Senior Iranian commander killed during Hashd al-Shaabi operation: Southern Shingal

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – A senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on Friday was killed during an operation led by the Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi in southern Shingal.

Shaaban Nasiiri was killed during operations by the Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militia in western Mosul, near the Syrian-Iraqi border, according to online Iranian newspaper Tasnim.

Nasiiri, who was an adviser to Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, was providing advice to the Iraqi Shia forces in their fight against the Islamic State (IS) in western Mosul.

Since the extremist group’s takeover of one-third of Iraq in 2014, Soleimani acted as a key adviser to Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi forces.

An Iraqi official, speaking to AP on condition of anonymity, confirmed Nasiiri’s death on Friday.

The commander was the first senior Iranian military official to die in the offensive to liberate Mosul from IS.

According to the Iranian source, Nasiiri played a major role in co-founding the Badr Organization, an Iraqi political party led by Hadi Al-Amiri which fought Saddam Hussein’s regime during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.

Badr Organization’s armed group is part of the Hashd al-Shaabi force, which includes an alliance of over 60 Shia militia groups.

The forces were founded after a fatwa (ruling on Islamic law) by Ali al-Sistani, an Iranian cleric in Iraq, to fight against IS extremists in the country.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany