Hossein Salami, who was appointed to lead the IRGC in 2019, among the most senior figures killed by Israel.
Hossein Salami, the commander of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was among the senior Iranian officials killed in Israel’s sweeping air strikes that began on Thursday.
A longtime confidant of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Salami rose up the ranks in Iran, becoming head of the IRGC in 2019, when he replaced Mohammad Ali Jafari.
Like many of his contemporaries, Salami’s formative years came during the Iran-Iraq war that pitted the neighbours against each other and killed hundreds of thousands of people between 1980 and 1988.
Salami began his IRGC career during the war and is reported to have fought in several battles and held leadership positions.
