This has been a bad month for Iranian General officers in “advisory” roles supporting Syria and Iraq in the ISIS conflict.  Last month, Iranian Qods Force BG Hamid Taghavi was killed in Iraq allegedly by an ISIS sniper.  On 18 January 2015, Iranian IRGC General Mohammad Ali Allahdadi was killed in an airstrike targeting a group of Hizballah members in the vicinity of Quneitra, in the Syrian portion of the Golan Heights.

Six senior officers from the Raduan Force, considered Hizballah’s elite unit or rapid reaction force, were also killed in the airstrike. Three of the Hizballah officers have significant ties within the group and to Iran.

Jihad Mughniyeh was the Hizballah commander of the Golan sector and son of  Imad Mughniyeh, a former Hizballah military and intelligence chief who was assassinated in Damascus in 2008.  After his father’s death, Jihad gained prominence in the group and was notably seen with key figures such as Hassan Nasrallah, the current Hizballah commander, Qassem Soliemani, head of the IRGC Qods Force, and even the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who apparently tweeted a picture of himself with Mughniyeh.

Mohammad Issa was a senior Hizballah intelligence commander who headed operations in Syria.