeting Safieddine.

The official said Iran and Hezbollah had not been able to contact Qaani since then.

The second official also said Qaani had traveled to Lebanon after the killing of Nasrallah, and the Iranian authorities had not been able to contact him since the strike against Safieddine, who was widely expected to be the next Hezbollah chief.

Hezbollah has made no comment so far on Safieddine.

The Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, oversees dealings with terrorist militias allied with Tehran across the Middle East, such as Hezbollah.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan was killed with Nasrallah in his bunker when it was hit on Sept. 27 by Israeli bombs.

On Monday, Reuters reported, citing Iranian State media, that the force's deputy commander, Iraj Masjedi, had said that Qaani was in "good health."

Qaani succeeded Qasem Soleimani after the latter was assassinated by the United States in 2020.