Guardians of Karbala: Iran's strikeforce, from Iraq to Aleppo

Iran's direct military involvement in Syria has become so overt that its casualty count there is now among the hundreds.

Iran has therefore been forced to make news of its losses public, as more fighters are expected to fall on the Syrian battlefield in the coming days, weeks and months - especially with the battle for Aleppo raging.

On Monday, a Revolutionary Guards officer named Javadallah Karam was killed in Syria battling rebel groups, according to Iranian news sites. Karam was part of the Ansar al-Mahdi 223 Battaltion.

The news comes after Iran officially confirmed 13 "military advisers" were killed in Khan Touman, south of Aleppo city, last week, while several Iranian service personnel were captured.

Iranian officials have vowed to avenge them, accusing rebels of violating the ceasefire.

Ismail Kawthari, an Iranian parliamentarian, confirmed Syrian rebels had captured six Iranian servicemen in last week's clashes, vowing a tough response from Iran.

With the latest casualties, the number of Iranian combatants killed in Syria is at least 260, more if we add the seven special forces personnel killed in April.

Curiously most of the advisers killed in Syria recently appear to come from Mazandaran province in northern Iran

The Mazandaran Warriors

Curiously, however, most of the advisors killed in Khan Touman recently appear to come from Mazandaran province in northern Iran.

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The statement acknowledging those casualties came from the public relations office of the Guardians of Karbala in Mazandaran, which suggests the dead belonged to the same unit and were deployed in Khan Touman collectively.

Mazandan province, which overlooks the Caspian Sea in northern Iran, is a major source of recruits for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, a standalone army with ground, naval, and aerial forces with branches across the country.

The Guardians of Karbala in Mazandan force was created during the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war. It was the first Iranian regiment to cross into the Iraqi territory of al-Faw.

Mohsen Rezaee, secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has praised the province for its formidable and disciplined fighters, who became one of the best known special forces battalions fighting for Iran.

It was Iran's Brigadier-General Murtada Qurbani who first led the unit.

The numbers and backgrounds of Iranian soldiers reveal the extent of Tehran's intervention in Syria, which was initially denied or referred to in ambiguous terms

Shrines and geopolitics

Tehran has often described its soldiers in Syria as defenders of (Shia) shrines there. That is the immediate excuse to placate the faithful, but Iran's intervention in Syria is more about regional geopolitics according to most analysts.

In terms of the chain of command, they answer to the Revolutionary Guards or the special forces of the 65th brigade of the Iranian armed forces, according to official statements.

The numbers and backgrounds of Iranian soldiers reveal the extent of Tehran's intervention in Syria, which was initially denied or referred to in ambiguous terms.

Iran stepped up its Syria operations after Russia intervened there last year, as both countries rushed to the aid of their ally Bashar al-Assad when it looked like his regime was close to collapse amid rebel advances.