The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday afternoon that an Iranian Quds Force operative was killed in Lebanon in a drone strike carried out about 140 kilometers from the Israeli border. The attack targeted the vehicle in which he was traveling. Lebanese media reported two people were killed.
In a joint statement, the IDF and the Shin Bet security agency said the operative, Hussein al-Johari, was a member of the Quds Force’s operations unit, known as Unit 840, and was involved in advancing what the military described as terrorist plots against Israel in the Syria-Lebanon arena.
The drone attack that killed terrorist Hussein al-Johari of the Iranian Quds Force
According to the statement, al-Johari operated under Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was involved in Iranian-directed terrorist activity targeting Israel.
Unit 840, the Quds Force’s covert operations unit, is headed by Asrar Bakri, with Mohammad Reza Ansari serving as his deputy. The IDF said the unit is responsible for directing terrorist activity against Israel.
“The IDF and the Shin Bet view with great severity any attempt by the Iranian regime and its proxies to advance terrorist plots and will continue to act to remove any threat to the State of Israel,” the statement said.
About three years ago, the website Infobae reported that Ansari served as the commander of Unit 840 in Syria and was responsible for a failed attempt to assassinate two Israeli businessmen in Colombia. Western intelligence agencies were closely monitoring his activity in Syria, the report said.
Unit 840 is a clandestine operational unit responsible, among other tasks, for planning and establishing terrorist infrastructure outside Iran against Western and opposition targets. According to the Infobae report, Ansari acted as an executor in South America of instructions issued from the Quds Force headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran, including plots targeting Jewish sites. The Iranian unit reportedly relies on local criminals to carry out its global terrorist operations.
In 2020, the IDF revealed that Unit 840 was also responsible for planting explosive devices along the Golan Heights border inside Israeli territory. In August of that year, IDF surveillance identified an Iranian-directed terrorist cell placing explosive charges near the security fence. A special force from the Maglan unit operating in the Bashan sector killed the four terrorists.
First published: 18:27, 12.25.25