Iran has deployed men from the 65th Airborne Special Forces Brigade (NOHED Brigade), to Syria for an advisory mission, a commander said Monday.
Brigadier General Ali Arasteh Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force for Coordination told to Tasnim News Agency that advisers from 65th NOHED Brigade, Iran’s Army Ground Force elite unit, are now stationed in Syria.
The men of the Brigade are not the only advisers that Iran has deployed to Syria, and the other units have representatives in the advisory missions as well. Till recently it was known that Iran has sent to Syria men from Al Quds, the elite unit of the IRGC, as well as Basij volunteer fighters.
According to a “Wall Street Journal” report on the 2nd of October of 2015, there are 7.000 IRGC members and Iranian paramilitary volunteers operating in Iran. Some experts estimate that 20,000 Shiite foreign fighters are fighting in Syria alongside with Assad’s forces, backed by both Shiite Iran and Hezbollah.
The first presence of Iranian military personnel in Syria was mentioned in September 2012 when Western intelligence officials stated that 150 senior members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were sent to Syria to preserve the Assad government.
At least 121 IRGC troops, including several commanders, have been killed in the Syrian Civil War since it began.