The Islamic Republic of Iran has a spectrum of particular elite forces. Tehran’s most recognizable particular forces unit is the elite Quds Drive, which focuses on extraterritorial operations. 4 extra particular forces models perform beneath the Guard Corps, together with its Floor Drive’s Saberin Battalions and its Navy’s Marine Brigades. Its common military, the Artesh, directs its personal contingent of elite models. Whereas every specialised unit beneath the Iranian banner performs an instrumental position within the nation’s offensive and/or defensive efforts, no group is taken into account extra highly effective or vital than the Quds Drive. Liable for exporting the clerical regime’s agenda throughout state strains, this elite unit maybe wields Iran’s most formidable capabilities.
The Historical past of the Quds Drive
The 2020 U.S.-led killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani introduced current notoriety to the Quds Drive unit that the revered IRGC commander headed. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini established counterweights to the political establishments that existed previous to the autumn of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Amongst them was the IRGC. Members of the Guard Corps answered to the Ayatollah, in contrast to the Artesh, which reported to the nation’s elected president. On the time of its inception, the IRGC was at first tasked with stopping one other coup d’état.
Following the Iran-Iraq Warfare within the 1980’s, 4 organizations engaged in extraterritorial operations merged into the IRGC-QF. The IRGC carried out its first “overseas” operation throughout the eight-year warfare, when its commander, Mohsen Rezee, disguised official ties to Iran-backed teams overseas. Round this time, the elite unit expanded its operations into Afghanistan, together with help for a Shiite political occasion that opposed the federal government of Mohammed Najibullah.
How the IRGC-QF expanded
Though the regime didn’t formally acknowledge the Qud Drive’s existence till the Syrian warfare erupted in 2011, the elite unit has been lively for greater than three a long time. The Quds Drive initially operated primarily in Lebanon, the place it has maintained good relations with Hezbollah. Since then, the elite unit has expanded its operations throughout the area. Quds Drive militants carried out the 1983 bombings of the U.S. embassy in addition to U.S. Marine and French paratrooper barracks in Beirut. That operation highlighted the group’s attain inside Lebanon. The elite unit can be extensively suspected of bombing a Jewish heart in Argentina a decade later.
Underneath varied guises during the last decade, the Quds Drive has expanded its attain considerably into Iraq and Syria. Initially fashioned to help within the struggle towards the Islamic State in 2014, the In style Mobilization Forces (PMF) performed a task within the worldwide effort to thwart ISIS. Time beyond regulation, the group morphed right into a Tehran proxy that continues to defy Iraqi legislation and performance on behalf of the clerical regime.
The IRGC-QF helps its regional associates
The IRGC-QF’s foothold in militias ranging from Hezbollah to the PMF is enabled by the regular provide of financial, navy, and coaching assist it receives from the regime. As summed up by Iran Watch, the Quds Drive “gives monetary and navy assist to militant and terrorist teams, together with to Hezbollah and teams in Africa,” and its “officers have trafficked narcotics and use diplomatic, non-governmental, and humanitarian organizations as cowl for operational actions.” Moreover, the IRGC-QF “has supplied assist and gear to the Syrian authorities to repress civilian actions, has cooperated with Yas Air (Pars Aviation Providers Firm), Mahan Air, and Iran Air, to reportedly provide the Syrian authorities with weapons and crowd management gear.”
An Iranian missile is displayed throughout a rally marking the annual Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, on the final Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in Tehran, Iran April 29, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Company) through REUTERS
Clearly, the IRGC-QF has an enormous attain within the area. Nevertheless, it’s tough for navy analysts to foretell the precise extent of the elite unit’s energy because the Quds Drive depends on unconventional, uneven ways to hold out operations. Because the IRGC-QF lacks the coaching, gear and monetary strengths its prime adversaries Israel and the U.S. possess, the group opts to struggle on various phrases.
Though quite a few particular forces inside each the IRGC and Artesh are tasked with Iran’s most important defensive and offensive operations, the Quds Drive is undoubtedly the nation’s most crucial part. Following the killing of Qassem Soleimani in 2020, the Quds Drive has shifted its focus to counter and goal American and Israeli property within the area.
Maya Carlin is a Center East Protection Editor with 19FortyFive. She can be an analyst with the Middle for Safety Coverage and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in lots of publications, together with The Nationwide Curiosity, Jerusalem Submit, and Instances of Israel.
