A top commander in the Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) was killed fighting in Syria’s war, officials of the Iranian regime announced on Thursday, along with 17 Iranian-recruited Afghan militants killed in the month of August.
Captain Ahmad Hiyari was killed fighting in Syria’s northwestern Latakia region, Alireza Imani, deputy head of the paramilitary Bassij force in Shush told the official state news agency IRNA.
Iranian state media said Hiyari had travelled to Syria about 10 days earlier to join the fighting. He succumbed to injuries on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Iranian regime’s state media said another Iranian national Mohammad Hassan Hosseini, was injured in the fighting in Syria. Hosseini, posing as a journalist for the regime’s state broadcasting corporation, is in fact an element of the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
Iran’s official news agency IRNA revealed last July that the Revolutionary Guard Corps lost 400 militants, including Afghan and Pakistani militias, since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011.
Observers believe that the actual number of Iranian mercenaries killed in Syria is much larger, pointing out that Iran’s state media seek to conceal the heavy losses suffered by the Revolutionary Guards Corps and the Iranian-recruited militia that are sent to Syria to fight on the side of regime forces.
Afghan news agency Khaama reported that he latest estimates suggest at least 3,500 Afghans are fighting in Syria in support of Bashar al-Assad, adding that relatives of a number of those killed while fighting for the Syrian regime have said the Afghan nationals are lured by the month salary of $700 and Iranian residency permit.
President Khoja earlier stated that “the UN Security Council and the international community’s lukewarm response is a contributing factor in the escalation of massacres against Syrian civilians.”
“The Syrian Coalition strongly condemns all military and financial support given to the Assad regime, specifically supplying it with arms and ammunition. We see in this a participation in crimes against humanity. The international community has legal and moral responsibility to prevent Assad from continuing his crimes against the Syrian people. Supporting Assad with more weapons will enable him to commit more of these genocidal crimes.” (Source: Syrian Coalition + Al Arabiya)
