IRGC General, Former Saberin Commander, Killed in Syria

Brig. Gen. Farshad Hosouni-Zadeh, former commander of Saberin, IRGC’s elite special forces brigade, was killed in Syria, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported today. No further details were given.

On Monday, Colonel Hamid Mokhtarband, aka Abu Zahra, former commander of IRGC’s Hazrat Hojat brigade in Ahvaz, was also killed in Syria, Tasnim news agency reported today.

Last Thursday, the most senior IRGC officer in Syria, Gen. Hossein Hamedani, was killed near Aleppo. He was buried on Monday in his hometown of Hamedan.

Top photo: General Farshad Hosouni-Zadeh (r.) in an unidentified location in Syria (FNA)

Bottom photo: General Hamid Mokhtarband, second from left (Tasnim) 

Iran Demands Release of Frontier Guards from Pakistan

Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli today demanded immediate release of abducted Iranian border guards from Pakistan.

“The Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Security and other Iranian bodies have attempted to (work with Pakistan) to release the abducted frontier guards. We hope that the information disseminated on the death of one of them is untrue, but if this information is confirmed, we will be forced to resort to other measures to protect our borders,” Rahmani Fazli said. (IRIB, 26 March)

The tone of Rahmani Fazeli’s demand suggests that Iran might be getting ready to intervene militarily to free the guards. If such decision is made politically, and if Iran has good intelligence on the whereabouts of the detained guards, it will be expected that the IRGC Special Forces, the Saberin, supported by elements from other military units, to enter the Pakistani Baluchistan on the search and rescue mission.

However such intervention will complicate Iran-Pakistan’s relations, especially with the Pakistani military and the ISI who are in charge of Baluchistan’s security.

File photo: Iranian Frontier Guard at Pakistani Border in Baluchistan (IRNA)