Iran holds mass funeral for Guard officers killed in Syria

Mourners pour out onto the streets of Tehran to pay their respects to several Iranian officers killed in Syria, a testament to the human cost of Iran’s involvement in the civil war and a public display of nationalist fervor as nuclear talks resume in Vienna.

The remains of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard members were recently recovered in Khan Tuman, a village 9 miles (about 15 kilometers) south of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city that was for years the war’s most important front line.

The Guard identified the five deceased fighters, providing few details about their deaths with the exception of Gen. Abdollah Eskandari — a decorated commander who became known as the “headless general” after his capture and beheading by Syrian rebels in May 2014. Their bodies were repatriated after a lengthy process of recovery and DNA analysis.

حضور پرشور مردم
مراسم تشییع و خاکسپاری شهیدان مدافع حرم
امروز پنج شنبه میدان امام حسین#مهمان_داریم #لبيك_يا_حسين pic.twitter.com/XKWeXaTmdr

— F.mohammadi (@f_mohammadi1364) August 4, 2022

Iran has increasingly admitted casualties since it intervened to rescue Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, a ground presence that coincided with Russia’s air campaign and helped Assad recover control over most of the country. Although Iran has only acknowledged its forces as having an advisory role, dozens of Iranian soldiers have been killed fighting the Islamic State group and other extremists in Syria.

Funeral marches snaked through cities across the country this week, beginning Monday in the northeastern city of Mashhad before moving south, returning each officer’s body to his birthplace for burial.