Lawmaker Says Up To Six Iranian Personnel Captured In Syria

[TomSea]

Lawmaker Says Up To Six Iranian Personnel Captured In Syria

A senior Iranian lawmaker says around six Iranian military personnel have been taken captive in Syria following May 6 clashes with Islamist insurgents that left 13 "military advisers" dead and more than a dozen injured.

The statement by Esmail Kowsari appears to be the first official confirmation by Tehran that its fighters have been taken prisoner in Syria.
 
Islamist insurgents known as Jaish al-Fatah that carried out the attack on Khan Tuman, some 15 kilometers southwest of Aleppo, had previously posted photographs on social media purportedly showing Iran-backed forces that had been killed or taken captive in the village.
 
It was Iran's biggest loss of forces in a single day since the Islamic republic deployed military forces to bolster its regional ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
 
Tehran claims it is providing Assad with military advisers.

"According to the latest figures I have, 13 Iranian defenders of the shrine were killed, 18 were wounded, and five to six Iranians were taken captive," lawmaker Kowsari said in a May 9 interview with the website Jamejamonline.ir.

More At Link: http://www.rferl.org/content/syria-iranian-military-personnel-dead-captured/27724628.html