Iran news agency claims top general saved Russian pilot

An Iranian news agency claims that General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations wing, is behind the rescue of the Russian pilot downed in Syria.

Soleimani was reported lightly injured earlier this week near Aleppo.

After the pilot was downed by Turkey on Tuesday, “credible information was obtained that a number of special Turkish units had been sent to the scene to take the Russian pilot captive to blackmail Russia later,” the semi-official Fars News Agency reports, based on a report in the Persian-language version of the Russian Sputnik news agency that quotes an unnamed Syrian officer.

“While the Russians were planning for another operation to free the pilot immediately, General Soleimani contacted them and proposed them that a special task force unit be formed of Hezbollah’s special forces and Syrian commandos who have been trained by Iran and are fully familiar with the geographical situation of the region to be tasked with the ground operations and Russia provide them with air cover and satellite intelligence.”

The alleged operation to rescue the Russian pilot was carried out by eight Hezbollah fighters and 18 Syrian commandos and covered by Russian satellites and air force. The team “saved the pilot after infiltrating 6 kilometers behind the enemy lines, killing the terrorists operating in there and destroying their hi-tech equipment,” it says.

“Soleimani promised them to return the Russian pilot safe and sound; a promise that was kept in the end, according to the Syrian officer,” the report says.

The Russian defense minister said Wednesday that the second Russian pilot downed by Turkey had been saved.