An Iranian commander and two members of the country’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been killed in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, Irani press reported, days after Tehran said it would continue supporting government forces in Syria and Iraq.
General Reza Rostami Moqadam was reportedly killed on Saturday along with Qodrat Abdiyani and Morteza Mosayebzadeh during clashes with rebel groups south of Aleppo.
“Commander Rostami Moqadam was one of the combatants of eight years of sacred defense (Iran-Iraq war),” reported Tasnim news, an agency affiliated with Iran’s revolutionary guards.
The number of Iranian forces killed in Syria has risen in the past few months with at least 15 reported dead in Aleppo and Khan Tuman in May alone.
“Islamic revolution is not limited to geographic borders and wherever Islam is in danger believers must protect it,” Morteza Kashkuli, an Iranian Revolutionary Commander, said on the death of his three comrades.
Tehran has long insisted that its military personnel in Syria function as advisors to regime forces and have no combat role.
“Iran will proudly and firmly carry on with its advisory assistance,” said Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian last week.
“Had it not been for Iran’s assistance and the effective measures of the army and popular forces in Iraq and Syria …, there would have been no safe spot in the sensitive West Asia region,” he claimed.
General Hassan Ali Shamsabadi was the last Iranian commander to be killed in Syria. He was killed early March while, according to an Iranian press report, undertaking an ‘advisory mission’ in the war-torn country.
According to to Orient Net, a prominent leader in the opposition confirmed that Friday’s clashes killed around 100 Iranian Shia militias, in addition to the capture of 15 Iraqi and Iranian Shia militants.
In the meantime, activists reported the killing of two prominent figures in Iranian pro-regime militias; Mohamed Zalqy, a retired officer of the Iranian army and was fighting in Syria with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Cihanger Jaafari, a senior commander in IRGC- affiliate Liwa al-Quds. Aleppo
Iran’s intervention in the Syrian crisis started since the first days of the uprising, and the bruatlity in handling the peaceful protests led to establishing the armed rebel groups.
Iran backed al-Assad regime financially preventing an economical collapse, amd military by sending tens of thousands of fighters under the term of “military advisors.”
Iranian supreme leader Ali khamenei said the Iran’s intervention in Syria is a war against disbelief. However, this intervention costed Iran billios of dollars and hundreds of souls including many prominant leaders.
