One of the Senior Commanders of the IRGC Killed in Iraq

On Sunday, January 7, the public relations office of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced the death of Brigadier General Hamid Taghavi, one of its commanders, while performing an 'advisory mission' in the city of Samarra, Iraq. The Defense of Sacred Defense News Agency, affiliated with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran, referred to Mr. Taghavi as one of the 'Samarra Axis Commanders' and reported that he was killed on Saturday, January 6, by a sniper from the ISIS group, with several of his companions also injured. According to Fars News Agency, the IRGC statement said: 'Brigadier General Hamid Taghavi... ultimately became a martyr while advising the Iraqi army and popular mobilization forces to confront Takfiri terrorists and ISIS in the city of Samarra.' The report noted that Mr. Taghavi had been a commander at the Ramadan Headquarters during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War. The Ramadan Headquarters is recognized as the command center for executing irregular warfare by the IRGC. The Defense of Sacred Defense News Agency also reported that 'General Taghavi, who was responsible for the Samarra Axis, was targeted by a sniper hiding behind a power transformer and became a martyr. Several of his companions were also injured in this incident.' The city of Samarra, located 110 kilometers north of Baghdad, is predominantly Sunni and contains some sacred sites for Shiites. The Islamic State group has intensified its attacks to seize this city in recent weeks. The shrine of the tenth and eleventh Imams and one of the important Shiite pilgrimage sites are located in Samarra. According to Abna News Agency, Mr. Taghavi was born in the Kut Abdullah area of Karun County in Khuzestan Province, and his body will be buried in Ahvaz after a funeral in Tehran. The Sadeh News website referred to Mr. Taghavi as 'the fourth martyr from Khuzestan in defense of the sanctity of the Ahl al-Bayt' without mentioning the names of previous casualties. In recent months, various reports have emerged regarding the presence of Iranian military forces and Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, in Iraq. Officials from the Iranian Foreign Ministry have denied these reports, while some IRGC commanders have confirmed Mr. Soleimani's presence in Iraq. Yadollah Javani, a senior advisor to the representative of the Supreme Leader in the IRGC, stated in an interview with Al-Alam on October 20 regarding a recently published photo of Qassem Soleimani alongside several Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq that 'General Soleimani is present on the front lines.' Previously, Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, had also confirmed that Qassem Soleimani was present during the battle against the Islamic State forces in Iraq. In recent years, numerous reports have surfaced regarding the deaths of IRGC commanders in Syria as well.