A new article at Al-Ain argues Iran is aiding ISIS in Iraq, we quote it in translation from Arabic:

An official at the Iraqi Ministry of Defense revealed that the Iranian Quds Force, in coordination with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and the PMF militia affiliated to Iran, transferred hundreds of ISIS militants from Syria to Iraq and provided them with weapons and ammunition as part of an Iranian plan to revive the terrorist organization. 

The provinces of Diyala, Salahuddin, Kirkuk, and Nineveh have witnessed a significant increase in the number of armed attacks by ISIS militants, especially in the areas located on the outskirts of these provinces, since the first of March 2020 until now. 

These attacks varied, according to Iraqi security sources, between detonating explosive devices, launching guerrilla warfare, sniper operations and mortar fire, and between ambushes and kidnapping of Iraqi soldiers, police and civilians. 

An official in the Joint Operations Command of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense told Al-Ain News: “The Iranian Quds Force and Hezbollah militias in coordination and cooperation with the Popular Mobilization militias, especially the militias of the Hezbollah Brigades, Iraq, and the League of the Righteous and Badr militias, have transferred hundreds of ISIS militants from the Syrian territories to Iraq at night under strict security control. “

The official added: “After their entry into Iraq, ISIS militants deployed in the island of Baaj and the outskirts of Sinjar and Tal Afar north and west of Mosul, while the other groups were stationed in the Anbar desert, while the militias of the Hezbollah Brigades transferred Iraq to another part of them to Diyala province, the outskirts of Kirkuk and Salahuddin province, and provided them with all The types of weapons that they will need to carry out terrorist operations in Iraq, “stressing that the organization used during its recent operations in Kirkuk Iranian-made weapons and ammunition. 

And alongside the Iraqi security forces are deployed in these areas large pieces of the Popular Mobilization militias that possess heavy weapons and missiles obtained from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, but according to Iraqi army officers, they do not move to confront ISIS and do not allow the army and police to position themselves on the borders and strategic areas. 

For his part, the independent Iraqi politician, Mithal al-Alusi, indicated that the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, Hassan Nasrallah, had previously arranged for the transfer of ISIS militants from areas in Syria to near the Iraqi border, and today this situation has been repeated. 

Al-Alusi told Al-Ain News: Perhaps the repetition of the transfer of ISIS militants is due to the supervision of Nasrallah and his militias on part of the Iraqi file in an attempt by Tehran to fill the vacuum caused by the killing of the former Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and deputy head of the militia group Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Al-Alusi explained: “Tehran is seeking to restore the spirit of ISIS as a justification for its expansion at the expense of Iraq and linking Beirut, Damascus and Baghdad with a chain of subordination to the Guardian Faqih and its Revolutionary Guards, which is also among the attempts of Ismail Qani, commander of the Quds Force to assemble the leaders of the conflicting militias, which a large part of its commitment previously was to provide funds And the power of oppression represented by Soleimani and the engineer. 

And Iraqi military intelligence, obtained by “Al-Ain Al-Akhbariya” from its sources in the Iraqi army, indicates that the organization has managed to close its ranks and its numbers have increased recently after new militants coming from Syria joined it, in addition to its dependence on a number of local Iraqi militants. To carry out daily attacks in various regions of the provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Nineveh. 

In turn, the Iraqi military expert, Ayad Tofan, revealed to Al-Ain News that ISIS carried out more than 41 armed operations in Iraq last March, while in April this year, the number of operations carried out by the organization was more than 63 armed operations. .

The flood confirmed that “the organization used a mortar (Razem) cannon with a range of 16 km, Iranian-made to bomb the Tuz Khurmato area south of Kirkuk,” noting that the Razim cannon was produced by the Iranian Defense Industries Corporation in 2010 and appeared as a production line in 2012 and also.”

Seth Frantzman | April 21, 2020 at 8:01 pm | Categories: