Illustrative: Iranians follow a vehicle carrying the coffin of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani during his funeral procession in Tehran on October 11, 2015. (AFP/Atta Kenare)
TEHRAN — A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander has been killed during fighting in Syria, Iran’s state media reported on Tuesday.
“Brigadier General Abdollah Khosravi, a senior war veteran, was martyred on Saturday in Syria,” the Basij news agency said without giving further details.
According to Fars news agency, Khosravi was commander of the Fatehin Battalion, made up of Iranian volunteers fighting in Iraq and Syria.
Its members are drawn from the powerful Basij militia, a volunteer force linked to the IRGC and sometimes used for domestic security inside Iran.
Tehran supports Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iran-backed forces have been on the front lines in battles against insurgents including the Islamic State jihadist group.
Iran denies sending professional troops to fight in Iraq and Syria, saying it has only provided military advisers and organized brigades made up of volunteers from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mourners raise portraits of Mohsen Hojajii, a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps beheaded in Syria by the Islamic State, during a funerary procession for him at Imam Hossein Square in the capital Tehran on September 27, 2017. (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)
Khosravi will be buried in his home town of Arak in central Iran on Thursday, along with Afghan recruit Javid Hosseini, state broadcaster IRIB said.
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Iranian media regularly report on the funerals of Iranian, Afghan and Pakistani “martyrs” killed in fighting in Syria.
Authorities rarely issue official casualty figures.
The most recent death toll, from the veterans’ organization in March, was 2,100. It gave no details on how many were foreign recruits.
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