New tactics used by Quds Force in Iraq

1. Following the defeats suffered by the Quds Force in the operation to retake Tikrit and Iraq’s request from Iran to pull back Revolutionary Guards combat units, Iran has now resorted to new tactics in Iraq.

2. To replace IRGC combat units in Iraq, the Quds Force is currently using local forces and forming its necessary units to carry out its missions in Iraq.

3. Considering the incompetence seen in the militants and PMFs in their combat roles, the Quds Force launched new measures to train younger troops, including high school and secondary students in the battlefronts. This new Quds Force tactic is similar to how Iran used school children as “disposable” soldiers to clear up minefields.

4. Militants inside the Iraqi government are paving the path for and pursuing the policies of the Quds Force. Therefore, they have recently begun recruiting a large number of troops and providing training in their schools and education centers. Senior paramilitary commanders such as 9^th Badr commander Hadi al-Ameri and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes have been attempting to absorb the young recruits with promises of high salaries and various supplies for their families.

5. The PMF plan practically mirrors the tactics used by Iran’s paramilitary ‘Bassij’. It has now turned into an official recruit project pursued by the paramilitary forces. The Interior Ministry and Badr Organization are officially following up on this agenda.

6. This issue clearly shows the militants’ dire conditions, and how they have now been forced to resort to these inhumane methods to fill in for their casualties with young teenage boys. In this regard in Dhi Qar Province the commander of Operation Rafidein in the city of Nasseriya, an individual by the name of Jamil Shemeri – known for his horrific sectarian crimes in Diyala Province – has registered hundreds of teenage boys in a base, intends to have them enter military training and become PMF members in the near future. These teenagers will receive tactical training under the supervision of Quds Force instructors, and they will be used as “disposable” soldiers to break ISIS defense lines.

7. Under the pretext that they are linked to the Prime Minister, PMF commanders have ordered the Minister of Education in Baghdad and other provinces on the government’s behalf about the military training the teenagers must undergo. Therefore, they are taking advantage of all training assets, such as schools for training grounds and recruiting teenagers and … for their own devious purposes. As a result, the Ministry of Education has turned into an organ used by the militants to recruit new members.

8. To provide supplies, uniforms and military equipment the teenagers are using the budget approved for the schools. They are using the hygiene and foods budgets, and the militant commanders are pocketing a large profit through this entire trend.