Ankara: Iranian military commander Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani has been killed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Aleppo, Iran’s army has said.

The rebels killed Hamedani overnight on Thursday, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) — the elite branch of the Iranian army — said in a statement carried by Sepah News on Friday.

The Brigadier General was providing military advice to the Syrian army in the country, Iran’s Press TV reported.

Iran is a staunch ally of President Bashar al-Assad, sending Revolutionary

Guard forces and military advisers to aid him against rebels seeking his overthrow.