Mounting death toll for Iranian soldiers in Aleppo

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—According to news reports out of Iran three revolutionary guards have been killed in battle near the Syrian city of Aleppo as the country witnesses a rise in Iranian military advisors.

The Iranian Youth News Club (YJC) reported Monday that Sajad Tahirnya and Ruhullah Imadi were killed while fighting rebel groups alongside Syrian government forces in Aleppo.

A third officer from Iran’s Arab-majority province of Khuzestan was also reported killed.

The death of the three brings the number of Iranian soldiers killed in Syria to seven in recent weeks.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards command stated earlier this month that four other soldiers known as Pasdar were killed during the days of Ashura.

According to Tasnim news agency one of the four was identified as Amin Karimi, a Basij student from Ray University and “he was killed on duty on the outskirts of Aleppo,”

Syrian troops backed by Russian air strikes as well as Iranian and Lebanese Shiite militia have been battling rebel groups around Aleppo since the beginning of October.

Ramazn Sharif, public relations officer of the Iranian army has told his country’s media that recent days have seen a rise in the number of Iranian military advisors in Syria.

Iran has been the main backer of President Bashar Assad’s regime since the start of the civil of war in 2011.

Following a meeting with the Syrian president in Damascus earlier this month Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of Iran’s national security and foreign policy committee said that his country would consider sending troops to Syria if requested.

“If this issue is requested by Syria we will consider it and make a decision,” said Boroujerdi at a press conference. “We are serious about fighting terrorism.”

The highest-level Iranian casualty in Syria was Brig. Gen. Hossein Hamedani, a top military who was killed in the outskirts of Aleppo in the beginning of the offensive on October 9.