MESOP : NOT AMERICAN – IRANIAN BOOTS ON KURDISH GROUNDS
Iranian Forces Fight Alongside Peshmerga In Jalawla
17.08.2014 – Nuwar Faqie – BasNews, Khanaqen – The Iranian Quds force has entered Khanaqen, a Kurdish city in Diyala Province in Northern Iraq, to fight Islamic State (IS) militants in the town of Jalawla.IS militants captured Jalawla last week, and have since been fighting the Kurdish Peshmerga for control of the town. Iranian forces have now come in to fight alongside the Kurdish forces in the area.
A Peshmerga source in Khanaqen told BasNews Iranian forces entered Iraqi soil from the Parwezkhan border gate and they came in response to a request from Patriotic Union of Kurdistan officials to support Peshmerga in the affected areas.The source also added that Iranian forces have helped Kurdish forces with weapons, although that only amounts to small quantities of ammunition. Last week an Iranian Kurdish official told BasNews that Qassem Suleimani, the Iranian general commander of the Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is currently in Sulaimaniyah and trying to make the situation worse. Since the recent attacks by IS militants in Northern Iraq, there have been reports of Iranian involvement helping the Iraqi army against the Jihadi group, especially in Kirkuk, Diyala and Baghdad.