Iranian IRGC general killed in Syria - Iranian media

A veteran general in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) militia was killed during clashes with opposition fighters in Syria, according to Iranian media sources close to the IRGC.

The Iranian Fars news agency said General Gholam Ali Gholizadeh, a veteran of the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s, was killed during battles with opposition fighters in Syria, without providing further details. Media sources close to the Assad regime said Gholizadeh was killed during Hezbollah’s attempts to advance in Wadi Barada northwest of Damascus. 

In December 2016, seven mercenaries from the Iranian-backed militias fighting in Syria, al-Fatimyoon from Afghanistan and Zaynabiyoon from Pakistan, were buried in Qum, Iran. 

In November 2016, Mohammad Ali Shahidi Mahallati, head of Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, said more than 1,000 Iranians were killed during battles in Syria.

According to a report released in November 2016 by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), more than 10,000 Iranian and Iranian-backed terrorists were killed during battles in Syria.