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.



Activist Aid Ship Nears Gaza After Reaching Egypt Coast

 Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)
Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)
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Activist Aid Ship Nears Gaza After Reaching Egypt Coast

 Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)
Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)

An aid ship with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, has reached the Egyptian coast and is nearing the besieged Palestinian territory, organizers said on Saturday.

The Madleen, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Sicily last week with a cargo of relief supplies "to break Israel's blockade on Gaza".

"We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast," German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. "We are all good," she added.

In a statement from London on Saturday, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza -- a member organization of the flotilla coalition -- said the ship had entered Egyptian waters.

The group said it remains in contact with international legal and human rights bodies to ensure the safety of those on board, warning that any interception would constitute "a blatant violation of international humanitarian law".

European parliament member Rima Hassan, who is on board the vessel, urged governments to "guarantee safe passage for the Freedom Flotilla."

The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war and Israel has enforced its blockade with military action in the past.

A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar aid flotilla trying to breach the blockade, left 10 civilians dead.

In May, another Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, reported coming under drone attack while en route for Gaza, prompting Cyprus and Malta to send rescue vessels in response to its distress call. There were no reports of any casualties.

Earlier in its voyage, the Madleen changed course near the Greek island of Crete after receiving a distress signal from a sinking migrant boat.

Activists rescued four Sudanese migrants who had jumped into the sea to avoid being returned to Libya. The four were later transferred to an EU Frontex vessel.

Launched in 2010, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition is a coalition of groups opposed to the blockade on humanitarian aid for Gaza that Israel imposed on March 2 and has only partially eased since.

Israel has faced mounting international condemnation over the resulting humanitarian crisis in the territory, where the United Nations has warned the entire population of more than two million is at risk of famine.