An Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps officer who commands Tehran’s security phalanx was shot dead in front of his house on Tuesday, a semi-official news site reported.
Qassem Fettarahhi was shot four times on the doorstep of his home in an attack described as a “terrorist attack,” Iran’s Tasnim news site reported.
Fethallahi is an officer in Greater Tehran’s Mohammad Rasulullah Guards, a branch of the IRGC integrated with the Basij militia, a paramilitary volunteer branch of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to outlets closely associated with the IRGC. .
Both the IRGC and Basij have played key roles in the brutal crackdown on protests at the behest of the Iranian regime.
According to Tasnim, Fethallahi was the commander of the Tharallah headquarters, the central hub for the IRGC to conduct security operations inside and outside the capital.
No group is responsible for the killings.
The attack came amid months of anti-government demonstrations that have been violently suppressed by Iranian security forces. The death in police custody of her 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained on suspicion of violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code, has sparked protests now in its third month. became. Since then, they have escalated into calls to overthrow Iran’s clerical ruler, one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 1979 revolution.
read more read less #Sharan.
What is .#Arabic #airan pic.twitter.com/VsCTgg0hdf
— Ares (@alsyaaq) January 3, 2023
Several Basij and IRGC members were killed during the protests, and dozens were killed over the killings. Iran will execute at least 314 people in her 2021, according to Amnesty International. This is more than half of the statewide executions recorded in the Middle East that year.
Fethallahi’s murder came at the end of a day when Iranian officials vowed to avenge his assassination and held several memorial services for Soleimani.
On January 3, 2020, 62-year-old Soleimani, leader of the IRGC’s Quds Force, was killed in an airstrike by an American MQ-9 Reaper drone. He was hit while traveling from Baghdad’s international airport.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
