Daesh group jihadists have killed a senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards in Syria, the elite branch of the Iranian military said Friday.

General Hossein Hamedani was killed on Thursday by Daesh "during an advisory mission" in the northern region of Aleppo, a Guards statement said.

Hamedani had been playing an "important role... reinforcing the front of Islamic resistance against the rebels", it added.

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.

Lebanon's Shiite militia Hezbollah has done much of the fighting to prop up the Syrian army, though the commander of the Revolutionary Guards' foreign wing, Qassem Soleimani, is said to be heavily involved in guiding military strategy.
Source: AFP