Iranian media report that a senior Revolutionary Guards commander in charge of Iran’s Reconstruction Base in Lebanon has been assassinated in Syria.
Iranian media reported on Thursday February 14 that Hassan Shateri was laid to rest in Tehran in the presence of Ayatollah Khamenei’s representative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the commander of the Qods forces in Tehran. The Qods are the international branch of the IRGC.
The Fars News Agency writes that Shateri was assassinated on Tuesday by what the report describes as “Zionist regime mercenaries”, but no reference is made as to where it happened.
ISNA quotes an IRGC public relations officer saying Shateri was killed “en route from Damascus to Beirut.”
Another report on the Belagh website says: “Commander Hassan Shateri and two of his men were ambushed by terrorists in Aleppo, and Commander Shateri was the only one to be martyred.”
Iranian media refer to the Syrian opposition as terrorists.
Reuters also reports that a commander of the Syrian armed rebels reported that Shateri was killed near the Lebanese-Syrian border in Zebdani.
The Iranian embassy in Beirut referred to this commander as Hessam Khoshnevis, saying he was killed by “armed terrorist groups” en route from Damascus to Beirut.
Beirut’s Alsafir daily also writes that the commander had gone to “Syria to examine inspection plans of the city of Aleppo.”
Aleppo has been the site of severe fighting between Syria’s opposition forces and the Syrian army, and reports say it is now in ruins.
Iranian media refer to Shateri as a veteran of the eight-year Iran-Iraq War and an expert “active in engineering and infrastructure construction in war-beaten regions.”
Shateri was involved for years in the rebuilding of the southern Lebanon region.
Iran has remained a faithful supporter of the Beshar Assad regime and argues that the armed opposition forces are supported by Saudi and Qatari arms and carry out terrorist activities in Syria.
