ANKARA: An Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG) General has been killed near Aleppo, where he was advising the Syrian army on their battle against the self-styled Islamic State (IS) fighters, the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on Friday.

The IRG said General Hamedani was killed on Thursday night and that he had “played an important role in reinforcing the front of Islamic resistance against the terrorists”.

“Brigadier General Hamedani was martyred by Daesh terrorists during an advisory mission on the outskirts of Aleppo on Thursday afternoon," said the statement read on IRNA, using an Arabic acronym for the group.

It didn't provide any further details.

Iranian lawmaker Esmail Kosari said Hamedani helped coordination between Syrian armed forces and the voluntary forces in their fight against the Islamic State (IS).

“For years, Hamedani played a very important role in Syria as an adviser, he played an important role in preventing the fall of Damascus. Then he returned home at the end of his assignment,” Kosari told the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

“He returned to Syria for a few days because of his deep knowledge about the area and he was martyred in Syria.”

Hamedani is one of the most senior Guard commanders to be killed in Syria, and the second to be killed this year. He was a veteran commander who had an important role in Iran's 1980-88 war with Iraq.

Read: Iranian general killed in Israeli raid

In January, Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Allahdadi was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Syria that also killed six Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.

Iran is one of Syrian President Bashar Assad's main allies. Tehran has provided his government with military and political backing for years and has kept up its support since Syria's insurgency began in 2011.

Guard commanders repeatedly have said Iran only has high-level advisers in Syria, denying it has fighters there.

Also read: Iran loses senior commander in clash with IS