Four Iranians Killed in Attack on Homs Airbase in Syria

A news agency close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported on Monday evening, April 8, that during an attack on the Homs airbase in Syria that took place on Sunday, 14 people were killed, four of whom were Iranian. The Fars news agency identified the Iranian casualties as "Defenders of the Shrine." The names of these individuals are "Amir Mousavi from Ahvaz, Mehdi Lotfi Niasar and Akbar Zavar Jannati from Tabriz, and Mehdi Dehghani Yazdeli." Some Iranian media have introduced Mehdi Lotfi Niasar as a Basij member from Qom province and the brother of Hojjatoleslam Lotfi Niasar, the head of the Qom Broadcasting Organization. The Mehr news agency also reported, citing the representative of the Supreme Leader in Khuzestan province, that "Amir Mousavi" resided in "Alavi neighborhood" of Ahvaz. The Mehr and Fars news agencies also reported the death of an IRGC cadre in Syria on Sunday, who was apparently killed in another part of the country. According to these reports, the public relations officer of the Ansar al-Ridha IRGC in South Khorasan stated that "First Lieutenant Martyr Morteza Basiri Pour" was killed on Sunday in what was described as "defending the shrine of the Ahl al-Bayt." He did not mention the location and manner of this IRGC martyr's death. "Defenders of the Shrine" is the title chosen by the Islamic Republic of Iran for its military presence in Syria. Syria and its main military ally, Russia, attributed the attack on the Homs airbase to Israel. This attack occurred one day after a chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta against civilians. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, reacted to the chemical attacks attributed to Bashar al-Assad's army in Eastern Ghouta on Sunday, criticizing Iran and Russia's support for Bashar al-Assad, tweeting that "Assad the animal" would pay a heavy price for this crime. However, the U.S. denied involvement in the attack on the Syrian army base in Homs. Israel has not reacted to this news, but according to Reuters, Israeli officials have stated that Iranian forces are using the Tiyas or T-4 airbase and that Israel will never accept the presence of its enemy on Syrian soil. The Islamic Republic of Iran has sent its military forces to Syria and Iraq in the form of "Defenders of the Shrine" to fight against Bashar al-Assad's opponents and the Islamic State group, also deploying Afghan and Pakistani Shiites in the form of the Fatemiyoun Brigade and Zainabiyoun Brigade to Syria. A significant number of these forces who have been killed in these two countries have been buried in several cities in Iran. In this context, Mohammad Ali Shahidi, the head of the Martyrs Foundation, announced in March 2017 that the number of casualties known as "Defenders of the Shrine" at that time was 2,100. He also mentioned that the Supreme Leader had asked him to pursue the issue of granting Iranian citizenship to the Fatemiyoun Brigade forces. According to Shahidi, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated in this meeting that "the protection of these families is our responsibility, so definitely grant them citizenship and definitely place them under the coverage of the Martyrs Foundation." Previously, the Wall Street Journal reported that Iran "hires" thousands of Afghan refugees to fight in Syria in support of Bashar al-Assad by "paying $500 a month and granting residency permits in Iran." Iranian officials have denied this report and similar reports. In recent years, several senior IRGC commanders, including Ahmad Gholami, Hossein Hamadani, Hamid Taqqavi, Shafie Shafiee, Reza Farzaneh, Dariush Dorosti, Ismail Heydari, Hadi Kajbaf, Shaban Nasiri, Zakir Heydari, and Abdollah Eskandari have also been killed in Syria conflicts. It is reported that 15 groups of Shiite militias supported by Iran are engaged in fighting in Syria and Iraq. The IRGC has repeatedly stated that the presence of its commanders in Syria and Iraq is "advisory" and that the Islamic Republic has sent forces to these countries at the request of Bashar al-Assad and the Iraqi government. However, critics within Iran have strongly criticized the actions of Qassem Soleimani and the Quds Force in the region, attributing the emergence of the ISIS group to Soleimani's mismanagement. For example, political critic Mehdi Khazali stated in a video last year that if it were not for Qassem Soleimani's presence in Syria, "there would be no ISIS in Syria now." In this context, Khamenei stated that the presence of Iranian military personnel in Syria prevents the presence of "malicious actors" in Iran. "Two thousand Afghan forces" of the Fatemiyoun Brigade have been killed in support of Assad in Syria. The head of the Martyrs Foundation stated that Ayatollah Khamenei's order was to grant Iranian citizenship to the "Defenders of the Shrine." Khamenei said that Bashar al-Assad appears as "a great fighter."