Two More IRGC Servicemen Killed in Syria - UPDATES

Iranian media reported on Sunday that two more IRGC officers, Sajjad Tahernia and Ruhollah Emadi, were killed near Aleppo in Syria on Friday. No ranks were given. Since the deployment of some 2,000 IRGC Ground Force troops to Syria earlier this month, and the start of Iran-led campaign to retake Aleppo, 19 IRGC servicemen have been killed in action, by far the biggest monthly causalities in the Syrian civil war, which is now in its fifth year.

UPDATE: Two more IRGC/Basij servicemen, Poya Izadi and Hamidreza Taghi, were killed in Syria on Monday, bringing the total number of KIAs in the past two weeks to 21.

UPDATE: A Twitter post today has published the names and affiliations of known Iranian KIAs in Syria, with references to the Iranian new sources announcing their deaths. Based on the list, with the two killed today, there are actually 24 servicemen killed in action since 7 October. (Twitter/@Shiapulse, 26 October)

Two IRGC Servicemen Killed Near Aleppo

Fars News Agency reported today that two IRGC servicemen were killed today south of the Syrian city of Aleppo. The news agency gave the names of the soldiers killed in action as Mostafa Sadrzadeh (pictured below with Gen. Soleimani) and Milad Mostafavi. Fars did not give their ranks.

Yesterday, an IRGC spokesman had confirmed the death of eight servicemen also near Aleppo, but social media reports had put the number of KIA at 15. With two more KIA reported today, the total number of Iranian casualties in Syria in the past 48 hours has now risen to at least 10, and as many as 17, the most in more than four years of conflict.

In the past, a number of senior officers, including general officers of the Quds Force, who were deployed to Syria as advisers, were killed in action. This month the IRGC Ground Force reportedly deployed some 2,000 troops to Syria, with younger and lower-ranked servicemen being killed in action.

An image of Mostafa Sadrzadeh and Gen. Soleimani taken in Syria. The date and exact location unknown. (Mashreghnews)

ISIL Claims Shooting Down Iranian Drone

Islamic Republic said today that it has shot down and Iranian Shahin drone in eastern Iraq earlier on Monday. ISIL broadcast a video reportedly showing the downed drone. There were no comments on ISIL's claim by the Iranian military. (Reuters, 29 December)

Earlier today, ISIL also claimed the killing of IRGC Brig. Gen. Hamid Taghavi, one of the most senior Iranian officer killed in Iraqi and Syrian campaigns.

Photo credit: Screenshot of ISIL video reportedly showing an Iranian downed Shahin drone (Reuters, 29 December)

ISIL Claims Responsibility for Killing of Iranian General in Iraq

The Islamic State has claimed the killing of Brig. Gen. Hamid Taghvai, an IRGC commander, according to images posted on ISIL’s forums on Monday. (AFP, 29 December)

The IRGC announced the death of Gen. Taghvai on Sunday, saying he was killed in the city of Samarra by a sniper bullet. His funeral was held in Tehran on Monday.

Photo credit: Iranians carry the coffin of IRGC Brigadier General Hamid Taghvai killed in Samarra region in Iraq during his funeral in Tehran; 29 December 2014 (AFP)

IRGC General Killed in Samarra

IRGC Brig. Gen. Hamid Taghavi was killed on Saturday in the Iraqi city of Samarra. The IRGC announced today. (Fars News Agency, 28

December)

IRGC said Gen. Taghavi was killed by sniper bullets in the embattled Iraqi city. Shia militias, led by IRGC’s Quds Force, are fighting ISIL insurgents near Samarra.

Gen. Taghavi was a veteran of 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, commanding the IRGC’s Ramazan Headquarters during that war.

File photo: IRGC Brig. Gen. Hamid Taghavi, KIA in Samarra, Iraq. (Press TV)

Air Drill Successful - IRIAF

IRIAF F-4E Launches Qadr ASCM 

IRIAF Brig. Gen. Hossein Chitforoush told reporters in Bandar Abbas today that the air force fighters have succeeded in missions during the second day of the Defenders of Velayat Sanctuary 4 exercises.

F-4 Phantoms, Su-24s, F5s, F-1 Mirages, and Saeqeh (thunderbolt) fighters took part in today’s air drills.

Gen. Chitforoush said that after the air tracking and air-to-surface firing against pre-planned targets, Saeqeh and Mirage fighters destroyed ground and sea targets successfully using optimized pinpointing rockets developed and manufactured by Artesh Air Force (IRIAF). [Mehr News Agency, 21 December]

Chitforoush added that F-4 fighters destroyed mobile targets on sea, firing Maverick enhanced pinpointing rockets.

Iranian Defense Ministry had announced last September that it had equipped F-4Es with Nasr and Qader anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), with the range of 35km and 200km respectively. The F-4Es could test fire the ASCMs during the current exercise.

UPDATE: Iran media reports a Qadr air-launched cruise missile as previously seen fitted to F-4E Phantom II was successfully fired during the second day of the exercise.

Photo credit: IRIAF fighters at Bandar Abbas. 21 December 2013. (Ahmad Jafari/Mehr News Agency)