Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has lost another high-ranking member in clashes in Syria.
General Hamid Reza Ansari, a member of the IRGC's Ruhollah unit, stationed in Iran's Markazi province, was killed in Syria, the unit's official website reported Feb. 20.
General Mohsen Karimi, the commander of the Ruhollah unit, also confirmed the death of Ansari, who was in Syria to "protect the holy shrine of Zaynab [a daughter of first Shia Imam Ali]".
At least five top commanders of IRGC have been killed in Syria since early 2015, including Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani, killed last October.
Over the past few years and since the crisis broke out in Syria and Iraq, several members of the elite forces of Iran have been reportedly killed in clashes with "terrorists", which suggested Iran's military presence in both countries.
However, Iranian officials have constantly denied that their servicemen have boots on ground in Syria and Iraq, saying the officers of the Islamic Republic are in Syria and Iraq as advisers at official request from both countries' governments.