The Bodies of Seven Casualties from the Syrian and Iraqi Wars Buried in Iran

Reports from Iran indicate that the funeral ceremony for a Basij commander killed in Iraq and six Afghan and Pakistani nationals killed in Syria was held on Wednesday and Thursday in the cities of Arak, Qom, and Shahriar. According to the 'Defa Press' website affiliated with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran, the funeral for Mohammad Hazara, an Afghan national killed in Syria, took place on Thursday, 30 Ordibehesht, in Shahriar. The Fars News Agency also reported that two Afghan forces and three Pakistani forces killed in Syria were buried on Wednesday in Qom. This news agency identified these five individuals as Yadollah Saei and Rahmatollah Azimi from the 'Fatemiyoun' Brigade and Iftikhar Hossein, Abdolali Asadi, and Hossein Ahmadi from the 'Zainabiyoun' Brigade. The 'Fatemiyoun' Brigade consists of Afghan residents of Iran, and the 'Zainabiyoun' Brigade includes Pakistani residents of Iran, who are organized by the Islamic Republic of Iran to fight in favor of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Previously, multiple reports have been published regarding the funeral and burial of the bodies of members of these two groups in various parts of Iran, especially in the provinces of Qom, Razavi Khorasan, and Tehran. The Human Rights Watch reported on January 29, 2016, that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has forcibly conscripted thousands of Afghans and sent some of them to fight alongside pro-Assad forces in Syria. Earlier, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, had met with the families of some of the casualties from the 'Fatemiyoun' Brigade in Syria. In this meeting, Mr. Khamenei promised to personally follow up on some of their issues, including the possibility of their children studying in schools in Iran. Meanwhile, the Iranian Parliament approved a provision in May this year during the review of the 'Regulation of Certain Provisions of National Development Programs' bill, which, if finally approved, would allow the government to grant Iranian citizenship to the families of Afghan nationals who were sent to Syria by Iranian military forces and were killed. So far, no accurate reports have been published regarding the Iranian, Afghan, and Pakistani forces killed in Syria, but Eynollah Tabrizi, the former deputy commander of the Mazandaran IRGC, reported on May 9 that at least 1200 'combatants' have died in the last four years of conflict in Syria. Meanwhile, according to IRGC commanders, after the attack by the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, on the strategic village of 'Khan Tuman' on May 5, 13 members of the Mazandaran IRGC were killed, and 21 were injured, with the bodies of 11 of them still in the hands of Assad's opponents. Additionally, according to Gilan IRGC commanders, six Iranian forces have also been captured. Meanwhile, the ISNA news agency reported on Thursday that 30 members of the Mazandaran IRGC have been killed in Syria so far. In recent years, reports have also emerged regarding the deaths of several Iranian forces in Iraq. In this context, the state news agency IRNA reported that on Wednesday, the funeral of Alireza Babaei, a former commander of one of the Basij battalions in Arak, was held in this city. According to this report, Mr. Babaei was killed on May 14 in Fallujah, Iraq, due to an 'explosive device.' So far, no accurate statistics have been published regarding the number of Iranian forces killed in Iraq, but published reports indicate that this number is significantly lower than the Iranian forces killed in Syria.