Gen Soleimani aide killed in Syria

A senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been killed near Aleppo in north-west Syria. Asghar Bashpour was one of the first officers to accompany Soleimani as he established the elite IRGC, the state-run IRNA reports on Tuesdaн. The exact details of Soleimani aide’s death have not been revealed.

The late Bashpour was a close aide of General Qassem Soleimani, whose death has shaken the Middle Eastern community last month. Bashpour was responsible for conducting and overseeing all Iranian-backed Special Forces operations within the country, a role given more prominence following Soleimani’s killing.

Bashpour was killed during a major campaign by Syrian regime forces and their Iranian militia allies against opposition groups near the key city, as well as in the neighbouring province of Idlib.

Bashpour was one of the first officers to help Qassem Soleimani from the early days of the ongoing nine-year-long civil war in Syria. As the political observers believe, both Soleimani’s and Bashpour’s deaths are serious losses for Iran in Syria.

Now, when much of Syria having been recaptured by the regime, resulting in many of the citizens again being subject to oppression and torture, Idlib has long been in Assad’s sights.