At Funeral for Iran General, Questions Grow Over His Death in Syria

Syrian Rebels Say Gen. Shateri Died in Israeli Air Strike

The death of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Gen. Hassan Shateri is sparking growing speculation, after initial reports of his death in Lebanon were changed to a death in Syria, and officials now say he was killed by “mercenaries and supports of Israel.”

With Shateri being mourned today in Tehran after a death officials say happened Tuesday, the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) is issuing a statement not only contradicting the timing, but the entire narrative.

According to an FSA spokesman, Gen. Shateri was killed two weeks ago in the Israeli air strikes against Syria. The spokesman also claimed the general was supervising shipments of regime arms to Lebanon.

Israeli officials have yet to comment on this claim, but have also been mostly mum on the strikes themselves. It is clear that the FSA would want to implicate Israel as this would both forward the effort to sell Israel on the idea of arms smuggling and give a boost to the chances of widening the war to other countries.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.