Head of Student Basij Organization: 50 Iranian Students Killed in Syria

The head of the Islamic Republic's Student Basij Organization announced that the number of Iranian students killed in Syria so far is fifty. On Tuesday, December 7, Davood Goudarzi revealed this statistic coinciding with Student Day in Iran. He did not provide a clear explanation about the backgrounds of these individuals but stated that they were sent to Syria as part of the 'Student Basij Organization and voluntarily.' According to Mr. Goudarzi, this data was collected last month and includes the total number of Basij students killed in Syria from the beginning to date. The head of the Student Basij Organization also reported a 'high volume of applicants wishing to join the resistance front' and praised the young people who volunteered to go to the civil war in Syria. He claimed that this 'volume of demand' indicates that the youth have been 'properly educated in the Islamic Revolution and that the Revolution has been able to convey cultural concepts in the best possible way.' This is the first time the number of Iranian students killed in Syria has been announced. Most of these individuals were either members of the Student Basij Organization or studying at universities affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Previously, the head of the Martyrs Foundation of the Islamic Revolution had stated that the number of Iranian casualties in the Syrian civil war had exceeded 'one thousand.' However, Mohammad Ali Shahidi Mahallati did not provide further details about the casualties among the Iranian forces sent to Syria and their nationalities. It appears that the casualty figures for Iranian forces sent to Syria may exceed this number. In this context, in May of this year, Ainollah Tabrizi, the former deputy commander of the IRGC in Mazandaran, reported the deaths of at least 1,200 'combatants' in the last four years of fighting in Syria. Javad Hashemi, the director of the Martyrs Foundation and Veterans Affairs in Qom province, also stated in November of this year that currently 235 of the war casualties in Syria are buried in this city. In addition to Basij forces, IRGC members, and army commandos referred to as 'military advisors,' the brigades known as 'Fatimiyoun' composed of Afghan forces and 'Zainabiyoun,' consisting of Shia Pakistani forces, have also been organized by the IRGC and are fighting alongside Bashar al-Assad's army and Hezbollah in Syria.