Israel army says struck site in Tehran used for directing Basij force

The Israeli military announced it struck a site in Tehran on Monday belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and used for directing battalions of the Basij paramilitary force.

The hit came days after Israel announced it had “eliminated” the intelligence chief of the Basij in a strike that had also killed the force’s top commander, Gholamreza Soleimani.

Israel has been targeting the Basij force as part of efforts to try to undermine the Iranian authorities’ grip on power.

“As part of a wave of strikes that was completed a short while ago in the heart of Tehran, the Israeli Air Force… struck the IRGC’s main security headquarters,” a military statement said.

It added that the headquarters was used by the IRGC “to synchronize unit activities and to conduct situational assessments. It was also responsible for directing the Basij Battalions.”

The Basij are accused of playing a key role in the bloody crackdown on recent mass protests in Iran, in which rights groups say thousands of people were killed.

The Israeli military said Monday’s strike was “part of the current operational phase aimed at further degrading core Iranian terror regime systems and security capabilities.”

Since the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on February 28, Israeli strikes have killed numerous top Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei, security chief Ali Larijani and intelligence minister Esmail Khatib.