Quds Force using militants in Iraq – Part 4

6. Restructuring the Badr forces

- On June 19^th a group of Quds Force commanders went to the 9^th Badr office in Baghdad’s Jaderiye district and then went off to inspect various areas of the Iraqi capital. Abu Maryam Ansari, Hadi al-Ameri’s deputy was accompanying this group.

Quds Force using militants in Iraq – Part 3

Following advances made by the armed tribes and the series of defeats suffered by Maliki’s forces in al-Anbar and Mosul, a number of Quds Force experts and commanders stationed in Baghdad and began evaluating the situation on the ground in various fronts. Quds Force military experts in their evaluations on how to confront the armed tribes reached this conclusion that the urgent and immediate solution available under the current circumstances is to use its affiliated militants such as Asaeb al-Haq, Katayeb Hezbollah and Badr militants that needed to be restructured. Under orders issued by Qassem Suleimani and following the example of Revolutionary Guards Bassij units in Iran, the 9^th Badr Corps forces with a newly structured ranks and file were dispatched to the warfronts, such as Diyala Province, to reinforce Maliki’s forces. For this new structure Suleimani called on retired Badr commanders – who had worked for the Quds Force back in Iran for years prior to 2003 – and dispatched them as Badr battalions on combat missions. In this regard former Badr commander Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, a member of Suleimani’s inner circle, was called back and he is currently acting as Suleimani’s chief of staff in Iraq.

Quds Force using militants in Iraq – Part 2

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.

War Strategy against ISIS

Recently Mr. Obama delivered a speech in the Pentagon on the war strategy against ISIS, but unfortunately he had nothing new to say and it was just a repeat of the same old, same old, saying we support the Iraqi government and escalated training for Iraqi forces, including Sunni tribes, and continuing to increase the rate of transferring important equipment, such as anti-tank weapons to Iraqi security forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga and tribal fighters.