Iran state TV: Revolutionary Guard general killed in Syria
By Associated Press
Oct 9, 2015 3:17 AM CDT
FILE - In this undated file photo released by a militant website, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, militants of the Islamic State group hold up their weapons and wave flags as they ride in a convoy, which includes multiple Toyota pickup trucks, through Raqqa city in...   (Associated Press)

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The latest developments as Syrian troops and other nations battle militants in Syria. All times local.

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11:55 a.m.

Iranian state television is reporting that a senior commander in Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard has been killed in Syria.

The report Friday said that Gen. Hossein Hamedani was killed in the suburbs of Aleppo in Syria while "carrying out an advisory mission," but didn't provide any further details.

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

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 civil war began in 2011.

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

Assad is from the Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Iran is majority Shiite. Syria's rebels are mostly

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10:40 a.m.

Turkey's state-run news agency says Syrian journalist Salih Mahmud Leyla, who reported for the agency from northern Syria, has been killed in car bomb attack.

The Anadolu Agency said Friday that Leyla, 27, died in the attack in the town of Hreitan, in northern Aleppo province, late Thursday. It said the attack is believed to have been carried out by Islamic State militants.

Leyla sent photographs and videos from clashes in northern Syria and also reported on hardships suffered by the people there, Anadolu said.

In July, Leyla received injuries to his face while reporting on clashes in Aleppo and was brought to Turkey for treatment.

Leyla, who was from Aleppo, had trained as a computer technician. His wife of one year is expecting their first child, Anadolu said.

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10:35 a.m.

France's defense minister says French fighter jets fired airstrikes on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa in Syria, targeting foreign fighters plotting attacks in Europe.

Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Europe-1 radio Friday that two Rafale jets bombed a training camp "and the objective was achieved." It was the second French strike on Syria, and Le Drian said "it will not be the last."

He did not elaborate on the purported attack plots.

He criticized Russia's stepped-up and wide-ranging military action in Syria, saying "80 to 90 percent" of its actions do not target the Islamic State group. Russia says its air campaign is aimed against Islamic militants.

France joined the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group in Iraq last year and expanded its campaign to Syria last month.