The Possible Reason for the Death of the IRGC Commander in Golan: 'Keeping Mobile Phone On'

According to reports from Arab and Lebanese newspapers, tracking the mobile phone of Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, an IRGC commander, likely led to his death. Lebanese newspapers reported on Saturday, January 24, and Sunday, January 25, that Hezbollah's investigations have strengthened the possibility that the death of Brigadier General Allahdadi was due to his own mistake of leaving his mobile phone on in sensitive military areas. According to these reports, the open mobile phone of General Allahdadi during a joint visit with senior Hezbollah militants near the Syrian-Israeli border facilitated the attack on the Hezbollah convoy last Sunday. The targeting of the Hezbollah convoy occurred through an airstrike on 'Mazar al-Amal' in Quneitra in the Golan Heights of Syria, very close to the Syrian-Israeli border. In addition to Brigadier General Allahdadi, who was the former commander of the IRGC's Al-Ghadir Corps in Yazd, Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of the assassinated Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, Mohammad Hassan Eisa, a field commander of Hezbollah, and several other Hezbollah forces were killed. The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai was the first Arab newspaper to report in recent days that keeping General Allahdadi's mobile phone on allowed for tracking the presence of these vehicles in Quneitra. Subsequently, the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported this news last Thursday, and then another Lebanese newspaper, Al-Joumhouria, on Saturday, January 24, and the English-language Daily Star in Beirut on Sunday, January 25, republished it with some details. Al-Joumhouria, citing sources from Hezbollah Lebanon that have recently conducted investigations into the reasons for the enemy's successful attack on this convoy, wrote that General Allahdadi was heading from Damascus to join the Hezbollah forces in Quneitra and kept his mobile phone on throughout the entire journey. According to Lebanese media, the death of Allahdadi occurred just days after the establishment of a new joint operations room set up by Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria in the region. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the airstrike, but Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran consider it an Israeli operation. Senior IRGC commanders have emphasized that they will not rest until the 'destruction' of Israel. Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of the IRGC, threatened Israel with a rare and 'special' type of retaliation on Saturday, January 24. According to Fars News Agency, Ismail Qaani, the deputy commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, said during Allahdadi's funeral in Sirjan, Kerman Province, that Allahdadi had the 'blessing' to be present in recent years in the 'international arena and defense of the Islamic world in Lebanon and Syria.' An Israeli security official told Reuters last Tuesday that Israel was unaware of the presence of the Iranian general in the mentioned convoy and that he was not the target. According to the Daily Star, Sheikh Naeem Qassem, the deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, also stated on Sunday, January 25, in Beirut that Israel 'directly targeted Hezbollah forces.' According to Sheikh Qassem, this type of attack, which occurred 'four kilometers from the Syrian-Israeli border,' marks the beginning of a 'new equation' between Hezbollah and Israel. Yuval Steinitz, Israel's Minister of Intelligence, said last week that his country's assessment is that Hezbollah and other allied forces are currently using all their capabilities to maintain Bashar al-Assad's regime and therefore are not seeking specific conflicts with Israel at this time. Many military experts around the world believe that the Israeli army's intelligence unit is very strong. These experts say that one of the most important Israeli listening units has been located in the occupied Golan Heights for decades, from where movements related to Syria's cooperation with other forces, such as Hezbollah, are monitored. Iran has recently confirmed that it is involved in the Syrian civil war through a 'consultative' role.