In August 2013, Esmail Ali Taqi Heydari and Hadi Baghbani were preparing to defend a base in Syria held by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad. A rebel detachment was approaching to take the base, which was close to a strategic hill that, if captured, would allow the rebels to control southern Aleppo. Most of the pro-Assad side was made up of Syrian militiamen, but Heydari and Baghbani were members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.
After a rebel ambush, both men were killed and returned to their hometown in Iran to be buried with full honors. State media covered the funeral, and Heydari and Baghbani "were hailed as martyrs who died 'defending the holy shrine of Sayyida Zaynab' in Damascus," a revered site in Shia Islam.
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Source: Washington Free Beacon