BEIRUT \u2014 Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations wing, was lightly injured in fighting against Syria rebels near Aleppo, a monitoring group and a security source said Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soleimani “was injured a few days ago” in an offensive in the southwest of Aleppo province, a security source on the ground told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor of the war, also said the general had been<\/span> was hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was “lightly injured three days ago in the Al-Eis area in the south of Aleppo province,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For several days, reports have been circulating on social media claiming the powerful commander had been <\/span>was wounded or even killed in Syria, where Iran backs President Bashar al-Assad against an uprising that began in March 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, Rameza Sharif, said Tuesday that Soleimani was “in perfect health and full of energy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “He helps the Islamic resistance in Syria and Iraq,” Sharif added, according to SepahNews, the official site of the Revolutionary Guards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abdel Rahman said the commander was wounded while “leading military operations on the outskirts of Al-Eis, which is under the control of pro-regime forces.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Many Iranian fighters are present in the area,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abdel Rahman said rebel groups launched a counteroffensive on Sunday in a bid to push regime forces from several areas in south Aleppo that they captured with support from Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah ground forces and Russia air strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia, another key Assad ally, began airstrikes in support of the government on Sept. 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, a US official said some 2,000 Iranian or Iranian-backed forces were participating in the regime’s Aleppo operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iran has not officially acknowledged sending troops to Syria, but says it has “advisers” on the ground assisting regime forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iran-backed Hezbollah also acknowledges its forces are fighting on the ground, and the presence of Iranian, Iraqi and Afghan “volunteers” has been documented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations wing, was lightly injured in fighting against Syria rebels near Aleppo, a monitoring group and a security source said Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":81901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":33,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2793],"class_list":["post-38262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"K4WFJLCLFRAGZHWL2MK5OGEFTE","arc_canonical_url":"\/home\/2015\/11\/25\/iran-general-soleimani-lightly-wounded-in-syria\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n