Iraq

Commander of IRGC’s Quds Force Visits Iraq 

Photos emerged of the Commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force Esmail Ghaani visiting Iraq this week. He arrived on Thursday evening for an unannounced visit. He is expected to meet with Iraq’s prime minister and other leaders. According to Shafaq News, his meetings will cover political and security issues, including the recent normalization agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which China brokered. In the past, Iraqi militias linked to Iran have attacked Saudi Arabia. His visit also comes amid U.S. and Israeli strikes in Syria.  

Israel and the Palestinian Territories 

Obscure Group Claims Megiddo IED Attack  

A group known as the Galilee Forces—the Lone Wolves claimed the IED attack in the northern Israeli city of Megiddo. The group is relatively obscure and, as far as can be determined, is based in Lebanon. It splintered from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and is commanded by an individual named Fadi A-Mallah. 

The Galilee Forces—The Lone Wolves was formed at the outset of the Syrian Civil War by local Palestinians and trained and equipped by Hezbollah and Iran to fight alongside Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The IDF has targeted The Galilee Forces in Syria in the past after discovering the group’s network of contacts among Arab Israelis and Palestinians within Israel and the West Bank, and its intention to leverage that network to carry out attacks within Israel.

The group’s continued affiliation with Hezbollah is suggested by the fact that the two organizations even share propaganda methods, including near-identical videos under their respective branding. 

Syria 

Israel Reportedly Strikes Syria for Two Nights in a Row

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out airstrikes in the Syrian capital Damascus shortly after midnight on Friday, for the second night in a row, according to Syria’s state-run media outlet. 

The state news agency SANA reported that Syria’s air defenses intercepted the “hostile missiles” over the capital, though the “aggression” managed to cause some material damage. Damascus regularly claims to successfully intercept IDF strikes, but military analysts doubt these assertions. 

Iranian media reported that an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) adviser was killed in an alleged Israeli attack on Syria's capital Damascus on Friday. Tasnim News Agency stated, “the IRGC Public Relations department announced in a statement that ‘Milad Heidari,’ an officer working as a military advisor in Syria, has been martyred in a criminal strike carried out by the Zionist regime in the vicinity of Damascus early Friday, March 31.” The IRGC statement added, “The fake and criminal Zionist regime will undoubtedly receive the response for this crime.” This sets up the likelihood that Tehran could retaliate for the attack as in the past, when it did not wish to do so, Iranian media downplayed the deaths of IRGC officers.  

Less than 24 hours earlier, SANA said that the IAF targeted sites in Damascus, wounding two soldiers and causing material damage. The conditions of the two soldiers were not immediately clear. In recent years, numerous Syrian soldiers serving in air defense units have been killed in Israeli airstrikes. 

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