Iranian ex-general killed fighting militants in Syria

TEHRAN: A retired Iranian general has been killed while battling militants as a volunteer in northern Syria, Iranian media reported on Wednesday.

Ahmad Gholami, who had served as a senior Revolutionary Guards commander in the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s, died on Tuesday "while fighting the militants in Aleppo, Syria," said the Fars news agency, which is close to the Guards.

Gholami went to Iraq and Syria "voluntarily" to fight the militants, it added.

Iran is the principle backer of President Bashar al-Assad. It denies that any of its professional soldiers are active in Syria -- insisting its commanders and generals act purely as "military advisers" -- but it also leads large volunteer forces, comprised of fighters from both Iran and neighbouring Afghanistan.

Iran does not provide precise casualty figures for those killed in action in Syria and Iraq, but Iranian media have previously reported "hundreds" of military advisers and volunteers have died in recent years.