Iran Guards Commander Killed in Mysterious Circumstances in Syria

Sayed Ahmed Qureshi (R) with slain IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in the foreground.
Sayed Ahmed Qureshi (R) with slain IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in the foreground.
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Iran Guards Commander Killed in Mysterious Circumstances in Syria

Sayed Ahmed Qureshi (R) with slain IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in the foreground.
Sayed Ahmed Qureshi (R) with slain IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in the foreground.

A senior Iranian militia commander, who has been operating in Syria since 2013, was killed in recent days in still uncertain circumstances.

“A prominent Iranian Revolutionary Guards leader has been killed in recent hours on Syrian soil, and he is one of the most prominent leaders of the Liwa Fatemiyoun militia,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported.

The Observatory identified him as Sayed Ahmed Qureshi.

Originally from the village of Baraghan, located north of Karaj in Iran, Qureshi previously served in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij force.

He had served in the Iranian-backed militia Liwa Fatemiyoun in Syria since 2013 and fought in several operations with slain IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.

“Uncertainty still surrounds the circumstances of Qureshi’s killing,” said the Observatory, adding that he could have died from injuries sustained in a recent Israeli airstrike on Syria’s Homs countryside.

Earlier this month, the Observatory had documented the killing of another Iranian leader in a possible ISIS landmine explosion in Homs’ eastern countryside.

In other news, 51 regime officers and loyalist fighters were killed on Friday night in an ambush, the largest of its kind, launched by ISIS on several positions in the central and eastern Badia (desert) regions in Syria.

Activists said ISIS militants simultaneously attacked four military positions of the regime forces and loyalists.



Türkiye, Syria Sign Defense Cooperation MoU after Ankara Talks

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, accompanied by General Intelligence Service Director Hussein Al-Salama and Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra, meets with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Ankara, Turkey, August 13, 2025. Turkish Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, accompanied by General Intelligence Service Director Hussein Al-Salama and Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra, meets with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Ankara, Turkey, August 13, 2025. Turkish Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
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Türkiye, Syria Sign Defense Cooperation MoU after Ankara Talks

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, accompanied by General Intelligence Service Director Hussein Al-Salama and Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra, meets with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Ankara, Turkey, August 13, 2025. Turkish Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, accompanied by General Intelligence Service Director Hussein Al-Salama and Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra, meets with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Ankara, Turkey, August 13, 2025. Turkish Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS

The defense ministers of Türkiye and Syria signed a memorandum of understanding on military training and consultancy after talks in Ankara on Wednesday, Türkiye's defense ministry said.

The neighbors had been negotiating a comprehensive military cooperation agreement for months, after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad in December.

Also, speaking at a news conference in Ankara with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan accused Israel and the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, of undermining the country’s efforts to reestablish itself after more than a decade of civil war.
He said Israel had “fueled certain difficulties” in Syria and warned that Israeli security "cannot be achieved through undermining the security of your neighbors."
“To the contrary, you should make sure your neighboring countries are prosperous and secure. If you try to destabilize these countries, if you take steps to that end, this could trigger other crises in the region.”
Most recently, hundreds were killed in clashes in the southern province of Sweida between government forces and local Bedouin tribesmen on one side and fighters from the Druze minority on the other.