TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Commander of Iran’s Basij (volunteer) Force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi said the organization has no plans to dispatch its fighters to war-stricken Syria.

“We have only advisory presence in Syria and there is not a single (Iranian) fighter in that country,” Brigadier General Naqdi told reporters at a press conference on Monday.

The commander further made it clear that Basij has no intention to deploy its forces to the Arab country.

The Basij is a paramilitary volunteer force established in Iran in November 1979 by order of the Late Founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with Takfiri terrorists from various groups, including the ISIL, currently controlling parts of it.

According to the United Nations, more than 250,000 people have been killed and one million wounded during the conflict.

In the meantime, Iran has remained a close ally of Syria and supports its legitimate government in the face of foreign-backed militancy.

Earlier on June 2, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hailed the resistance of the Syrian government and people against foreign-backed terrorist groups in the Arab country, saying that Tehran is determined to side with Damascus to the end of the crisis.

By Tasnim News Agency