2. Restructuring militant forces
in Iraq
In late February a Quds Force
commander by the name of Haj Abbas was sent to Iraq with a mission of
restructuring militant forces linked to the Asaeb and other groups. These measures
were carried out to prepare them for the war in al-Anbar. In his first steps he
began restructuring the Asaeb al-Haq with completely new ranks and files, and
also recruiting fresh members. The delayed paychecks of Asayeb members, some
not paid for 3 months, were all provided for. This group once again launched
its operations and their organized ranks were prepared to take part in the
al-Anbar war.
Similar measures were carried
out with the Katayeb Hezbollah and they too prepared their forces for the al-Anbar
war.
In this restructuring these
militants were no longer sent to Iran to receive training to be then dispatched
to Syria. In fact, all these forces that were prepared were either assigned to
the al-Anbar war or filed into new battalions in their own provinces, such as
Diyala, to confront the mayhem conditions on the ground.
3. Assigning specific front to
militant groups
As this trend continued and to
practice a more active use of militant forces, the last solution agreed upon by
the Quds Force in coordination with Maliki’s commanders in the al-Anbar war was
to specify a certain front to each of the militant forces. This was aimed at
having these forces getting involved in a more focused manner in the al-Anbar
war. To this end:
- The regions
of Garma to Zeidan were assigned to Asaeb al-Haq. The Baghdad beltway, meaning
from Taremiye to Abu Ghareib, was also this group’s responsibility.
- The Fallujah region and cities
around were assigned to Katayeb Hezbollah. The Baghdad beltway, from areas
south of the airport to Yusefiye, was assigned to this group.
- Badr forces were stationed
west of Fallujah and the city of Ramadi.
4. Forming Baghdad beltway
protection division
Another step taken by the Quds
Force was forming a division of militant forces to protect the Baghdad beltway
stretching from Taremiya to Mada’en west of Baghdad to have these forces
protect the capital against any attack.
5. Developments in militants’
activities after the fall of Mosul
- Following the disintegration
of the Iraqi army after the attacks staged by tribal forces and ISIS in Mosul,
Nouri al-Maliki called on the Iranian regime on 10 June 2014 to provide urgent
assistance. On this very day a team of Quds Force commanders and experts
entered Iraq to evaluate the situation on the ground and the crisis. They met
with senior Maliki government officials and military commanders in Baghdad,
returning to Iran two days later and beginning to plan how to have the Quds
Force enter this conflict and support Maliki’s army.
- With advances made by the
tribal forces and major defeats suffered by
Iraqi forces, Qassem Suleimani himself rushed to Iraq and stationed in Baghdad
with a number of Quds Force commanders and experts. He ordered Quds Force
affiliated militants including Asaeb al-Haq, Katayeb Hezbollah and Badr units
to restructure their forces as soon as possible and dispatch them to the
provinces liberated by Sunni resistance forces. The Quds Force returned retired
Badr commander into action to organize new battalions – resembling those in
Iran’s paramilitary Bassij units – and all its foot soldiers were agents of the
Iranian regime. They had lived back in Iran for many years, including Hadi
al-Ameri and Abu Mahdi Mohandes.
- The Quds
Force also ordered 9th Badr Corps commander Hadi al-Ameri to
immediately hold a meeting with his affiliated sheikhs and begin recruiting a
new special Badr ‘bassij’ force. Al-Ameri held this session in the Badr
headquarters in Baghdad’s Jaderiya region, and then began dispatching Badr
forces along with Asaeb and Katayeb units to join branches of remaining forces
of Maliki’s army, and heading to Diyala Province to massacre the locals.
- The Quds
Force also began sending WMD missiles to equip its armed militants and place at
their disposal IRGC-made missiles to use in barrages against civilians in the
liberated provinces.
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