Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Senior IRGC officers killed during fighting in Syria
The Long War Journal ^ | 11/05/2015 | Bill Roggio

Posted on 11/05/2015 11:03:50 AM PST by Freemeorkillme

A brigadier general and a colonel from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were killed while fighting jihadists and rebels in Syria over the past several weeks. Nine other IRGC members were also killed during that time.

Colonel Mostafa Ezzatollah Soleimani, who served as a “military adviser to the Syrian army,” was killed in battle against “the Takfiri terrorists” in Aleppo province, according to Fars News, Iran’s semi-official news organization. The Iranian news agency did not relay how the colonel was killed, or which groups his unit was fighting.

Soleimani previously served as the “commander of the Elite Battalion of Hazrat Bani Hashem (AS) Brigade 44 in the city of Shahr-e Kord in Western Iran.” His former brigade is said to be an elite IRGC special operations unit.

Brigadier General Reza Khavari, another senior IRGC commander, was killed during fighting in “central Syria,” Fars News reported. Like Soleimani, he was also “fulfilling his duty as a military adviser” to Syrian forces.

Prior to advising Syrian military units, Khavari was “the senior commander of IRGC’s Fatemiyoun Division.”

Fars News also reported that nine other IRGC members, including two officers, were killed in combat in Syria at the end of October. Five of them were identified as: Major Seyed Sajjad Hosseini from the Khordad 15 Artillery; Mostafa Sadrzadeh, Seyed Ali Hosseini Alemi, and Seyed Milad Mostafavi from the Fatemiyoun Division; and Amin Karimi from the Ansar Division. The names of the other four IRGC members were not disclosed.

Additionally, another senior IRGC commander, Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani, was killed while battling the Islamic State outside of Aleppo. Hamedani’s death was mourned by Iran’s president, the minister of defense, the foreign minister, and other senior Iranian officials. [See LWJ report, Islamic State kills Iranian general in Syria.]

Iran has reportedly deployed significant forces, estimated at thousands of troops, in support of the Assad regime’s offensive to retake areas controlled by the al Qaeda-led Jaysh al Fateh coalition and other groups in Hama and Aleppo. Iranian officials have denied that their military units are deployed as combat formations in Syria, insisting their officers and troops are merely serving in an advisory capacity.

Five field grade IRGC officers have been killed while fighting in the Syrian and Iraqi wars over the past year. Dozens of other lower ranking officers and troops are also thought to have been killed in the two countries during that timeframe.

In January, Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Allah-Dadi of the Qods Force and five other Iranian officers, as well as six Hezbollah fighters, were killed in what is thought to have been an Israeli airstrike in Quneitra, Syria.

In May, Jassem Nouri, a commander in the Iranian military, was killed while fighting against the Islamic State near Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar in Iraq. Nouri was reportedly advising the Iranian-backed Shiite militias that are attempting to retake Ramadi from the Islamic State.

Also, in December 2014, the IRGC announced that Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi was killed by an Islamic State sniper while serving in Samarra, close to the shrine of Imam Hassan Askari. Taqavi advised and fought alongside Saraya Khorasani, an Iranian-backed Shiite militia that lauded the general after his death.

Iran has invested significantly in the Shiite-led Syrian and Iraqi governments, which are mired in multi-sided wars with Sunni jihadist groups, rebels, and other actors. Major General Qassem Soleimani, the head of IRGC’s Qods Force, has personally intervened in several key battles in Iraq, and has appeared on multiple battlefields in both Iraq and Syria. Most recently, the Qods Force leader was photographed while rallying Iranian troops and Hezbollah fighters in Aleppo.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: goodriddance
Aloha snackbar! Death to the IRGC! Death to Iran!
1 posted on 11/05/2015 11:03:50 AM PST by Freemeorkillme
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Freemeorkillme

Death to both sides.

Except Russia. If too many die they will withdraw and stop slaughtering the sunni pigs.

but iran, i hope their soldiers keep dropping


2 posted on 11/05/2015 11:06:38 AM PST by dp0622
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freemeorkillme

Which side to root for?


3 posted on 11/05/2015 11:07:00 AM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2banana

Israel and USofA, of course.

Wonder if he died in the battle for Marek( a strategic highway town between Alepo and Hama).

I vote more ISIS, Iranian, Russian, AQ and other bad actors follow suit and join Brig. General/Colonol Soleimani en mass.


4 posted on 11/05/2015 11:10:15 AM PST by Freemeorkillme
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Freemeorkillme

forgot Syria can get some as well.


5 posted on 11/05/2015 11:10:46 AM PST by Freemeorkillme
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Freemeorkillme

Nice!


6 posted on 11/05/2015 11:15:18 AM PST by b4its2late (A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freemeorkillme

Shades of ye ol Iran-Iraq war. That sure got Muslims worked up and too busy to hassle other non-Muslims. Let Iranians and ISIS go at each other for a few years. No one will object and no one will miss these Islamic badasses when they get killed...not even their mamas


7 posted on 11/05/2015 11:17:46 AM PST by dennisw (The first principle is to find out who you are then you can achieve anything -- Buddhist monk)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freemeorkillme

Let the bodies hit the floor.


8 posted on 11/05/2015 11:29:30 AM PST by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2banana

May as well fix some popcorn while you decide...


9 posted on 11/05/2015 11:32:17 AM PST by 17th Miss Regt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Freemeorkillme

It takes some pretty good intel to pick off the top brass like that. One stars are a big deal in the IRGC, where the top commander is a two star.

Qassim Sulemani has suddenly started burying some of his oldest and closest comrades.

Is the Syrian side is riddled with turncoats, or somebody is providing signals intelligence?

Maybe it is just such a mess that no where is safe, and looking special draws fire.


10 posted on 11/05/2015 11:46:35 AM PST by BeauBo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BeauBo

Killed in the last year:

Brigadier General Reza Khavari, (former CG of the Fatemiyoun Division)

Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani,

Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Allah-Dadi,

Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi,

Colonel Mostafa Ezzatollah Soleimani, (former SpecOps commander)

IRGC was about the best path to wealth in Iran, where the State dominates the economy. It is starting to look like a less appealing career. Maybe they will prefer new leadership at some point...


11 posted on 11/05/2015 11:56:48 AM PST by BeauBo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: BeauBo

All of the above is, indeed, a plausible possibility. This is such a mess.

Pray for our deployed over there——for their safety and successful and happy hunting.


12 posted on 11/05/2015 11:58:08 AM PST by Freemeorkillme
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Freemeorkillme
A brigadier general and a colonel from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were killed while fighting jihadists and rebels in Syria over the past several weeks.

Okay.

13 posted on 11/05/2015 11:59:00 AM PST by WayneS (Yeah, it's probably sarcasm...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freemeorkillme

Kill the all - Let Allah sort them out...


14 posted on 11/05/2015 11:59:41 AM PST by WayneS (Yeah, it's probably sarcasm...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BeauBo

Gets even spicier when looking at southern Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Saudi’s have a lot to worry about. The Iranian proxy has been well supplied for years, and now, I’m sure, there are IRGC “advisors” on the ground as well.

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/09/gulf-states-continue-to-pay-price-in-yemen-despite-advances.php


15 posted on 11/05/2015 12:11:31 PM PST by Freemeorkillme
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Freemeorkillme

My understanding is that the Iranians have pulled most of their people out of Yemen, to focus on Iraq, and then Syria.

The Saudis will win in Yemen, but it is a very effective holding action for the Iranians, while they fight in Syria. Unless there is a deal, the Yemen War could drag on for a year or more. In the Houthi heartland, it could simmer long after the Capitol/country is conquered.

There is a big change in Turkey this last week, with Erdogan snatching the election, so he can rewrite the constitution again (this will be his third go). We will have to see if the Turks now go to crush Kurds, the Iranian/Assad troops, or both. They are talking about ramping up their involvement, and they have some pipe-hitting military capability.


16 posted on 11/05/2015 1:32:11 PM PST by BeauBo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson