Iran revolutionary guard commander killed in airstrike on Syria border

GBNEWS24 DESK//

A commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was killed in an airstrike on the Iraq-Syria border between Saturday and Sunday, reports Reuters.

The commander in the elite Iranian military force was traveling with three other men in a vehicle that was reportedly bringing weapons across the Iraqi border into Syria, according to the news agency.

The three other men also died in the attack.

Further details, including the commander’s name, were not immediately available. Iranian state media did not report the news as of Monday.

Iran is a close ally of the Syrian government and has close relations with Iraq. In Iraq, Iran directly supports some of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), which formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State. This year, some PMU groups, as well as newer Iraqi “resistance” militias, have also clashed with the US military in Iraq. In Syria, Iran supports the government in its war against rebel groups.

It is unclear who carried out the airstrike. The US warned Iraq in September to reign in militias and cease attacks in the vicinity of the US Embassy. Baghdad’s Green Zone, where the US and other embassies are located, was hit by rockets again in November.

Israel also regularly bombs Iranian targets in Syria and most recently did so last week. In May, Israel carried out airstrikes in eastern Syria, which borders Iraq. Iran also blamed Israel for the recent killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist.