An Iranian news agency reported Sunday that an Iranian general was killed early Sunday morning in an Israeli air strike on a military target in the central western Syrian province of Homs.
As international media revved up to publish the report, the Sabereen news agency hastened to make it clear the report that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “Lieutenant General Hossein Sohani” died following an Israeli attack in Syria was bogus.
The news agency, which has been known to spread disinformation, quickly disavowed the report in a post published on Twitter.
سمح بالنشر pic.twitter.com/CtweYsHjbU
— صابرين نيوز – Sabereen news (@sabreenS11) July 2, 2023
Multiple Western sources, including the BBC and the Washington Institute, reported that Sabereen is notorious for spreading disinformation, “promoting and disseminating real and fake news about kinetic operations carried out by facade groups.”
“Hossein Sohani is a well-known brand for Sohan, a traditional Persian saffron brittle made in the city of Qom,” according to BBC Middle East correspondent Nafiseh Kohnavard.
??♀️Unbelievable…A telegram channel linked to Iraqi Shia paramilitaries deliberately posted a fake news regarding “the killing of Hossein Sohani an IRGC commander in Israel’s attack on Homs, Syria last night” to just mock the media and amazingly most of Arabic channels swallowed…
— Nafiseh Kohnavard (@nafisehkBBC) July 2, 2023
Hossein Sohani! pic.twitter.com/q5P3z0ikIL
— Nafiseh Kohnavard (@nafisehkBBC) July 2, 2023
The Israeli strike — which was real — came from the direction of northeastern Beirut, a Syrian military source told the government-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
IDF Retaliates in Syria for Missile Explosion in Israel
One of the anti-aircraft missiles fired at the Israeli fighter jets by Syrian soldiers missed the mark (as did the others) and exploded in the skies over Israel instead.
In response, Israeli Air Force fighter pilots attacked the anti-aircraft battery as well as several other targets.
Israeli military forces regularly attack Iranian military targets in Syria, in accordance with government directives ordering the IDF to ensure Iran cannot approach Israel’s northern border, and/or create any other threat to the Jewish State.
