The Chief of Staff of Islamic Republic armed forces who is visiting Syria has met with paramilitary forces sent by Iran to defend Bashar al-Assad's government.

Tasnim news agency, close to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, IRGC, published the news along with several photographs.

Mizan news agency, also a conservative media outlet, published a report about General Mohammad Bagheri’s visit to war zones in the Aleppo province and his speeches to the paramilitary units called Defenders of the Shrine.

The Islamic Republic initially claimed that its military involvement in Syria was an effort to defend a Shiite shrine near Damascus.

The reports do not say when the visits to war zones took palace.

​Bagheri praised the success of “the resistance front and defenders of the shrine against terrorist”. He also spoke of great coordination between the paramilitary forces and the Syrian army.

In addition to Iranian forces, the Islamic Republic organized and armed thousands of Shiites from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and even Pakistan to fight in Syria.

Bagheri has met Bashar al-Assad as well as Syrian military officials during his visit, which began on October 17.

On October 18, he warned Israel that “aggression” against Syria “is not acceptable”, after Israeli air force had bombed a Syrian anti-aircraft battery, after it had opened fire on its planes.