April 15, 2016
Four soldiers from the regular army—not the Pasdaran—who were just sent to Syria this month were killed soon after they arrived.
All the troops sent to Syria before this month were from the Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards). More than 200 have been killed, according to people who have been tracking obituaries in the Iranian press.
Earlier this month, the Army announced it would send regular army troops to Syria for the first time. It said they would act as advisers, not as combat troops.
It was said they would come from the Army’s 65th Brigade, sometimes referred to as Iran’s Green Berets, copying the American term for US Special Forces.
The commander of the Army, Brigadier General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan, attended their funeral Tuesday and said the four were killed when they were attacked by “thousands” of al-Nusra Front militants and other rebels south of the city of Aleppo.