Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Hussein Hamedani Killed in Syria

“The French military carried out airstrikes overnight against ISIS targets in Raqqa, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian tweeted Friday”. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the advance by the extremists, which began Thursday night, is the most significant in months.

The Observatory, which monitors Syria’s conflict through a network of sources in the country, said Hamedani was killed near Kweires air base, about 20 miles (35 km) east of Aleppo. IS-affiliated accounts on Twitter also announced the militants had seized those villages.

A one-time commander during the 8-year Iraqi imposed war on Iran in the 1980s, Brigadier General Hamedani was a senior military advisor that played a “decisive role in the protection of the holy shrine of Sayyida Zeinab (AS)” against terrorist attacks, the statement said.

“Brig. Gen. Hamedani was martyred by Daesh terrorists during an advisory mission in the outskirts of Aleppo” on Thursday afternoon, said the statement read on IRNA, using an Arabic acronym for the group.

It was not clear whether Hamedani’s killing was related to that IS offensive. Iran, an ally of both Assad and the current Shiite-led government in Iraq, has repeatedly said it has advisers in Syria, but not ground fighters.

The offensive has focused around the Ghab Plain, next to Syria’s western mountain range which forms the heartland of Assad’s Alawite minority, and the main north-south highway between the cities of Hama and Idlib. Moscow denied a claim by a U.S. official that four Syria-bound Russian cruise missiles fired from the Caspian Sea had crashed in Iran on Wednesday.

The Anadolu Agency said Mr Leyla, 27, died in the attack in the town of Hreitan, in northern Aleppo province.

The United States and its allies have been waging a year-long air campaign against Islamic State in Syria, while pushing to diplomatically edge Assad from power.

In July, Leyla received injuries to his face while reporting on clashes in Aleppo and was brought to Turkey for treatment. “Two Rafale jets dropped bombs on an IS training camp”.

He did not elaborate on the purported attack plots.