Coordinated efforts allowed the rescue of the surviving pilot from last Tuesday’s warplane incident.
Qasem Soleimani, Commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)
By means of a coordinated operation in Syria, the Russian pilot who survived the Turkish F-16 downing of the Su-24M was rescued, according to a Syrian officer, with the supervision of a senior Iranian commander.
Major General Qassem Soleimani, Commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) gathered a rescue team conformed by 18 Syrian Special Forces members and six Hezbollah fighters for the operation.
As the mentioned team was working on the rescuing of the pilot, Russians were providing air support for the mission to be carried out successfully. Russian airstrikes allowed a better access to the terrorist-seized territory as ground team was completing the task.
After fulfilling the rescue of the Su-24M pilot, the team also reduced all terrorists active in the region, before returning out of harm’s way with all members to their headquarters.
Israeli media started disclosing information of Soleimani’s death, fact that was immediately denied the head of the IRGC’s Public Relations Office, Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif, alleging that it’s very common for Israeli media to start spreading rumors with no evidence at all.
Written by Lisbeth Mechter