ISTANBUL

The Israeli army on Friday claimed that its forces killed Esmail Ahmadi, head of the intelligence division for Iran's Basij forces, in an airstrike on the Iranian capital Tehran.

The army's announcement came in a post on the US social media company X.

Earlier this week, Gholamreza Soleimani, then-commander of Iran’s Basij forces, was also killed in an airstrike in Iran.

Since Israel and the US launched joint attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, so far killing some 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hostilities have escalated.

⁠Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.