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DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran is bringing home the body of a top-ranking military officer killed in April in southern Syria,
Iranian news agencies reported, at least the second senior Iranian to
die there this year while supporting Damascus in the war.
Iran brings home body of top general killed in Syria
By Sam Wilkin
18 hours ago
By Sam Wilkin
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran is bringing
home the body of a top-ranking military officer killed in April in
southern Syria, Iranian news agencies reported, at least the second
senior Iranian to die there this year while supporting Damascus in the
war.
Hadi Kajbaf, a major general in the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was killed near the rebel-held town of Busr al-Harir, about 100 km (60 miles) south of Damascus, the IRGC-linked Tasnim agency reported late on Friday.
Three other Iranians were killed alongside Kajbaf including a mid-ranking Shi'ite Muslim cleric, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Iranian military and financial support have been crucial to helping President Bashar al-Assad survive the war, now in its fifth year. The conflict is a focal point for Shi'ite Islamist Iran's power struggle with Sunni Saudi Arabia, which supports the insurgents battling to topple Assad.
Kajbaf held the highest rank used in Iran's armed forces, making him more senior than an IRGC brigadier general who was killed in January by an Israeli missile strike in Syrian territory near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, along with a number of fighters from the Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah group.
Southern Syria is one of the regions where Assad has faced significant setbacks since March. The insurgents fighting there include the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and groups that profess a more secular outlook and are backed by Assad's Arab foes.
The late commander's son, Sajad Kajbaf, told Tasnim the body was due to be flown to Iran on Friday night after being delayed by a day. It was not clear how Iran had obtained the body, which was taken by the rebels when he was killed.
An unknown number of Iranian military advisers have deployed in Syria in support of the Syrian army and the militias fighting alongside it. The Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah is now deployed more widely than ever in Syria.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently vowed to back the Syrian government "until the end of the road" after the battlefield setbacks suffered by Assad.
Iran, the world's major Shi'ite power, justifies its intervention in Syria by portraying the mostly Sunni rebels as hardline Sunni Islamist extremists. Islamic State and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front are the two most powerful insurgent groups in Syria today.
Hadi Kajbaf, a major general in the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was killed near the rebel-held town of Busr al-Harir, about 100 km (60 miles) south of Damascus, the IRGC-linked Tasnim agency reported late on Friday.
Three other Iranians were killed alongside Kajbaf including a mid-ranking Shi'ite Muslim cleric, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Iranian military and financial support have been crucial to helping President Bashar al-Assad survive the war, now in its fifth year. The conflict is a focal point for Shi'ite Islamist Iran's power struggle with Sunni Saudi Arabia, which supports the insurgents battling to topple Assad.
Kajbaf held the highest rank used in Iran's armed forces, making him more senior than an IRGC brigadier general who was killed in January by an Israeli missile strike in Syrian territory near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, along with a number of fighters from the Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah group.
Southern Syria is one of the regions where Assad has faced significant setbacks since March. The insurgents fighting there include the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and groups that profess a more secular outlook and are backed by Assad's Arab foes.
The late commander's son, Sajad Kajbaf, told Tasnim the body was due to be flown to Iran on Friday night after being delayed by a day. It was not clear how Iran had obtained the body, which was taken by the rebels when he was killed.
An unknown number of Iranian military advisers have deployed in Syria in support of the Syrian army and the militias fighting alongside it. The Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah is now deployed more widely than ever in Syria.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently vowed to back the Syrian government "until the end of the road" after the battlefield setbacks suffered by Assad.
Iran, the world's major Shi'ite power, justifies its intervention in Syria by portraying the mostly Sunni rebels as hardline Sunni Islamist extremists. Islamic State and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front are the two most powerful insurgent groups in Syria today.
Iran projects power in the Middle East by allying with
regional proxies who follow Shi'ite Islam or its offshoots. Assad
belongs to the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ism.
(Reporting by Sam Wilkin; Editing by Tom Perry and Gareth Jones)
Iran brings home body of top general killed in Syria
Arutz Sheva News Bites
Highest Ranking Iranian General Dies in Syria
Islamic
regime continues to pay painful price propping up Assad's regime for
its hegemony, as IRGC major general shipped home in a body bag.
By Ari Yashar
First Publish: 6/13/2015, 11:10 PM
Iranian Armed Forces (file)
Reuters
Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Maj. Gen. Hadi Kajbaf was killed in April around 60 miles south of Damascus, near the rebel-hold town Busr al-Harir, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim as cited by Reuters. His body was shipped back to Iran last Friday.
Another three Iranian soldiers were killed alongside the general, including a mid-ranking Shi'ite cleric, reported the state-run Fars News Agency.
Kajbaf's rank was the highest in Iran's military, meaning he was among the most senior losses the Islamic regime has suffered in Syria, and of a more senior rank than the IRGC brigadier general killed in January by an IDF strike near the Golan Heights as he was reportedly planning an attack on Israel.
Kajbaf's son Sajad Kajbaf told Tasnim that his father's body was to be flown to Iran on Friday night after a day's delay; he did not detail how Iran got the body back after rebel forces seized it upon his father's death.
Iran has been key in keeping Assad's regime afloat during the internecine civil war raging in Syria, dispatching both its own soldiers as well as its Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah to the country where they have suffered painful losses.
Experts have revealed Iran is spending $35 billion a year propping up Assad's regime, and is likewise deploying thousands of its troops in the country. They say the reason for this is that Iran needs to maintain a route of access through Syria to the Mediterranean by which it can supply weapons to Hezbollah and strengthen its growing regional influence.
In late April Iran reportedly told Syria to open a war front against Israel on the Golan Heights to continue expanding its regional influence at all costs.
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