More than 1,000 Iranian fighters killed in Syrian conflict

[G.O.G]

More than 1,000 Iranian fighters sent by the government died in Syria fighting alongside the troops of Syrian President Bashar al Asad, the head of the Iranian martyrs and veterans foundation said on Tuesday, quoted by Tasnim news agency.

"The number of martyrs of our country" killed in Syria "exceeded 1,000", said Mohammad Ali Shahidi Mahalati in a speech to members of the Basij militia, a paramilitary force subordinate to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.

Mohammad Ali Shahidi Mahalati did not specify when those fighters died or what their nationality was, AFP reported.

Iran, which has been supporting Al Asad since the start of the civil war in 2011, deployed Iranian "military advisers" in Syria as well as "volunteer" fighters from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

The "Fatemiyun Division", made up of Afghan recruits, is one of the main forces trained by Iranian officers fighting in Syria.

The Iranian media regularly report on the death of these "volunteers" and "counselors", but it is the first time that a responsible person gives such a significant number of victims.

Officially, Iran does not send troops to Syria, but according to a US official, thousands of Iranians and fighters supported by Iranian authorities are engaged in fighting against rebel groups in coordination with Russia and Syrian power.

At the end of August, the FARS agency had announced that Ahmad Gholami, a former General of the Revolutionary Guard, the elite force of the Iranian regime, had died in combat.

Other important leaders of the Guardians of the Revolution died in late 2015.

According to the Iranian press, several hundred Iranian and Afghan "military advisers" and "volunteers" have died in Syria in recent years.