ENEMY WITHIN

Iran military 'mole' quiz over Hezbollah leaks | IDF strikes school and UN peacekeepers

- CHRIS HUGHES

DISAPPEARED Iranian military chief Esmail Qaani is being secretly interrogated as a suspected mole, it is believed.

The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force slipped out of public sight days ago after a string of security breaches led to the deaths of several Hezbollah leaders.

His disappearance comes as violence escalates in the Middle East, with Israeli missiles hitting a school in Gaza and three UN peacekeeping posts in Lebanon.

It was initially thought Qaani had died in one of the Israeli blasts that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, his successor Hashem Safieddine and others.

But his Quds force deputy claimed Qaani is in good health.

His whereabouts remains a mystery though. Qaani suddenly pulled out of an Iran/Hezbollah meeting on September 27.

The Beirut bunker where the meeting was being held was hit by an explosion, killing Nasrallah as he met with Iranian chiefs. A Middle East source said of Qaani: "He should have been there but made an excuse and did not go. That has put him under suspicion. This has seriously compromised the IRGC, and the Iranian leadership is furious." Nasrallah's presumed successor, Hashem Safieddine, died in a similar strike on October 4, heightening suspicions of a security leak.

Qaani arrived in Lebanon two days after Nasrallah's killing but after the Safieddine hit he disappeared from the public eye.