Iranian Military Officer Killed While Advising Shi'ite Militia Near Ramadi

Iranian state media report that an Iranian military officer has been killed near the city of Ramadi while advising Iraqi forces on how to recapture the city from Islamic State militants.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency on June 1 identified the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander as Jassem Nouri, noting that he also had served recently as a military adviser to Syrian forces fighting against IS militants.

IRNA said Nouri was killed on May 28.

It said political and military leaders joined members of Nouri’s family in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz on May 31 and that he was to be buried there on June 1.

Shi’ite Iran has provided weapons and military advisers to both Iraq and Syria but denies it has deployed any combat troops against IS militants.

Since the fall of the Sunni-dominated city of Ramadi to IS militants in May, Baghdad has reversed its ban on Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia fighters joining the battle against IS militants there.

Based on reporting by IRNA and AFP