Commander: Iranian Army Forces in Syria on Voluntary Basis

Some volunteers from the Army have been dispatched to Syria among whom may be a number of forces from the 65th Nohed Brigade (Special Forces), the commander told reporters on Wednesday. 

He added that the Army has no responsibility in advisory assistance to Syria, stressing that those sent to the Arab country have volunteered to go there and are acting under the responsibility of an organization in Iran which governs measures related to the advisory assistance.

It came after four members of Iran’s Army Ground Force Special Forces who were on an advisory mission in Syria’s Aleppo were martyred earlier this month.

Army Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan told Tasnim at the time that the force’s advisers are helping Syria along with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force advisers.

According to the commander, the four were killed in a large-scale raid launched by thousands of al-Nusra Front militants and other Takfiri terrorists south of Syria’s Aleppo.

Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force for Coordination Brigadier General Ali Arasteh had also told Tasnim earlier that some advisers from the 65th Nohed Brigade are in Syria.

According to the commander, the Special Forces commandos are not the only advisers that the Army Ground Force has dispatched to Syria, and the other units have representatives in the advisory missions as well.

Iran, a close ally of Syria, has been supporting the legitimate Syrian government in the fight against terrorists.

Tehran has already made it clear that its assistance to Syria is confined to consultation and advisory help.

Syria has been mired in a civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting an assortment of militant groups, including the Daesh (ISIL) terrorists.