Iranian commander vows retaliation over heavy losses in Syria

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 9

By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:

A high-ranking Iranian official has promised retaliation against opposition armed groups in Syria for a recent deadly assault on forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"I promise you, there will be serious revenge on the takfiri [Sunni extremist] groups, soon," the former commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and the current Secretary of Expediency Council, Major General Mohsen Rezaei, wrote on his Instagram account.

Dozens of Iranian forces were killed and wounded in a recent attack launched by an alliance of Islamist insurgents to take control of a strategic village near the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Following the attack, insurgents published several videos and photos depicting the corpse of pro-Assad forces in the village of Khan Touman.

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad suffered heavy losses as insurgents seized Khan Touman Village in southern Aleppo on May 6.

Iranian officials have constantly confirmed that the IRGC provides the Syrian army with advisory support in fight against the terrorist groups.

At least 250,000 people have been killed in the Syrian crisis with hundreds of thousands displaced over the past five years since crisis sparked in the Arab country.