Iran Says IRGC Officer Dies of Wounds Sustained in US-Led Strike in Syria

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Thursday that one of its officers died due to wounds that were sustained in a strike launched by the US-led coalition in Syria.

Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of the IRGC, said in a statement that Col. Ahmadreza Afshari, who was in the IRGC’s Aerospace Division, was wounded in Syria while working as an advisor in the country.

It’s unclear exactly when the airstrike took place. According to Iran’s PressTV, Afshari was hit sometime between July 22 and August 5. Afshari was transferred to Iran for medical treatment but succumbed to his wounds.

The US has a history of launching airstrikes against Iran-allied Shia militias in Syria but did not take credit for any strikes in Syria during that time. On July 30, the US launched airstrikes in Iraq against the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of mostly Shia militias, but did not claim any strikes in Syria.

Israel also frequently bombs Syria and has killed multiple Iranian advisors in the country since October 7, including the April 1 bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which killed a senior IRGC general. The bombing provoked the first-ever direct Iranian attack on Israeli territory.

The news of an Iranian officer dying of an alleged US airstrike comes as tensions are soaring in the region as the US and Israel are preparing for an Iranian reprisal attack for the Israeli killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. The US is vowing to defend Israel and has deployed more military assets to the region for that purpose.