Iranian media have reported that a commander in the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been killed in fighting against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria.
The IRGC has been fighting in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a key ally of Tehran, in the six-year civil war in Syria.
The state-run Fars news agency reported on November 19 that Khairollah Samadi, an IRGC commander in charge of a unit in Syria, was killed in fighting on November 16 in the town of Albu Kamal, near the Iraqi border.
Samadi died of shrapnel wounds from a mortar explosion, Fars added.
The head of Iran's Foundation of Martyrs said in November 2016 that more than 1,000 fighters deployed by Iran to Syria had been killed. Senior members of the IRGC have been among those killed.
Iran has provided military support to Assad's forces since at least 2012 in the form of military advisers and volunteers, but it denies sending its own troops.
