JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military said on Monday it killed the chief of the special operations unit of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Quds Force.

Asghar Bagheri, who served as the commander of the undercover unit since 2019, was killed in an airstrike in Tehran on Sunday, the military said in a statement.

"Under his command, the unit advanced operations targeting IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers on the Syrian-Israel border ... and advanced the transfer of weapons from Iran into the State of Israel," it said.

His assassination joins dozens of other senior Iranian commanders and officials killed by Israel since the beginning of its joint attack with the United States late in February, including Iran's previous Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which sparked a regional conflict in the Middle East.