ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An Iranian commander and two members of the cuntry’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been killed in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, Iranian 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.
“The martyr Commander Rostami Moqadam was one of the combatants of eight years of sacred defense (Iran-Iraq war) who was killed by Daesh Takfiris,” 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 to the serious fight against terrorism in the region,” 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 and in the fight against terrorism, there would have been no safe spot in the sensitive West Asia region,” he claimed.
Thousands of volunteer fighters and Iran-Iraq war veterans are believed to have traveled to Syria to assist government forces against rebels in various parts of the country.
A special Iranian volunteer group is also said to be protecting the shrine of Sayydah Zainab—a holy Shiite site—in the capital Damascus.
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.
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