Milad Bidi, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was killed in an Israeli air strike on July 30 that targeted top Hizballah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, Lebanon.
Confirming his death, IRGC’s top commander Hossein Salami hailed Bidi on August 1 for his “fight against the criminal and occupying Zionist regime,” referring to Iran’s archfoe, Israel.
“He will be an inspiration to the country’s revolutionary and passionate youth of today and tomorrow,” Salami wrote in a statement released by the IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency.
Bidi is the second member of the IRGC to be killed in an Israeli strike since the April 1 bombing of the Iranian Embassy compound in Damascus. That attack killed seven members of the IRGC, including two generals.
Iran responded by launching an unprecedented missile and drone attack against Israel and warned that a "new equation" had been established whereby Tehran would retaliate against any Israeli attacks on its interests in the region.
Raz Zimmt, a senior researcher at the Israeli-based Institute for National Security Studies, told RFE/RL in June that it was unlikely that Iran and Israel understand what the “new equation” is.
SEE ALSO: What Hamas Leader's Killing Means For Talks Aimed At Ending Gaza WarShukr and Bidi were killed hours before Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the U.S.- and E.U.-designated Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, was killed while on a visit to the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said after Haniyeh’s killing that it was “our duty” to avenge his death, which Tehran and its regional allies blame on Israel.
At least 20 members of the IRGC have been killed in suspected Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon since that start of the war in Hamas-controlled Gaza in October 2023.
Israel began its assault, which has killed nearly 40,000 people in Gaza according to the local health authorities, after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israeli settlements, killing nearly 1,200 people.