Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, the senior Revolutionary Guards commander who was assassinated earlier this week by gunmen in Tehran, was reportedly plotting to kill Jewish-French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy as well as a US general and an Israeli diplomat.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
According to the Wall Street Journal, Khodaei was in charge of Unit 840 – a covert group within the Islamic republic's infamous black-ops arm, the Quds Force.
The unit is believed to be in charge of assassinations carried out by Iran abroad and has already carried out successful killings of anti-regime elements in Europe. The paper said that "he recruited agents to carry out operations globally, including in Colombia and Cyprus, mostly against Israeli targets but also aimed at people from other countries viewed as hostile by Iran."
An unnamed intelligence official told the New York Times on Wednesday that an Israeli official told the Americans the Khodaei hit was meant as a warning to Iran to halt the operations of Unit 840.
Khodaei was reportedly shot five times by two men on a motorcycle in the heart of Tehran on Sunday. He was said to be involved in planning attacks against Israel, although according to other reports he was a logistics expert with a crucial role in the transportation of drone and missile technology to fighters in Syria and the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
