The Bodies of Five Recent Victims of the Syrian Civil War Buried in Iran

The funeral of four Iranians and one Afghan citizen killed in the Syrian civil war was held on Tuesday, December 15, in several regions of Iran. The official news agency of the Islamic Republic, IRNA, reported that the funerals of Mohammad Hadi-Nejad and Ali-Akbar Shirali were held in Aghajari. Ayoub Rahimpour was also buried in the city of Omidieh. These two cities are located in Khuzestan province, and IRNA added that with the deaths of these three individuals, the number of casualties from Khuzestan in Iraq and Syria has reached 33. The funeral of Ismail Zahedpour was also held in Kordkuye Golestan. Abdulhadi Hosseini Shahroudi, the representative of Golestan in the Assembly of Experts, and commanders of the IRGC in the province attended the ceremony. According to IRNA, the number of casualties from Golestan province in the Syrian civil war has also reached five. The funeral of Zulfiqar Ali-Mohammadi, an Afghan citizen residing in Iran, was held in Hassanabad Fashafouyeh. Mr. Ali-Mohammadi was a member of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, which is composed of Afghans residing in Iran organized by the Islamic Republic to fight in Syria. Hossein Fadaei, a commander of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, was also killed on December 10 in Aleppo, Syria. So far, dozens of Iranians and Afghans fighting in support of the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the central government of Iraq have been killed. Among them were senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) such as Hossein Hamadani. The Islamic Republic refers to its military forces fighting in Iraq and Syria as 'Defenders of the Shrine.' Previously, Bloomberg News reported, citing 'American and Western military officials,' that with the rising casualties of the IRGC, the Islamic Republic is in the process of 'withdrawing' its military forces from combat zones in Syria. In response to this report, however, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, stated that the Islamic Republic's 'military advisors' continue their actions 'uninterrupted' to 'combat terrorism.'