Two senior Israeli defense officials and a third source familiar with the situation told Axios that dozens of officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fled Beirut, Lebanon, in the past 48 hours, fearing targeted assassinations by the IDF.

The officials from the elite Quds Force served as military advisers to Hezbollah, wielding enormous influence over the terrorist group’s operations.

As the IDF killed off top-ranking Hezbollah officials, IRGC military advisers increasingly took over to fill the vacancies. One Israeli official said that Hezbollah, having sustained heavy losses since Oct. 7, was reluctant to join the war and participated only under heavy pressure from Iran.

In the ensuing time since the war began, Israel has killed the commander of the Lebanon unit of the Quds Force in Tehran and his deputy in Lebanon. The IDF issued a warning to IRGC officials in Lebanon on Tuesday that it would “target them wherever they are found,” giving them 24 hours to leave.

Dozens fled since the warning was issued, with dozens more departing in the past 48 hours, leaving a small group behind to coordinate strategy with Hezbollah. An Israeli official said, “We expect the IRGC exodus from Lebanon to continue over the next several days.”

According to Information Minister Paul Morcos, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam issued a governmental order to implement “the necessary measures to prevent any military or security activity carried out by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Lebanon, in preparation for their deportation,” a previously unheard-of directive from the prime minister.

The IRGC first deployed to Lebanon in 1982 and maintained a strong presence there for the next four decades, to the dismay of the Lebanese government. The move to deport IRGC officials is a protective measure to prevent the Lebanese government from becoming an IDF target, according to a senior Israeli defense official.

While Hezbollah entered the fray with small-scale attacks, it has since stepped up its assaults, acting as the main player now in the attacks against Israel. The IDF has mounted a fierce assault in response, warning civilians along the southern border to evacuate, which has caused the exodus of tens of thousands of civilians.

IDF international spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told Axios, “As a result of IDF and U.S. armed forces operations, ballistic missile launches from Iran toward Israel and other countries have been constantly decreasing. Simultaneously, Hezbollah has expanded its firing of rockets and UAVs toward Israel, to a point where the amounts are much larger than those being fired from Iran.”