File image.
A general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had been killed while “on a mission” in Syria, Iranian state media reported on August 23.
“General Abolfazl Alijani, a member of the IRGC’s ground forces who was on a mission in Syria as a military adviser, was martyred on [Sunday August 21],” the state broadcaster said on its website.
Alijani, originally from the central city of Esfahan, was not a member of the extraterritorial Quds Force, but an IRGC Ground Force officer.
The state media described Alijani as a “defender of the shrines,” a term used for those who fought for Iran in Syria, without providing more details of the attack in which he was killed. The body of the late general will reportedly be transferred to Iran in the coming days for his funeral.
IRGC General Abolfazl Alijani. Via Twitter.
It’s worth noting that on August 21, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that four IRGC-affiliated personnel were killed in an ambush by ISIS terrorists near the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria’s central region. ISIS’s official news agency, Amaq, is yet to confirm the claims of the monitoring group.
Alijani was the second IRGC officer to be killed in Syria this year. On July 5, the guards announced that officer Mostafa Mahdovinejad had lost his life in the war-torn country. The rank of the officer and the exact nature of his work in country remain unknown.
The IRGC is still one of the main backers of Syrian government forces. The guards maintain a large presence in the country’s eastern, central, northern and northwestern regions, where they fight terrorists groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
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