Funeral of Five Afghan Nationals Killed in Syria Held in Mashhad

Simultaneously with the funeral of five Afghan nationals killed in the internal conflicts of Syria in Mashhad, the state news agency IRNA reported that of "about 400" forces killed in Syria, 79 have been buried in Khorasan Razavi province. This news agency did not mention the nationality or the time of death of these individuals. According to reports, on Thursday morning, June 4, the bodies of five Afghan nationals killed in the internal conflicts of Syria, named Mojtaba Mirzaei, Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini, Seyyed Mohammad Hadi Hashemi, Hassan Farahani, and Seyyed Sarvar Hashemi, were buried in Mashhad. The state news agency IRNA, while publishing the news of their funeral, wrote: "So far, of the approximately 400 martyrs defending the shrine of Hazrat Zainab who have been buried in various parts of the country, 79 have been buried in Khorasan Razavi." The news agency Tasnim also referred to these Afghan nationals as forces of the "Fatemiyoun Brigade." In Esfand 1393, the bodies of Alireza Tosuli, the commander, and Reza Bakhshi, the deputy commander of the "Fatemiyoun Brigade," were also buried in Mashhad. The website "Defa Press," the news agency of the Iranian armed forces, reported on May 30 that the "Fatemiyoun Brigade" has been converted into a division. Concurrently with the publication of this news, the website Tabnak announced that 200 members of this brigade have been killed in the internal conflicts in Syria. Meanwhile, on June 30, a ceremony titled "Commemoration of the Families of 56 Martyrs Defending the Shrine of Hazrat Zainab" was held with the presence of a number of Afghan nationals residing in Qom and officials from this province. According to reports, the "Fatemiyoun Division" is a unit composed of Afghan military personnel currently fighting in Syria to defend the government of Bashar al-Assad. According to the Tabnak website, each military division in Iran typically consists of 10,000 to 20,000 personnel. The publication of these reports comes at a time when the Wall Street Journal previously reported that Iran "hires thousands of Afghan refugees to fight in Syria in support of the government of Bashar al-Assad by paying $500 a month and granting residency permits in Iran." Marzieh Afkham, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, denied this report on Tuesday, May 30, 1393. On Thursday, the bodies of three Iranian forces killed in Syria, named Mohammad Hamidi, Hassan Ghafari, and Ali Amraei, were buried in the city of Rey with the presence of Ali Shirazi, the representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in the Quds Force. On Wednesday, the Mashregh News website published a photo of one of these Iranian forces alongside Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force. Meanwhile, according to reports, a first lieutenant of the IRGC named Hamed Javani, who was injured in Syria on May 23, died on Wednesday night in Baqiyatallah Hospital in Tehran. According to the local website Anaj in East Azerbaijan province, this is the sixth military personnel from this province killed in the internal conflicts in Syria. In recent months, numerous reports of Iranian forces being killed in Iraq have also been published. For instance, the state news agency IRNA reported on June 10 that the body of Saeed Gharlaqi, an Iranian force killed in Iraq, was buried in Karaj. The commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claim that they have sent military advisors to these countries to assist the Syrian government against armed groups opposing Bashar al-Assad and to help the Iraqi government in battles against the Islamist militants of the "Islamic State."