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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iranian guard shot to death on doorsteps of home
2023-01-04
[IsraelTimes] No claim of responsibility for killing of Qassem Fethallahi, a senior member of the IRGC and Basij militia that has faced off with protesters

An Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps officer commanding a Tehran security phalanx was shot full of holes in front of his home Tuesday, a semi-official news site reported, as Iran
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...
marked the third anniversary of the liquidation of shadowy general Qassem Soleimani

Qassem Fethallahi was shot four times at the entrance to his home in an assault described as a "terror attack," Iran’s Tasnim news site reported.

According to the outlet, which is closely linked with the IRGC, Fethallahi was an officer with the Mohammad Rasulullah Guards of Greater Tehran, a division of the IRGC which has merged with the Basij militia, a paramilitary volunteer branch of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard.

Both the IRGC and Basij have had prominent roles in brutal crackdown on protests at the behest of the Iranian regime.

Fethallahi was a commander with the Tharallah headquarters, a central hub for the IRGC to direct security operations in and around the capital, according to Tasnim.

No group has taken responsibility for the killing.

The attack came amid months of anti-government demonstrations that have been violent mostly peacefully suppressed by Iran’s security forces. The protests, now entering their third month, were sparked by the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained for allegedly violating the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s strict dress code. They have since escalated into calls for the downfall of Iran’s holy manal rulers, posing one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 1979 revolution.

A handful of Basij and IRGC members have been killed during the protests, and dozens have been put to death over the slayings. According to Amnesia Amnesty International, Iran executed at least 314 people in 2021, more than half the total state executions recorded across the Middle East that year.

Fethallahi’s killing came at the tail end of a day that saw Iran hold several commemorations for Soleimani, with Iranian officials vowing to avenge his liquidation.

Soleimani, 62, the head of the Quds Force of the IRGC, was killed on January 3, 2020, in an Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
carried out by an American MQ-9 Reaper drone. He was struck while traveling from Baghdad’s international airport.

Posted by:trailing wife

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