In a message issued on Thursday, Major General Soleimani pointed to the martyrdom of Mohsen Hojaji, the Iranian military adviser, and said, “Following the successive defeats of the Wahhabi Takfiri groups, who are linked to the global arrogance (the US), in the battlefields against Islamic warriors, the Daesh terrorist group committed a heinous and inhumane crime that is contrary to any Islamic or even humanitarian law.”
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) commander further made assurances that his forces will take revenge for this “savage act” through eradicating Wahhabism and terrorism from the Islamic world.
“…These crimes committed (by terrorists) made us more resolved and determined to clean every place of the Islamic lands from their evil existence,” Major General Soleimani noted.
In a separate message, Commander of the IRGC Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour offered condolences to the bereaved family of the Iranian serviceman, and likened his martyrdom to that of Imam Hossein (AS), the third Shiite Imam, who was beheaded in the Battle of Karbala’ on 10 October 680 by Yazid's army.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh, currently controlling parts of it.
According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.
In the meantime, Iran has remained a close ally of Syria and supports its legitimate government in the face of foreign-backed militancy.