Israel covertly sent special forces, helicopter teams, and Mossad intelligence personnel to multiple sites in southern Azerbaijan (a South Caucasus nation bordering Iran) during its war with Iran, CNN has reported, citing four anonymous US military intelligence sources. Operating near the Iranian border, the troops conducted surveillance and drone missions, with one source saying a strike that killed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence chief on 4 March was carried out from an Israeli position in Azerbaijan. The disclosure is significant as it suggests Israel built a network of forward positions across the wider region during the conflict, with additional reported deployments in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Somaliland; the Azerbaijani embassy in Washington denied the report.