Media: Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard elite task force killed in Syria
Iranian media reported that a commander of a military unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was killed in Syria in a battle with the Islamic State (the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant - ISIL).
The Iranian Fars state news agency on November 19th reported that Khairullah Samadi, a commander of the Guards Corps military unit that was conducting a military operation in Syria, was killed on November 16th in combat clashes with ISIL near the city of Albu Kamal, which is currently controlled by Syrian governmental forces that regained control over the city in the battle.
According to the Fars reports, Samadi was killed by shrapnel from an explosion.
The Syrian SANA state news agency reported on November 19th that the governmental forces and allies regained control over Abu Kamal, a Syrian city on the Iraqi border and the last stronghold of the Islamic State in the country.
Syrian Armed Forces announced they had restored control over Albu Kamal back on November 9th, but later ISIL militants launched an offensive and retook the city.
The ISIL forces have seen a series of defeats lately, a result of a combined military effort at multiple fronts of the Assad governmental forces supported by Russia, the civil opposition forces supported by the international coalition led by the United States, Iraqi governmental forces, and their allies that are also part of the U.S.-led coalition.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps elite task force was created after the 1979 revolution with the task “to protect Iran from internal and external threats and to uphold its revolutionary aspirations.”