Senior Iranian Commander Killed in Syria

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander has been killed in Syria in an incident that sheds light on Tehran’s growing, shadowy role in bolstering Bashar al-Assad’s regime. 

Iranian forces confirmed on Friday that Hossein Hamedani, described as an elite and exceptional commander and a defender of the Shia holy sites in Damascus, was killed in the vicinity of Aleppo on Thursday evening.

He was the most senior Iranian military officer on a foreign operation to be killed in 36 years since the 1979 Islamic revolution. His death comes at the time when Russia, Tehran’s regional ally, has launched a military campaign in Syria in support of Assad, adding a new dimension to an already bruising conflict.

Tasnim, an Iranian news agency affiliated to the guards, said Hamedani was operating in “an advisory capacity” when “takfiri terrorists” killed him, but it did not disclose the exact details surrounding his death, and it was not possible to verify the claim. A takiri is a Sunni Muslim who accuses another Muslim of apostasy, and is Iran’s terminology when referring to Islamic State.

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Ali Alfoneh, senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies, who tracks the number of Iranian deaths in Syria, said the death count had been particularly high in 2015, with 60 to 70 Iranians killed, compared with a total of 140 killed since the conflict began. “In the course of the past three years, this year has been a very active year for the Revolutionary Guards and this can be detected by counting the number of Iranians killed in combats in Syria,” he said.

“But when it comes to the activity of the guards in the wake of the Russian involvement, it’s too early to say, because we only get the information at the time when there is a martyr burial in Iran and that data has not arrived yet. In one or two weeks’ time we will know.”

He said there were conflicting reports among Iranian sources whether Hamedani still held his hitherto senior position in Syria at the time of his death. According to an Iranian opposition website, he was demoted recently because of a dissatisfaction in Tehran about the guards’ conduct in Syria.

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