Iranian Air Force
© AP Photo/ Ebrahim Noroozi
The first photographic evidence of an Iranian Air Force plane that brought Iraqi Shiite volunteer fighters to Syria to fight against ISIL terrorists has appeared on the Internet.

A picture posted on the Instagram account of the Iranian group Holy Defense shows an Iraqi soldier standing in front of an Iranian C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft supposedly in Syria.

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"This is probably the first picture of an Iranian Hercules made in Syria and the first documented evidence of the Iranian Air Force being in Syria. Flights have been made from Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran and the city of Tabriz [in the northwest of Iran] since the beginning of the Syrian conflict," a source from Holy Defense told Sputnik.

Iranian planes also bring drones that are used for reconnaissance flights above ISIL military bases, the source told Sputnik.

Comments underneath the picture reveal that some of the Iraqi fighters came to Syria after the beginning of Russian anti-ISIL airstrikes in Syria.

Apart from Iraqi volunteer fighters, the Iranian planes brought with them arms and military equipment, Holy Defense said.