Senior IRGC commander Hossein Hamedani killed in Syria

Hossein Hamedani, deputy commander of the so-called Imam Hossein Base and Iran’s point man in Syria, has been killed in Aleppo, said the Revolutionary Guards Public Relations Office on Friday, October 9^th. He was one of the founding commanders of the IRGC and a leading figure in the terrorist Quds Force, commanding and directing many terrorist attacks in regional countries under Iran’s influence.

Iran is known to continuously deny the presence of IRGC elements inside Syria. With a senior figure such as Hamedani – one of the 5 main Quds Force elements – being killed in Syria, this proves once again the IRGC’s extensive presence in this country. Iran is now literally begging Russia to support Assad from definite downfall, and following the nuclear agreement Russia has agreed to directly intervene in Syria while hoping Iran will actually receive billions form its frozen assets. However, all these plots have received a severe blow with Hamedani’s death, and this will have a major impact on IRGC forces in Syria.

Highlights of Hossein Hamedani’s Biography

- He was one of the highest ranking IRGC commanders and worked in IRGC intelligence in the early years of the Iran-Iraq War back in the 1980s. However, he was then transferred to the Bassij paramilitary forces and thus IRGC Ground Forces. Hamedani was one of the closes advisors of IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari.

- Following Israel’s attack against Lebanon (June 5^th, 1982) the IRGC dispatched its 27^th Division to Syria, and from there to Lebanon. Hamedani was one of the commanders of this division stationed in the country.

- After establishing the “IRGC Strategic Center” in 2005, IRGC chief Jafari immediately appointed Hamedani as his deputy in this center.

- In early 2012 he was transferred from the IRGC Greater Tehran command to the Quds Force.

- In a speech delivered on May 5^th, 2014: “God willing, Iranians will form the second Revolutionary Guards in Syria… with the visions of the supreme leader and using urban warfare tactics, the number of those killed in this country have decreased and permanent security has been established to some extent.” 

The state-run Fars news agency cited this IRGC commander and wrote: Today, we are fighting for interests such as the Islamic revolution in Syria, our defense is similar to the Sacred Defense (a reference to the Iran-Iraq War), and today there are 130,000 trained Bassiji paramilitary members waiting to enter Syria.

However, the Fars news agency deleted this report from its website and this segment of Hamedani’s speech was no longer covered by any other news source.

Hamedani’s Background:

- Hossein Hamedani was born in 1955 in the city of Hamedan, Iran.

- In 1979 as Khomeini hijacked the revolution in Iran he became a member of the Hamedan Security Committees Command Council.

- As the IRGC was formed in Tehran, Hamedani and others sharing his viewpoint formed the IRGC branch in Hamedan. He then became a member of the IRGC Command Council in Hamedan Province.

- Hamedani was dispatched to Kurdistan as border clashes with Iraq began in 1980, and four months prior to the start of the Iran-Iraq War he commanded a border post in the Sarpol Zahab region (western Iran near Iraq border) and was always active in repressing opponents of the Iranian regime.

- In December 1981 the IRGC launched an operation dubbed “al-Fajr” in which Hamedani was chosen as the first combat commander.

- In 1982 the IRGC 27^th Division was formed under Ahmad Motevasilyan, and in cooperation with Mohammad Ibrahim Hemmat, Shahbazi and Hamedani, who commanded the operations branch of this division. Hamedani was injured from a bullet shot to the leg during “Operations Fat’h al-Mobein” and transferred back from the front lines.

- A month after this division was stationed in Lebanon, Ahmad Motevasilyan and three other individuals were arrested. Khomeini then ordered this division to return to the warfronts against Iraq. A senior IRGC officer by the name of Hemmat became the commander of this division and Hamedani was appointed as the unit’s operations commander.

- After returning from Lebanon Hamedani was appointed to form the first combat-demolition brigade dubbed the “32^nd Ansar al-Hossein Brigade”. This brigade participated in Operation al-Fajr 2 in which Hamedani was severely injured.

- Hamedani returned to the warfront after some (he was hospitalized and recovering for some period) and was appointed as commander of the 16^th Quds Gilan Division. This unit took part in operations “Karbala 4” and “Karbala 5” in which Hamedani was injured yet again.

- As the war ended with Iraq Hamedani was appointed to the IRGC Command Council for some time and underwent training in the command and headquarters university, studying theoretic and academic guidance of combat units.

- In the early 1990s he assumed the command of Fort Najaf Ashraf and the 4^th Be’sat Division stationed in western Iran.

- In 1990 he was appointed as IRGC Ground Forces chief of staff.

- From the IRGC Ground Forces chief of staff Hamedani was then appointed as deputy of the Bassij resistance force where he took part in the crackdown measures against the college student uprising in July 1999.

- Following the popular uprising crackdown in July 1999 Hamedani was once again appointed as the commander of the IRGC’s 27^th Division and commander of Fort Tharallah in Tehran.

- On June 28^th, 2008 Hamedani was appointed as senior advisor to IRGC commander Jafari.

- With changes in the IRGC command structure and the formation of the Bassij Mostazafan Organization under Mohammad Reza Naqdi, Hamedani was appointed as deputy commander of this new unit.

- As the 2009 uprising in Iran flared, on November 14, 2009 Hamedani was appointed again as commander of the IRGC 27^th Division missioned to crush the uprising in Tehran.

- As the Syrian uprising gained momentum and Bashar Assad facing an imminent overthrow, on November 24, 2011 Hamedani transferred the 27^th Division command to Mohsen Kazemeini and became commander of the Quds Force in Syria under senior Quds Force chief Qassem Suleimani. He was appointed to this post to use all his experience gained in the 2009 and 2010 crackdown against the Iranian people, now in Syria against the people and the Free Syrian Army.

- Hamedani, as he claimed, formed and organized 42 brigades and 138 battalions with Syrian Alawits, Asaeb al-Haq and Katayeb Hezbollah terrorist from Iraq, IRGC members from Iran and the Syrian Hezbollah. He went on to claim these forces will save Bashar Assad from being overthrown.