By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

DAMASCUS, Syria – The Iranian government confirmed Monday that one of its generals was killed in an Israeli airstrike that also killed several Hezbollah fighters in southern Syria on Sunday. The death of the Iranian general, Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, offers evidence of Iran’s possible deep military involvement in the Syrian Civil War. The airstrike itself however, seems to show a strong departure from the tactical agreement in several  foreign players — Israel, Iran, Hezbollah, Turkey, the United States, and its Persian Gulf Arab allies — have increasingly intervened openly in the Syrian Civil War while avoiding direct conflicts with one another. The Israeli news media reported that Israeli officials believed Hezbollah was planning an attack on Israelis from the area, near the Golan Heights region, the reports cited anonymous intelligence sources. “Syria has become an open field,” said Kamel Wazne, a Lebanese political studying Hezbollah and Iran. “Everything can happen at any minute.”

Sunday’s drone strike hit a convoy carrying Jihad Moughniyah and Commander Mohamad Issa, known as Abu Issa, in the Syrian province of Quneitra, near the Golan Heights region, which is occupied by Israel. The strike killed six Hezbollah members in all, Hezbollah said in a statement. Hezbollah received strong backing from Iran. The group’s last major conflict with Israel occurred in 2006. Hezbollah is a major ally of the region of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

General Allahdadi’s death was announced on the Revolutionary Guards’ website and by news media affiliated with both Hezbollah and the Iranian government. The announcement said the general had been advising the Syrian government on how to fight terrorism, which is how the Syrian Regime characterizes the opposing sides of the civil war which began four years ago when the regime first turned its guns on peaceful protesters. It remains unclear whether the Israeli military knowingly targeted Allahdadi or other individuals in the two vehicles that were fired upon on Sunday. The United Nations force patrolling the region said the vehicles were hit by fire from Israeli drones, not helicopters as Hezbollah and Iran had reported.

United Nations peacekeepers stationed in the Golan Heights along Syria’s border with Israeli reportedly saw drones flying across the border from the Israeli side before and after an airstrike that killed top several Hezbollah figures was carried out, the United Nations said on Monday. Sky News Arabic reported that the anti-rocket batteries used by the Israeli Defense Force for the Iron Dome System had been maneuvered in case of further escalation on the border with Syria and Lebanon.

For more information please see:

BBC News – Iran General Died In ‘Israeli Strike’ In Syrian Golan – 19 January 2015

Reuters UK – U.N. Saw Drones Over Syria Before Israel Strike In Breach Of Truce – 19 January 2015

Jerusalem Post – Report: Iron Dome Deployed To Northern Israel After Alleged Syria Strike – 19 January 2015

The New York Times – Iran Confirms Israeli Airstrike In Southern Syria – 19 January 2015