Abdul Reza Shahlai was another top Iranian commander besides Qassem Soleimani who was in the hit list of US forces. The US had planned to take-out both Qassem Soleimani and Abdul Reza Shahlai (in Yemen) same night but the operation failed according to reports.
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The Jan. 2 strike targeted Abdul Reza Shahla’i, a key Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander, at his compound in Yemen, where he led Iran’s military support for the Houthi rebel group backed by Iran, according to a counterterrorism official and a U.S. official.
The strike on the compound was carried out by a drone, the counterterrorism official told ABC News, adding that by the next morning the U.S. learned the strike was unsuccessful.
Shahlai was a close confidante of Soleimani, and an operational commander who was responsible for commanders in key countries — Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. It was Shahlai’s activities in Yemen that increased U.S. efforts to locate him, the official added.
Last month, the State Department’s Reward For Justice Program offered a $15 million reward for information on Abdul Reza Shahlai and the possible the disruption of IRGC financial mechanisms. The announcement described him as having a “long history of involvement in attacks targeting the U.S. and our allies.”
Abdul Reza Shahla'i, the IRGC's Man in Sana'a, is wanted for Justice ⚖️
The U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to Shahla'i or to the disruption of the IRGC's financial mechanisms in Yemen and in the region. pic.twitter.com/cyiojVfPmL
— Rewards for Justice عربي (@Rewards4Justice) December 5, 2019
The State Department said Shahlai funded and directed the 2011 plot to attempt an assassination of the Saudi ambassador to Washington, D.C., and had “planned follow-on attacks inside the United States and elsewhere.”
