Presence of Quds Force in Iraq – Part Two

Following this trend and to actively use Shiite militants, the last method agreed upon between the Quds Force and the command HQ of Maliki’s forces in the Anbar war was providing specific orders to Shiite militants to focus the attacks conducted by these groups in the Anbar frontier.

To this end, the Garme region up to the Zeidan district is under the control of Asaeb forces. The Baghdad beltway was placed in this district, meaning from Taremiya to Abu Qareib, all under the precinct of this group.
The Falluja area, the city itself and Garme became the responsibility of Kateyeb. The Baghdad beltway, from south of the airport up to the Yousefiye area, were also under this group’s watch.
Badr forces were stationed west of Falluja and also in Ramadi.
The Quds Force policy was to take advantage of the war scene in Anbar and form an organized force from these militants as a force similar to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. This would enable the Quds Force to maintain the authority and power of this force under the control of the Iran-associated Shiite government in Baghdad.  These forces would be named the Iraq Revolutionary Guards.

The equipment needs of this organized force would be provided through Maliki’s army and the Quds Force. Other necessities such as special equipment, bombs, missiles and various other military assets would be provided through air delivery in coordination with Hadi al-Ameri, Iraq’s then Minister of Transportation. These items would be transferred to Najaf and Baghdad, and thus provided to these forces.

In parallel the Quds Force began forming a division of militants to protect the Baghdad beltway. This included regions from Taremiya to Mada’en west of Baghdad. Therefore these forces would be able to protect the city of Baghdad against any attack.

Thus, the Quds Force presence in Iraq became very active and official, and direct military coordination relationship was established between Quds Force commanders and those of Maliki’s army and police regarding the war in Anbar. From then on, a number of Quds Force commanders were in Anbar to supervise the war on the ground. They also established a joint war room with Maliki’s operations commanders in Anbar. This escalated the presence of Quds Force commanders in the Anbar war in a way that senior IRGC Brigadier General Iraj Masjedi and IRGC Brigadier General Abtahi stationed in Iraq to direct the Anbar war and coordinate their measures with Maliki’s forces.

This included Maliki’s attack operations to quell the people of Falluja and conduct continuous shelling to kill defenseless people at the time. One of these Quds Force commanders, known as Haji, stationed in the town of Garme, was directly responsible for these attacks. Fazel Barwari of the Iraqi army’s ‘Golden Divisoin’ and Abud Qanbar of the Ministry of Defense were in cooperation and coordination with him. All Shiite militants, including Asaeb, Katayeb and Badr forces literally acted under orders issued by the Quds Force.