Iranian commander Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani killed by Isis while

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard general has been killed near Aleppo in Syria, the guards said in a statement on Friday.

The precise circumstances of his death were not immediately reported.

The Observatory said IS seized the villages of Tal Qrah, Kfar Qares and at least four other small villages in the northern Aleppo countryside.

The IRGC statement also highlighted Brigadier General Hamedani’s role in strengthening the Islamic resistance front in the fight on terrorists in Syria.

Hamedani is one of the most senior Guard commanders to be killed in Syria, and the second to be killed this year.

Shiite-dominated Iran is a staunch ally of President Bashar al-Assad, sending Guards forces and military advisers to aid him against Sunni Muslim rebels seeking his overthrow.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with Takfiri terrorists now controlling parts of it, mostly in the east.