Reuters - A senior member of Iran�s Revolutionary Guards, Farhad Dabirian, was �martyred� in Syria on Friday, Fars news agency reported, without giving details of how he died.

The agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, described Dabirian as a �defender of Sayida Zainab shrine,� the holy Shi�ite Muslim site south of Damascus, and as a former commander of the Guards in Palmyra, the ancient city in central Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based organization which reports on the war, said a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards� commander was assassinated in the Sayeda Zeinab area south of Damascus.

Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Andrew Heavens