Iran’s Brigadier General Hamadani: Sentinel of faith or Sentinel of Assad?

_{By: Keyvan Salami}

Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani, the most senior General in charge of the Iranian regime’s forces fighting in Syria, was killed on Thursday evening on the outskirts of the city of Aleppo, the Iranian regime’s state media announced on Friday. Hamedani was a deputy to Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force. 

The question is as a high ranking IRGC commander, what was Hamedani’s mission in Syria? Iran says “defender of Zeinabiya” (the shrine of Holy Zeinab), the sister of the 3rd Shiite Imam, Imam Hossein, is highly revered and holds a special place among the Shiites. On the other hand he has been killed in the suburbs of Aleppo which is 360 kilometers from Zeinabiya.

Hamedani was one of the most senior and highest-ranking IRGC commanders. He was a key element in the massacres of Iranian Kurdistan (1979-1981), of sending pupils and children to clean up mine fields in the unpatriotic Iran-Iraq war, in suppressing the uprising of Tehran in 1999, Commander of the “Mohammad Rasoul Allah” Division in the suppression of the popular uprising in 2009, especially the great uprising by millions on the day of Ashura (December 27, 2009).

Hamedani’s statements in Iranian local media are self-explanatory regarding his mandates in Syria. Speaking on the importance of the regime’s intervention in Syria, he stated on May 1, 2013: “Syria is fighting the world arrogance and terrorism on behalf of Muslims… Syria is in the camp of Islamic resistance and is a brother of Iran. Today, it is our duty to support Syria and we should not hide Syria’s supports for the Islamic Revolution” (Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the terrorist Qods Force). On May 5, 2014 he stated: “Iranians have established the second Hezbollah in Syria… Today, we are fighting in Syria because of our interests such as the Islamic Revolution and our defense is similar to the ‘holy defense’ [Iran-Iraq war]. And today, 130,000 trained Basij forces are waiting to enter Syria” (Fars News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC).

The death of Hamedani and a number of other IRGC commanders and elements who were accompanying him once again highlights the reality that the atrocious war against the Syrian people is wholly commanded and guided by the Iranian regime and its Revolutionary Guards. Otherwise, the Syrian dictator would have been toppled a long time ago and Syria and the region would not have faced the present tragic situation.

Moreover, the death of the highest military pawn of the Iranian regime in Syria who was operating under the pseudonym Abu Wahab, demonstrates that Iran after the Iran deal despite all rhetoric, is at its lowest balance of power in the region and has lost its control over its own proxies in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and of course in Syria.The IGRC general’s death would intensify the psychological blow to pro-regime forces in Syria.

Now we can answer the question quoting from Bashar Al-Assad himself as he in an interview with Iranian TV last weekend, publicly thanked the Iranians — along with Russia for their support.

“We want help from our friends, and this is what Iran is offering, and what Russia is offering,” he said, hailing Russia’s recent initiative to form a coalition between Russia, Syria and Iran.

keyvan Salami an Iranian human rights activist writing for freedom and democracy in Iran and tweets at @SalamiKeyvan