On March 17, reports were published about an elimination attempt in Iran targeting the head of the military wing (“Saraya al-Quds”) and a member of the political bureau of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization, Akram al-Ajouri (considered number 2 in the organization after Ziad al-Nakhala, the organization’s leader). At this stage, no official announcement has been issued by the IDF Spokesperson regarding the success of the elimination, but there is a high likelihood that the attempt was successful. It is possible that additional senior Islamic Jihad figures were present at the site during the strike. Al-Ajouri, originally from the Gaza Strip and one of the founders of the organization’s military wing, is a “shadow figure” about whom little open-source information exists. He previously survived several elimination attempts, the most recent (and well-known) being in November 2019, when his home in the al-Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus was struck, resulting in the death of his son. Al-Ajouri commanded the organization’s military terrorist activity from Damascus and Beirut across three arenas: the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria. In recent years, he relocated to Iran due to concerns for his safety and continued to manage the organization’s military activity from there. Al-Ajouri maintained strong ties in Iran. He raised significant funds, coordinated training and instruction for the organization’s operatives on Iranian soil in cooperation with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and was responsible for arming the military wing and developing its military capabilities.
