With U.S. forces out of Iraq and the nation spinning out of control, the nation has turned to someone else to help quell the violence: the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Two battalions of the Quds Forces have been sent to the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an al Qaeda offshoot that took control of Iraq’s second-largest city Mosul and Tikrit in recent days.
The Iraqi government has indicated that it would be open to U.S. airstrikes against the Sunni terrorist organization, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The influx of Quds Forces into Iraq comes less than a week after Qasem Sulaimani, the commander of the Quds Forces, arrived in Baghdad to assess the crisis, said a member of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), the Journal reported.
“The more insecure and isolated Maliki becomes, the more he will need Iran. The growth of ISIS presents a serious threat to Iran. So it would not be surprising to see the Guards become more involved in Iraq,” said Alireza Nader, a senior policy analyst at the Rand Corp, the Journal reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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