What Is the Elite Iranian Quds Force Targeted by Israel?

In the extensive airstrikes that began late last week, Israel has targeted the assets and leadership of the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.

On Monday, The Israel Defense Forces said it had targeted Quds Force command centers in Tehran during the previous night. It later added that the facilities it struck were used to plan “terrorist attacks against the State of Israel using the proxies of the Iranian Regime in the Middle East.”

The IDF said its airstrikes had killed the chief and deputy leader of the Quds Force intelligence department, along with other senior military figures. It said the command centers were “completely destroyed.”

The targeting potentially points to a significant new focus of Israel’s ongoing “Operation Rising Lion,” beyond trying to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities and conventional military capabilities. The Quds Force is a powerful and shadowy linkage between Iran and Israel’s closer foes: Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

An elite operations unit

The Quds Force, an arm of soldiers specializing in covert foreign actions, has long been involved in operations aimed at expanding Iran’s regional power. It reports directly to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader.

The unit has been at the center of Israel’s yearslong shadow war with Iran, which finally spilled into the open last year. It is likely to take a central role in any Iranian response to Israel’s attacks, making its tactics and access to weaponry a key question.

The reach of the Quds Force has long been an area of concern for Israel. Founded after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the group takes its name from the Arabic word for Jerusalem, the site of the Al-Aqsa mosque, and long a flash point in regional tensions.

The Quds Force has provided weapons, training, and money to militias across the Middle East that comprise Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance,” including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen.

Following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attacks on Israel, Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting one of the world’s most important trade routes. Israel and Hezbollah also spent months trading cross-border fire.

In Iraq, the Quds Force has close ties with Shia militias that battled US forces after the 2004 invasion and helped arm the groups with improvised explosive devices that killed hundreds of US service personnel.

Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani, an iconic figure in Iran, was assassinated by a US airstrike in Baghdad in 2020. Iran retaliated by launching missiles at American forces in Iraq.

The Quds Force also helped to bolster the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the wake of the Syrian revolution in 2012. Assad was deposed last year by rebels who seized control of the war-torn country.

The region’s largest ballistic missile stock

When it comes to soldiers, the Quds Force is estimated to be about 17,000 to 21,000 strong.

In addition, the IRGC, under which the Quds Force operates, is in charge of Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and has its own naval and other units that are separate from Tehran’s regular military. The two operate in tandem. It also plays a leading part in internal security and oversees a volunteer paramilitary that beats and kills the regime’s opponents.

The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence said last year that “Iran has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the region and continues to emphasize improving the accuracy, lethality, and reliability of these systems.”

Israel said its attacks that killed the Quds Force leaders in Tehran on Sunday killed four officials, including the head of the Revolutionary Guard intelligence division and his deputy. Israeli fighter jets have also targeted IRGC personnel and infrastructure.

There are conflicting reports about whether Esmail Qaani, the Quds Force commander, remains alive.

With the IRGC central to Iran’s foreign operations and controlling key parts of its arsenal, Israel appears to be aiming at the heart of Iran’s military apparatus.