(tasnim) -- Speaking at a ceremony held in Tehran on Monday to pay tribute to the families of martyrs defending Shiite holy shrines, Brigadier General Pakpour said, “Today, many (of our) brothers are ready to take revenge for your children’s blood.”

“Whenever we pledged to take revenge, we did it,” he stressed

When some Iranian border guards were killed on duty in Mirjaveh, in the southeastern province Sistan and Balouchestan, the IRGC Ground Force promised to take revenge, he said, adding that the IRGC Ground Force’s move to smash the so-called Ansar al-Furqan terrorist group and kill its ringleader, Jalil Qanbarzehi, was a revenge against the group.

The shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, a sister of Imam Hossein (AS), the third Shiite Imam, is located in Damascus, Syria. Iranian military advisers have played a decisive role in the protection of the holy shrine against terrorist attacks.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including ISIS, currently controlling parts of it.

According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

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

(Photo: youtube)