PHOTO: Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani, killed near Aleppo in Syria by the Islamic State


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Iran’s top commander in the Syrian conflict has been killed.

On Friday, the Revolutionary Guards announced the death of Brigadier General Hassan Hamedani. The head of the elite Quds Force in Syria was killed “on the outskirts of Aleppo” by the “takfiri terrorists” of the Islamic State.

Iran is an essential ally of the Assad regime. The Revolutionary Guards created the National Defense Forces militia who have been need to prop up Syrian army short of manpower. Tehran has supplied commanders, provided weapons, supported Iraqi militia alongside Assad forces, and promised Afghan immigrants money and permanent residency if they join the fight.

Hamedani was the most senior of the eight Guards commanders who have been killed in the 4 1/2-year conflict. He had helped establish the Guards, commanded units in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, and organized Iraqi militia in that country’s conflict after the 2003 US invasion. On the domestic front, he was a key assistant to Revolutionary Guards head Mohammad Ali Jafari, reorganizing the Guards between 2005 and 2008 and leading the suppression of protesters after Iran’s disputed 2009 Presidential election.

President Rouhani issued a message of condolence, saying Hamedani’s death was “a big loss and caused deep grief”. He hailed the commander’s “advisory mission to strengthen the Islamic resistance front in the fight against the terrorist group ISIS”.

Revolutionary Guards head Jafari said Hamedani was killed by “terrorist mercenaries” of the US and Israel: “The enemies must know that the path of resistance and opposition to the Zionists, and opposition to the Americans’ influence, will continue strongly in Muslim lands.”

The commander was killed in the area of a three-way fight, near Syria’s largest city Aleppo, between the Islamic State, rebels, and Assad forces.

An unconfirmed claim said Hamedani was supervising an attempt by the Syrian military to break the long-time siege of the Kuweires airbase by the Islamic State.


President Criticizes Slow Process of Approving Nuclear Deal

President Rouhani criticized Parliament on Saturday over the slow process to approve the July 14 nuclear deal with the 5+1 Powers, saying the Iranian economy is being affected.

Addressing an international conference on Iran’s trade and industry in Tehran, he said that he had expected the agreement to come into effect within a few weeks.

Hardliners in Parliament insisted on a formal vote on the deal. While that has not been confirmed, a Parliamentary commission has held weeks of hearings. The submission of their report this week only caused further acrimony, with some members saying that their views about the positive effects of the deal were ignored and that no vote was held on the text.

The Rouhani Government had hoped that the removal of sanctions could begin in mid-December, when the International Atomic Energy Agency verified Iranian compliance with the terms of the deal.