TEHRAN – Sima Films, a film production studio affiliated with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), announced on Sunday that it is producing a series on the war hero Ali Sayyad Shirazi.

He was a regular military officer who served as commander of Ground Forces during the 1980-1988 Iran–Iraq war.    

“The series will be a big and highly significant production, because Sayyad Shirazi was a great commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army during the war and played a key role during the Islamic Revolution and the war,” Majid Akbar-Shahi, a Sima Films CEO, said in a press release.

“All details about this great man should be regarded in this project, therefore, we have invited producer Habib Valinejad to join this production and we hope that the final results will be favorable,” he added.

Sayyad Shirazi’s role in various seasons of the war and his assassination will shape up as the major issues in the series.         

A team of writers directed by Hossein Hassani is writing the screenplay with contributions from a number of top Iranian military figures.

Sayyad Shirazi was assassinated by the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in 1999 while serving as the deputy chief of the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff, the second-highest military office in Iran.

He led a counter-offensive called Operation Mersad against the MKO militants, who, with the help of Saddam Hussein, launched an attack in the summer of 1988 to capture the western Iranian city of Kermanshah.

He was assassinated on April 10, 1999, outside his house while on his way to work. The MKO claimed responsibility for the attack, which, it said the act was in revenge for Operation Mersad.

Sima Films is also currently making a TV series portraying the life story of Mehdi Bakeri, the chief of IRGC 31st Shura Division that carried out several major operations during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

Photo: General Ali Sayyad Shirazi in an undated photo.

MMS