Tsuri Sagi, an Israeli reserve brigadier general whose career included senior paratrooper commands and overseas assignments in Iran and northern Iraq, died Aug. 19, 2026, at 92, Ynetnews reported.
Sagi enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces in 1952 and spent most of his service in the Paratroopers Brigade, according to the Israel Ministry of Defense. A 2016 Yedioth Ahronoth profile described him as a founding figure of the brigade who commanded thousands of soldiers during his career.
He commanded the regular 35th Paratroopers Brigade’s 890th Battalion from 1963 to 1965. Israel then sent him to Iran, ruled at the time by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to train army officers in commando warfare. Israel and Iran maintained quiet military and intelligence ties during the period, while both countries backed Kurdish rebels fighting the Iraqi government. Sagi also worked with Kurdish forces in northern Iraq.
Sagi later recalled planning an ambush of Iraq’s 4th Brigade at Mount Handrin during a Kurdish offensive in May 1966. In an account published by JNS, he said the Iraqi brigade was defeated within an hour.
After the Yom Kippur War, Sagi commanded Israel’s 317th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade during fighting in an Israeli-held enclave in Syria, remaining until the brigade withdrew under a disengagement agreement. In 1974, he returned to work with Kurdish forces. A JNS profile reported that, under his guidance, they repelled four Iraqi attack waves and inflicted heavy losses on two divisions.
Sagi’s final permanent-service assignments included command of the Shlomo Region in Sinai from 1977 to 1980 and the 81st Territorial Division from 1981 to 1983. He left permanent IDF service in 1984 after more than three decades.
