A colonel of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, was killed on Monday in Syria, near Damascus, by a homemade bomb blamed on Israel, which has been waging a shadow war for years against Tehran to counter its influence in the region. “Colonel Davud Jafari, one of Iran’s advisors in Syria and a member of the Guardians’ Aerospace Force, was killed by associates of the Zionist regime (Israel) with a roadside roadside bomb near Damascus,” it said on Wednesday. Iranian news agency Tasnim, citing a statement from the Guardians.
The death of the officer has not been confirmed by Syrian authorities. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an independent NGO based in London which has an extensive network of sources in Syria, the senior officer was killed along with his Syrian bodyguard by the explosion of a bomb as their vehicle passed. The attack occurred near Sayyida Zeinab, a district in southern Damascus that is home to a shrine revered by Shia Muslims and hosts a strong Iranian presence.
The Iranian military simple “advisers” of Syria
He is the highest-ranking Guardian killed in Syria since August 23, when Tehran announced the “martyr death” of General Abolfazl Alijani, a member of the Guardians’ ground forces then on mission in Syria. Alijani was described as a “sanctuary defender”, a term used to refer to those who work on behalf of Iran in Syria or Iraq.
Iran, which has been aiding the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, its ally, in the war ravaging Syria since 2011, says it has no troops in the country but says that military “advisers” from the Guardians operate alongside of the Syrian state at the invitation of Damascus. “Undoubtedly, the criminal Zionist regime will receive the adequate response for this crime,” added the text published on Wednesday.