TEHRAN – Eight translations of “Ambushing a Rose”, a biography of Lieutenant-General Ali Sayyad Shirazi who served as commander of Ground Forces during the Iran–Iraq war, have recently been published.

The collection was unveiled on Monday at the Sacred Defense Museum during a special ceremony organized to celebrate the liberation anniversary of Khorramshahr.

Written in Persian by Mohsen Momeni-Sharif, “Ambushing a Rose”, also known as “Waiting for the Red Rose”, has been translated into English, French, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Urdu, Azerbaijani and Turkish by the Army’s War Archives.  

Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, the commander of the Army, Brigadier General Nasser Arasteh, the director of the Army’s War Archives, several military attachés and some cultural figures attended the ceremony. 

“Talking about the big victories during the war brings the name of Sayyad Shirazi to our minds, and his name also brings back the sweet memories of the big victories,” Mousavi said in his brief speech made at the ceremony.

For his part, Arasteh said, “All chapters of Martyr Sayyad cannot be covered in a single book. Many books should be written to cover various aspects of his life.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, wrote a commendation for “Ambushing a Rose”, which was originally published by Sureh-Mehr, a major publishing house affiliated with the Art Bureau of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization.

“This is an exceptionally interesting example of a report on the war while it is a sweet story of one of its characters,” the Leader wrote in the recommendation published in April 2019.

“I read the entire book thoroughly; it has been written beautifully and artistically. I am quite familiar with many of the incidents described,” he added.

“Of course, many other events of that era and many other words about this dear martyr remain untold. And this is natural, because the prominence of martyr Sayyad Shirazi cannot be showcased in a single book. He was truly an example of a brave and devoted army officer. God bless his soul,” he stated.

Sayyad Shirazi was assassinated on April 10, 1999, outside his house while on his way to work by the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) while serving as the deputy chief of the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff, the second-highest military office in Iran. The MKO said the act was in revenge for Operation Mersad.

He had 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.

Photo: Army commander Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi (2nd L) and War Archives director Brigadier General Nasser Arasteh (3rd R) unveil eight translations of the Martyr Ali Sayyad Shirazi’s biography “Ambushing a Rose” at the Sacred Defense Museum in Tehran on May 24, 2021. (ISNA/Mohammad-Ali Asadi) 

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