Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 30
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
A number of Iranian medical staff members have been captured by extremist groups abroad, the country's health minister, Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi said, Fars news agency reported Jan. 30.
The minister did not name the exact groups or the countries where the medical staff members have been captured.
Hashemi did say that while some are being captured, others are killed in different spots by the "Takfiri" groups (Iranian officials refer to extremist Sunni armed groups in Syria and Iraq, including the IS aka ISIS, ISIL or Daesh).
In recent months, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has lost tens of its servicemen in Syria, however the Iranian officials didn't unveil the exact number of the causalities.
Western countries accuse Iran of running military operations in Syria, but Tehran denies these accusations. Iranian officials have repeatedly stressed that they only provide military consultations to Syrian forces.