Iran Revolutionary Guards commander killed in Syria

DUBAI Mon Nov 4, 2013 8:47am EST

(Reuters) - A commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards has been killed in Syria after volunteering to defend a Shi'ite shrine in Damascus, the Iranian Mehr news agency said on Monday.

Commander Mohammad Jamalizadeh of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the southeastern province of Kerman was killed in the last few days by "Wahhabi terrorists", the agency said, giving no more details.

The report could not be independently confirmed.

Jamalizadeh was a veteran of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and then served in anti-smuggling units. He did not travel to Syria for the IRGC, but volunteered to defend the Sayyida Zainab mosque in the southern suburbs of Damascus, Mehr said.

The area around the mosque revered by Shi'ites as the burial site of a grand-daughter of the prophet Mohammad has been the scene of heavy fighting.

Jamalizadeh's funeral is to take place on Tuesday in Kerman, capital of the province of the same name.

Western diplomats say Iran, an ally of President Bashar al-Assad, provides billions of dollars of aid and an undisclosed number of military advisers to Syria.