Their fate revealed after 41 years. Who is Iranian Major General Ahmad Motousslian and how was he kidnapped with his comrades in Lebanon?

TEHRAN — Nearly 41 years after his abduction, IRGC Commander-in-Chief Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami announced the martyrdom of IRGC Mohammad Rasul Allah Brigade commander Ahmad Motousslian, revealing one of the most complex mysteries in the history of the Islamic Republic over his 1982 abduction in Lebanon along with three other Iranians during a military mission.

At a time when the annual statements of the Iranian Foreign Ministry insisted that the abductees were languishing "in the cells of the Zionist entity," General Salami's statement came as a surprise, as Ahmad Motousslian – who held the rank of major general – considered him "the first Iranian martyr for the liberation of Jerusalem."

Salami added – during his meeting with the family of Metouslian on the occasion of the Iranian New Year – that "the conquests of the resistance front at the present time are the fruit of the path he began to liberate Jerusalem and the oppressed Palestinian people from the arrogance and injustice of the Zionist occupation and its supporters."

After decades of intense debates over whether Motousslian is alive or not, Iranian circles considered General Salami's statement as an official notification of Motousslian's martyrdom and the closure of the investigation into the case, while another group still insists on following up the file until his return or the return of his remains to the country.

Motousslian's family still sees their son's fate uncertain (Iranian press)

Parents' Demands

And whether the family of Ahmed Mtoslian considers the statement of Major General Salami official reporting, his brother Amir – in an interview with Al Jazeera Net – expressed his surprise at the publication of the private dialogue that took place between Salami and his mother, calling on the authorities of his country to issue an official statement on the fate of his brother Ahmed and the publication of documents that prove his martyrdom and fate.

Mtoslian believes that political interests dominate the file of the disappearance of his brother and his companions, explaining that there is a segment in his country and the family of one of the kidnapped in Lebanon sees its interest in not resolving the file to exploit it for their personal interests.

Amir added that the family of Metouslian still sees the fate of their son as mysterious and demands the return of his remains in the event that he was a martyr or there is proof of his martyrdom, noting that the DNA tests were negative and did not show any relationship of the remains, which were returned years ago from Lebanon, with the genes of the Mutawslian family.

The Raed Mousavi, son of the Chargé d'Affaires of the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon Mohsen Mousavi kidnapped with Mtoslian, said to Al Jazeera Net that his family did not receive any notification regarding the martyrdom of his father, and they consider him alive and demand the authorities to follow the file until the final resolution.

Military mission

In the midst of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), specifically 13 days after the Iranian forces liberated the city of Khorramshahr (May 1982), the Higher Defense Council decided to assign the leader Ahmad Motousslian a military mission to help southern Lebanon in the face of the Israeli invasion, for his prominent role in removing the Iraqi forces from the city of Khorramshahr.

Mutaousslian, who was commander of the 27th Brigade Muhammad Rasul Allah, flew to Damascus as part of a group of senior political and military leaders to be responsible for sending the IRGC to Syria to help confront Israel.

But in contrast to the military leadership, who believed that the Iran-Iraq war was coming to an end after the liberation of the city of Khorramshahr, the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, believed that it should be finally resolved before any decision was made on the military presence on other fronts, which led to a change in mission from direct military presence to training some Lebanese and helping them confront Israel.

After the return of most of the Iranian military leaders from Syria to Tehran, Motousslian carried out a reconnaissance mission to the situation in Beirut before returning to his country, accompanied by: Mohsen Mousavi, charge d'affaires of the Iranian embassy in Lebanon, Kazem Akhwan, photographer of the official IRNA news agency, and Taqi Rustkar Moghaddam, the embassy's driver. However, they were arrested on July 5, 1982, as they passed through the Barbara checkpoint on their way from Tripoli to Beirut.

The Iranian version says that the Lebanese Phalange Party forces controlled this barrier during the Lebanese civil war, and accuses the Phalange forces of being behind the disappearance of the four Iranians.

The author of the book "Sir Ahmed" says that General Qassem Soleimani told him that the Iranian group was killed on the night of its abduction (social media)

Research Results

Military affairs researcher Hamid Daoudabadi has published a book entitled "Raz Ahmed" (Sir Ahmed), which recounts the events of Ahmad Metuslian's departure to Syria and then to Lebanon and his abduction at the Barbara checkpoint, and concludes that he was killed shortly after the arrest.

In the last days of his search for the fate of Motousslian, the researcher mentions that in the last days of his search for the fate of Motousslian, he met with General Qassem Soleimani and spoke to him about the results of the search, where Soleimani told him, "Yes, the four were killed that night," adding that General Soleimani had also supported the results of his investigations into the arrival of the remains of the kidnapped to Tehran.

Ehsan Mohamed Hosni, director of the IRGC-affiliated Awj Art and Media Foundation, detonated a similar bomb in 2020, calling the abductees "martyrs," adding that "their burial place is specific."

In an article published by Iran's Mehr News Agency, Mohammad Hosni wrote that "there are reports indicating that Motousslian and his comrades were shot dead on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, shortly after they were kidnapped by the Phalange Party militias that are agents of the Zionist entity."

Lebanese Certificates

Meanwhile, Mohammad Ali Samadi, a researcher in Iran's modern history, explained that these and other investigations are based on the testimonies of some Lebanese figures from the Phalange Party and others who claim to have been with the kidnapped Iranians in the same cell, but he saw great contradictions in the Lebanese accounts.

Samadi explained to Al Jazeera Net that the use of the description of the "martyr" to Mtoslian does not mean official reporting, but it is a tribute to the status of these kidnapped, and that there is no change in his country's official position on the file only after the issuance of an official statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or other concerned authorities.

Asked whether the bodies of some of the abductees had arrived in Tehran, Samadi confirmed that the remains transferred to Tehran do not match the genes of the abductees' families.

Samadi concluded that the Islamic Republic holds the "Zionist entity" responsible for this crime as it was originally responsible for its commission at the hands of the Lebanese forces allied with it, pointing out that Lebanon was occupied at the time by Israel, and therefore it bears political and legal responsibility for the crime of kidnapping.

IRGC commander called Motselian "the first martyr for the liberation of Jerusalem" (Iranian press)

"Martyr of Jerusalem"

Returning to the statements of IRGC Commander-in-Chief Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, who described Ahmad Motouslian as "the first Iranian martyr for the liberation of Jerusalem," IRGC researcher Mehdi Shakibai explains that after announcing the Islamic Republic's official position on the Palestinian issue, Metselian was a pioneer and eager to participate in the battlefronts "against the Zionist entity."

Shakibai explained to Al Jazeera Net that Mtoslian "was a believer in the defeat of the Israeli entity and defeated from Palestine," and was a reason "to reach the hand of Israeli terrorism," adding that "the hand of Israeli treachery could not contain his ideas of liberation," as he put it.

The Iranian researcher concluded by saying that the statue, which was built in Maroun al-Ras Park in southern Lebanon, shows Metouslian pointing his finger at occupied Palestine, in reference to his last speech to his forces urging them to fight the Israeli occupation until the liberation of Jerusalem.