Ahmadreza Afshari of the IRGC's "aerospace advisory forces" in Syria was "martyred because of injuries caused by aerial bombardment", Guards' chief Hossein Salami said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA.

The colonel was transferred from Syria to Iran for treatment following the air strike, the statement said, indicating the incident occurred two to three weeks ago.

In late July, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said an air strike killed three pro-Iran fighters in Syria's Deir Ezzor province, where Iran wields significant influence.

Responsibility for the strike was not immediately claimed.

The area is regularly targeted by Israel and sometimes by the United States.

A spokesman for the US-led military coalition formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group said at the time that "neither the coalition nor US forces carried out overnight strikes in Deir Ezzor".

In April, an Israeli air strikes destroyed the Iranian embassy's consular annex in Damascus, killing seven members of the Revolutionary Guard, including a top commander, prompting Tehran to retaliate against Israel.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps named Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and another high-ranking officer, Brigadier General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, as among seven of its members killed in the attack on the Iranian embassy.

Regional tensions, already heightened by the Israeli war on Gaza, intensified further following the July 31 assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in an Israeli attack in Tehran.