Iran announces the death of a high-ranking Revolutionary Guard general after a long illness

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A high-ranking general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has died after an illness, Iran’s state TV reported Saturday.

Gen. Vajihollah Moradi was one of the commanders of the Guard’s foreign wing, TV said.

He was also a comrade of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.

State TV said a funeral ceremony will be held in the northern city of Babolsar on Sunday.

Iran occasionally holds funerals for its soldiers fallen in Syria though officials say Iranian forces are there only as advisers.

Iran is Syrian President Bashar Assad’s main regional supporter in the Arab nation’s lengthy civil war.

Hundreds of Iranian forces have been killed in the war in Syria.