Report: Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Killed in Syria

A senior member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps was assassinated in the Syrian town of Al Qaim near that country’s northeastern border with Iraq on Sunday, Syrian media outlets reported.

According to reports in Syria’s pro-rebel Step News Agency, the senior official, apparently a logistic officer in the IRGC’s elite Quds Force, was killed when a drone fired a missile at the car he was driving. Along with the official, two other Iranians who were in the car with him at the time were also killed in the strike.

None of the reports mentioned who was operating the drone that took out the IRGC official, a sign the attack could have been carried out by members of U.S. coalition forces in the country. U.S. coalition members have carried out aerial attacks on pro-Iranian fighters in the Syrian-Iraqi border area in the past.

According to Syrian news reports, jets believed to belong to U.S. coalition forces carried out strikes on 10 targets near the border town of Al-Bukamal, killing several pro-Iranian militia members and destroying ammunition depots and equipment.

The Imam Ali military base is situated near Abu Kamal. The base, built by members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps over the last two years, allows Iran to transfer arms and equipment from Iraq to Syria.