BY Heshmat Alavi
IRGC and hired mercenaries suffering heavy casualties in the Levant
Day by day Iran is seeing itself tied up in a seemingly never-ending quagmire in Syria, with reports of its “elite” Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and hired foot soldiers suffering heavy casualties fighting alongside what is left of Bashar Assad’s forces. Following controversial reports over a serious injury suffered by IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Suleimani south of Aleppo, it seems the taboo of reports over Iran’s losses in Syria have been lifted and the true scene in Syria is finally emerging for the outside world. Despite Russia rushing to the support of Bashar Assad and Iran in Syria, the ayatollahs’ losses on the ground are growing, making the Levant an enormous quagmire Tehran cannot neglect.
Searching for an answer to the increasing number of defeats its forces are suffering in Syria in late 2014, Tehran begged Moscow for assistance seeking to advance under the umbrella of Russian air strikes with its IRGC units, the Lebanese Hezbollah, Iraqi militia groups, Afghan and Pakistani mercenaries, and the remainder of Assad’s army. However, more 2 months after immense bombing raids over Syria leaving scores of civilians killed, Iran has little to boast about. In fact, the ayatollah shave suffered major blows where there forces have been left no choice but to retreat.
The IRGC’s most important objective was to retake all of Aleppo from Syrian opposition groups. Qassem Suleimani personally supervised the attacks staged by all pro-Assad forces south of Aleppo. After Russia launched its air strikes Suleimani assured Aleppo would be conquered in 3 days if the IRGC would hold back the Free Syrian Army (FSA) from advancing. Overrunning the Damascus-Aleppo highway was the set as the first stage of their plans, yet the IRGC was forced withdraw from these areas after suffering heavy casualties. In one village alone 15 IRGC members were killed in recent battles. Members of the Lebanese Hezbollah, along with Iraqi and Afghan mercenaries have been seen in these fronts.
Latakia in the northwest coastal regions of Syria, and known as Assad’s stronghold, is of vital importance for Assad and Russia. Therefore, IRGC forces stationed in the area are missioned to retake northern suburbs of the city lost to opposition forces to prevent the probable fall of all of Latakia. Along with intense Russian airstrikes the IRGC and Assad army have recently launched concentrated attacks on opposition-held areas, all ending in defeat. In addition to Aleppo and Latakia, the IRGC and their mercenaries are also stationed around the cities of Damascus, Dara and Idlib. Their top priorities include preventing FSA advances onward to Damascus.
The IRGC’s battles are mostly focused against the FSA and Jaish al-Fatah, and their associated groups. Iran is very careful not to station the IRGC anywhere close to areas where they would come in any contact with ISIS. Qassem Suleimani has made it crystal clear for the IRGC to focus all their efforts against the FSA and have nothing to do with ISIS.
Iran in the past few months dispatched numerous senior Quds Force and IRGC commanders to Syria alongside Suleimani. This shows the vital importance of Syria for the ayatollahs in Tehran.
- IRGC Brigadier General Esmail Qa’ani, Suleimani’s deputy in the Quds Force. He has recently commanded the IRGC forces in Aleppo. In fact he practically replaced IRGC commander Hossein Hamedani, killed in Syria on October 8th.
- IRGC Brigadier General Qasem Rostami, former commander of the IRGC’s massive Khatam al-Anbia Base and oil minister under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is currently in charge of IRGC logistics in Syria.
- IRGC Brigadier General Ahmad Madani, aka “Seyyed Javad”, has been the IRGC commander in Syria’s northern. He is currently stationed near Aleppo.
- Haj Ali Safari, an IRGC commander of the Vali Assr Corps in southwest Iran. He is currently stationed in Latakia and responsible for a section of IRGC supplies in Syria.
- IRGC Brigadier General Haj Komail Kohansal, from the 24th Karbala Division in northern Iran. He was recently wounded in Latakia and returned to Iran.
Iran has in the past few months increased the number of IRGC units dispatched in Syria aimed at launch extensive ground attacks under Russian air strikes. Currently, the number of IRGC members in Syria tops the 5,000 mark. Of course, one has to also take into consideration the tens of thousands of Lebanese Hezbollah members, Iraqi Shiite militias, alongside Afghan and Pakistani foot-soldiers hired by Iran and fighting under IRGC command. In addition to combat brigades the IRGC has also dispatched to Syria numerous artillery, aviation and engineering units, drones and commanders specialized in intelligence gathering and operations. A small list of known IRGC units dispatched to Syria from various parts of Iran is as follows:
- Battalions of the Ansar Al-Mahdi Corps, aka the Vali Amr Corps, originally tasked to protect Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other senior regime officials. These are Tehran’s most skilled and reliable forces that are currently stationed south of Aleppo. Abdollah Bagheri, Ahmadinejad’s bodyguard and a member of this corps, was recently killed in Syria.
IRGC special forces known as the Sabering units include:
- 5th Nasr Division battalions from northeast Iran
- Units from the 21st Imam Reza Independent Armored Brigade
- Units from the 17th Ali ibn AbiTalib Division from central Iran
- Units from the 14th Imam Hussein Division from central Iran
- Units from the 1st Hojjat Brigade and 3rd Karkheh Brigade of the 7th Vali Asr Armored Division from southwest Iran
- Units from the Ansar al-Rassoul Brigade of the Nabi Akram Corps from western Iran
- Units of the 19th Fajr Division and 33rd Al-Mahdi Airborne Brigade from central Iran
- The Fatehin Battalion was recently returned to Iran from Syria after suffering high casualties. Haj Ali Faraji is the commander of this battalion that was originally stationed in Tehran’s Yaftabad region.
- A number of Quds Force units from northern Iran
- A number of Seyyed os-Shohada Corps units from Tehran
- A number of units from the 1st Naynava Brigade, the 60th Armored Brigade and the 45th Javad ol-A’emmeh Brigade of northern Iran
- A number of units of the 41st Tharallah Division from central Iran
- 161st Battalion from the Ansar-al Hussein Corps and the 164th Ali-Akbar Commando Battalion from northwest Iran
- The 56th Younis Artillery group from south-central Iran
Shiite militias have also been dispatched by Iran to Syria alongside the Lebanese Hezbollah and embedded into various units involved in the war supporting Bashar Assad.
- Kata’ib Hezbollah, Asa’ib al-Haq and the Badr Corps comprised of hired killers from Iraq. These groups have dispatched large numbers of their men to Syria on orders from Tehran.
- Abolfadhl al-Abbass, Zolfaqar, Kata’ib Seyyed os-Shohada, Saraya Khorassani and Harekat an-Nojaba brigades, formed by the IRGC in recent years, consist of Iraqi mercenaries and are deployed to Syria
- The Fatemiyoun Division, made up of hired Afghans residing in Iran, particularly those in prison who have been released on the condition of fighting in Syria and hired by the IRGC with a monthly salary of $500. A large number of these men, including their commanders Alireza Tavassoli and Mostafa Sadrzadeh, have already been killed in Syria.
- The Zainabiyoun Group made up of Pakistani Shiites residing in Iraq who have been organized by the IRGC.
Over the past two months at least 100 IRGC officers and trained men have been killed in battles across Syria. While some of their bodies have been transferred back to Iran, many have been left stranded in Syria. Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported in June the number of IRGC members and affiliates killed in Syria and buried in Iran had already topped 400; whereas the actual number of IRGC members and hired foot-soldiers killed in Syria exceed the 3,000 mark, including a number of senior IRGC commanders.
IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani, Acting Commander of IRGC, deputy commander of the Qods Force and commander of the Iran’s troops in Syria
IRGC Brigadier General Mohmmad Ali Allah-Dadi, commander of the Al-Ghadeer Corps
IRGC Brigadier General Abdollah Eskandari
IRGC Brigadier General Abdollah Haidari
IRGC Brigadier General Hassan Shateri, head of Lebanon’s reconstruction staff
IRGC Brigadier General Ismael Haidar
IRGC Brigadier General Jabbar Dorissavi
IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Jamali Paghaleh
IRGC Brigadier General Seyyed Hamid Tabatabaii Mehr, an IRGC ground operations director
IRGC Brigadier General Hadi Kajbaf, commander of Shoushtar Corps of southwest Iran
IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Padpa, commander of the 41st Tharallah Division
IRGC Brigadier General Rouzbeh Helissiyaii
IRGC Brigadier General Jabbar Araghi
IRGC Brigadier General Shaibani
IRGC Brigadier General Abolreza Mojairi
IRGC Brigadier General Ezzatollah Soleimani
IRGC Colonel Amir Reza Alizadeh
IRGC Colonel Abbas Abdollahi
IRGC Colonel Moslem Khizab
IRGC Colonel Hamid Mokhtarband
IRGC Colonel Farshad Hassouni-zadeh.
This provides a very clear image of the Syria quagmire Iran is engulfed in. The situation, despite Russia’s support, will only worsen for the ayatollahs in the Levant as their fate is intertwined with that of the doomed Bashar Assad.
Heshmat Alavi tweets on @heshmatalavi