Severe Revenge in the Most Ashura-like Muharram Shared by Iran and Syria

Statements from high-ranking military commanders and Friday prayer leaders of the Islamic Republic regarding Iran's 'advisory and cultural' activities in Syria have faced increased skepticism following the death of Hossein Hamadani, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) near Aleppo. Following Hamadani's death, active Hezbollah forces on social media announced the start of an operation titled 'Severe Revenge' in Syria, which is the main reason for the recent increase in Iranian casualties. The 'Sacred Defense' news agency has also referred to this Muharram as 'the most Ashura-like Muharram in recent years,' stating that the Islamic Republic has 'offered a victim to the altar of Allah every day' during the first ten days. The Defenders blog, the official site of the 'Defenders of the Shrine,' noted that 'the high number of Iranian martyrs in the past week indicates the complexity of the current phase of the war in Syria and Iraq.' Meanwhile, Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of the IRGC, believes that the number of Iranian casualties in Syria 'is not high' and only 'appears more noticeable compared to the past.' On October 9, the IRGC's public relations announced that Hossein Hamadani, deputy commander of the Imam Hussein Headquarters, was 'martyred while performing advisory missions in the outskirts of Aleppo at the hands of ISIS terrorists.' The Imam Hussein Headquarters, which operates parallel to the Quds Force, is responsible for training and sending military forces outside Iran, and according to Mohammad Ali Jafari, the IRGC commander, has organized 100,000 forces in Syria to confront Bashar al-Assad's opponents. This organization refers to these forces as 'popular mobilization' in Syria, previously cited as one of the IRGC's 'achievements' in the country. Following Hamadani's death, reports indicate an increase in the number of Iranian military casualties in Syria. Previously, obtaining statistics on Iranian military casualties in Syria required investigative journalism and piecing together scattered information published in official and unofficial media, but now it is easy to access the numbers and names of these individuals in official media affiliated with the regime and close to the IRGC. This trend may indicate Iran's anger over losing one of its most important and loyal military forces and a greater field presence in Syria, confirming Western media reports of joint ground operations involving the Syrian army, Iranian military personnel, and Hezbollah with the assistance of the Russian Air Force in Syria. In recent days, news of the deaths of several commanders of this military force, including Farshad Hosseini Zadeh, Hamid Mokhtarband, and Mostafa Sadrzadeh, has also been reported. The 'Sacred Defense' news agency stated: 'Islamic Iran, in Muharram al-Haram 1437 AH, offered a victim to the altar of Allah almost every day during the first ten days, once again strengthening its historical bond with Muharram and the Ashura of Hossein.' The increase in the number of Iranian military casualties is significant enough that Hossein Salami, in a television program, attributed it to the Islamic Republic's positive response to the request for 'deeper advisory assistance' from Bashar al-Assad's government. He claimed that Iran was compelled to increase its 'quantitative and qualitative level' of presence in Syria for 'developing training.' Salami, whether intentionally or not, confirmed the field presence of Iranian military personnel in Syria, stating that 'our friends are present in the scenes to provide better services and must become familiar with the realities of the field.' Thus, it is not only Bashar al-Assad who emphasizes the 'exchange of military experts' between Iran and Syria and its 'natural' nature, but also the deputy commander of the IRGC implicitly evaluated the increase in Iranian casualties as 'natural' due to the increased quantity and quality of these forces. Official platforms in the Islamic Republic have either denied the presence in Syria over the past four and a half years or insisted on 'advisory and cultural' presence when compelled to announce the location of the deaths of the fallen due to the publication of news about their bodies being returned to the country. The state news agency IRNA reported in July that since the beginning of the conflicts in Syria, over 400 Iranians and Afghans have been killed in the country. These individuals were organized and sent to Syria in the form of the 'Fatimiyoun' brigades and 'Defenders of the Shrine of Zainab.' The significance of this IRNA report lies in the fact that Islamic Republic officials have not been willing to officially and accurately announce the statistics of Iranian casualties in Syria and have, in principle, denied the relationship between the number of casualties sent by Iran and the intensity and weakness of the conflicts in this country. Hossein Salami, in his remarks, also confirmed the presence of multinational Shiite military personnel in the Syrian war in favor of Bashar al-Assad, stating that 'when the Syrian army was engaged in its reconstruction, forces from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Shiites from Pakistan and Lebanon also went to help them.' Previously, numerous reports had been published regarding the organization of Afghans and Pakistanis residing in Iran in exchange for money and permanent residency cards to live in the Islamic Republic. The latest news indicates the confirmation of the start of the 'Severe Revenge' operation last week in Syria by Hassan Shamsadi, a journalist from the Islamic Republic's state television who has been present in Syria since the beginning of the conflicts. He reported on the 'important and decisive role of young, commanders, and guards of Iran who are in Syria on advisory duty' and stated that the 'hardship of the battle' naturally increases the likelihood of casualties and injuries. Although Shamsadi claimed that the planning and design of this operation and the equipping of human resources and their relocation and training took nearly 'five months,' it seems that the Islamic Republic, by choosing the title 'Severe Revenge' for it and linking this operation to the death of Hossein Hamadani and the month of Muharram, aims to create an emotional atmosphere to encourage young military and paramilitary forces to participate more actively in the war in Syria.