Qods Force spreading its wings across Iraq
By: Reza Shafa
Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani, Qods Forces’ top man, was directly briefed by supreme leader Ali Khamenei in late spring 2003 to begin organizing the Iranian regime’s sympathizers in a move to execute different phases of covert Iraqi occupation. That of course involved massive transfer of both men and equipment to the country.
To ensure the plan’s success, in an unprecedented move, Khamenei through Soleimani called on the Badr Brigade commanders who had just gone to Iraq as little as a month before to come back to Tehran for emergency meetings with him. They were received by Khamenei in his personal quarters in downtown Tehran, something again strange for him to do.
In a meeting on May 21 and 22, 2003, the mullahs’ supreme leader and the commander-in-chief briefed the Badr Brigade’s commanders in various parts of Iraq.
Khamenei made it abundantly clear that those unit commanders, many of whom formerly held commanding positions in Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), were to strictly obey Soleimani’s orders in Iraq. He was responsible for infiltrating the Badr’s agents into different levels of the new Iraqi government.
The Iranian regime’s embassy in Baghdad
In the past three years, the mullahs’ embassy in Iraq played a major role in the IRGC’s overall plan in the country’s turmoil. Hassan Kazemi Qomi a top ranking Qods Force commander with a long record of service both in Afghanistan and Lebanon has been a key figure in pursuing the regime’s vital interests this time in Iraq.
Qods Force has a separate section in the embassy in Baghdad. Kazemi Qomi has his own team with three highly professional officers working for him. Nasseri, Nobakht and Jabari make up the tem. They are very active in gathering intelligence, espionage, and organizing terrorist attacks on previously assigned targets. In addition, Kazemi Qomi and his team are very active in establishing contacts with Iraqi groups and media.
To implement the measures adopted by the regime in Tehran, it required unleashing the Qods Force in Iraq. The degree of ruthlessness with which the dreaded force performed and the tactics employed in the streets of the neighboring country to achieve its objective are unbelievable.
To be continued
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Reza Shafa is an expert on the Iranian regime’s intelligence networks, both in Iran and abroad. He has done extensive research on VAVAK (MOIS), IRGC’s Intelligence Office, and Quds Force among others. Currently he is a contributor to NCRI website.
