By: Kamil Alboshoka

Track Persia – September 8, 2017

An Iranian general revealed that 25% – 30% of Iranian troops sent to Syria have been wounded or killed. The death toll is unprecedented as it is the highest death toll has been revealed since the involvement of the Iranian military in the war-torn country to defend Syrian President the dictator Bashar al-Assad.

General Hamid Abatheri, Vice President of Imam Hussain Military University which belongs to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has recently addressed a crowd from Iranian military personnel to commemorate the death of a Revolutionary Guard commander, Abbas Daneshker, who has beem killed in a battlefield in the Syrian city of Aleppo. [i]

Abatheri, who is in charge of recruiting and supervising the dispatch of IRGC elements and Iran-proxies of armed Shiite militias in Syria said: “The death toll of the Iranian killed in Syria is 3 out of 10 sent to Syria.[ii]

According to Arabi21, around 32 members of the IRGC and the Iranian-trained brigade of the Afghani Shiite militiamenwere killed in Syria on 30th August 2017, adding that this number came as a surprise following the revelation of the Iranian official from the IRGC about the death toll of the Iranian forces in Syria.[iii]

According to Eldorar News Agency, the death toll of the IRGC and militias they backed in Syria has exceeded 3500, the injured number is 5000. It has reported that the Fatimiyon militia is the largest armed forces in Syria trained by IRGC to fight for the Syrian regime’s dictator Bashar al-Assad.[iv]

On his part, Hossein Zarif Manesh, the Director of the Ghadir International Foundation said that about 2,500 of Iranian forces fighting in Syria on the pretext to defend a Shiite shrine in Syria had been killed since Iran joined the war in Syria.[v]

The report issued by Albawabh News quoted the Commander-in-chief of IRGC, Maj. Gen Ali Jafari, in October 2016 saying that the presence of about 200 thousand fighters linked to IRGC were present in a number of countries in the region shedding more light on the Iran’s involvement in the conflicts of the region, especially Yemen and Iraq.[vi]

Dr Anwar Malek, the head of the International Observatory for the Documentation and Prosecution of Crimes in Iran, who was one of the participants in the Arab League Observer Mission in Syria in late 2011, during an interview said: “Iran has a large number of militias in Syria including elements from IRGC, Iranian-trained Shiite militias from Iraq, the Iranian-allied the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah militant organisation, in addition to mercenaries from Afghanistan and Iran. He added that a large number of these militiamen were killed in Syria. For example, recently seven generals from IRGC have been killed during fighting the opposition militant groups in Syria.

Dr Anwar Malek argues that there is no independent source to give the exact number of those killed from Iranian forces in Syria. Some sources have reported that more than 2,500 Iranians in Syria have died out of 60,000 present in Syria, 15% of whom (9,000) were killed in the fighting in Syria, according to Malek. He added that more than 1,000 of those killed had been from the Lebanese Hezbollah. Iranian officials have not commented on these circulated revelations about the deaths of Iran’s personnel and its allied-militants in Syria.

Dr Taghrid al-Hajali, the former Minister of Culture and Youth in the interim government of the Syrian opposition, during an interview has stated that the Iranian intervention in Syria since 2011 was logistical and economic intervention, but as the conflict developed; Iran has started to intervene directly through its IRGC force and its proxies of armed militias, adding that are areas in Syria are currently under the direct control of the Iranian forces and its proxy militias.

Al-Hajali has pointed out that the Iran’s goal of interfering in Syria is actually to protect its strategic allies and to dominate the region spanning from Iran to the Mediterranean Sea under the pretext of protecting Shiite holy shrines in Syria. Iran has played similar to its position toward Iraq since 2003. According to Dr al-Hajali, the Iranian regime has attempted to export its version of Shiite ideology to the region since Khomeini took power in 1979.

The Awajel Press Centre also published the names of the dead of the Afghani ‘Fatimiyon’ Brigade in Syria. A number of Iranian cities have recently received dozens of coffins of those killed there including that of Ibrahim Khalili, who an was officer serving in the IRGC’s Quds Force which is led by General the notorious Gen Qasem Suleimani. The IRGC is facing an growing pressure from the Iranian opposition groups which have increased its assassination operations against the group.[vii]

On his part, Dr Anwar Malek stated that the involvement of Russia in the Syrian war had boosted the Iranian presence in Syria, which had become very weak. The Russian military intervention in Syria has strengthened Iran’s power in this war-torn country. The Russians have also protected the Syrian regime forces and backed them in their fighting against the Syrian opposition militant groups. The Russian presence in Syria however, is to prevent the Iranians from controlling all Syrian lands as the Russians also have interests there, according to Dr Malek.

[i] Shaam Network, 1st September 2017: https://goo.gl/nk9TYg

[ii] AL Etihad Press, 1st September 2017: https://goo.gl/kUDrmW

[iii] Arabi21, 1st September 2017: https://goo.gl/yGB5fC

[iv] Eldorar, 30th August 2017: https://goo.gl/4A3CbD

[v] Shahid News, 5th September 2017: https://goo.gl/BWGeWY

[vi] Albawabh News, 28th June 2017: https://goo.gl/8mcgJw

[vii] Awajel Press, 27th August 2017: https://goo.gl/bncZLG