IRGC's Response to Reports of 'Torture and Death' of an IRGC Member in Ahvaz

The political deputy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran dismissed several reports regarding the 'torture and death' of an IRGC member from Ahvaz due to 'refusal to participate in the Syrian war' as a 'joke' and stated that the number of volunteers for deployment to this country is 'so high' that it is not possible to send them all. On Wednesday, October 21, in an interview with the Mizan news agency, Rasoul Sanaei Rad, the political deputy of the IRGC, said that the IRGC is 'under pressure' due to the 'very high' number of volunteers for deployment to Syria. He added: 'Our volunteers are at a level that the existing advisory capacity cannot accommodate this number of volunteers.' Since the beginning of the conflicts in Syria, the Islamic Republic has referred to the forces sent to this country as 'advisors.' Sanaei Rad mentioned that 'even ordinary clients' insist on being sent to Syria. He attributed the publication of the report by the Al Arabiya network about the forced deployment of IRGC forces to Syria to an attempt to 'cast a shadow over the dirty crimes' of Saudi Arabia in Yemen. The Al Arabiya website reported on Monday, October 19, that an IRGC member from Ahvaz named Mohammad Reza Hamidavi was 'tortured to death' by the intelligence of this organization for 'refusing to participate in the Syrian war.' According to this website, the funeral of Hamidavi, who was Arab and 27 years old, was held on Sunday, October 18, 'under heavy security measures,' and security forces had 'controlled and monitored' his mourning ceremony in the village of 'Shakriyat' in the Ramshir County in southeastern Ahvaz. This report comes at a time when Islamic Republic officials have repeatedly announced the existence of 'a multitude of volunteers' for deployment to Syria and stated that they cannot send all of them to this country. Previously, several retired IRGC forces had also been sent to Syria, and some of them were killed in clashes with forces opposing Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, Ismail Kowsari, a member of the ninth parliament and a former IRGC commander, stated that he wishes to be sent to Syria, but officials have not yet allowed him. 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. Following this 'advisory' presence, hundreds of IRGC and Basij forces have been killed in Syria and Iraq, but no accurate statistics have been published regarding their numbers. The IRNA news agency reported last summer that the number of Iranian and Afghan forces killed in Syria and Iraq at that time was 400. Several senior IRGC commanders, including Ahmad Gholami, Hossein Hamadani, Shafi Shafi'i, Reza Farzaneh, Daryush Dorosti, Ismail Heydari, Hadi Kajbaf, and Abdollah Eskandari, have also been killed in recent years in the Syrian conflicts. In the spring of last year, several Iranian commandos were also killed in Syria.