The United States and European Union must act urgently to evict Iranian armed forces from Iraq to prevent the Middle East from turning into a ‘quagmire of sectarian war’, European Iraqi Freedom Association has urged.
Struan Stevenson, President of the European Iraqi Freedom Association, said as long as Iranian backed militias operate with impunity in Iraq, human rights violations will continue to rise across the region.
He wrote in the Huffington Post: “As the Iraq conflict continues, Iran continues to do whatever it takes to achieve its objectives in the region.
“The increasing numbers of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and their military activities in Iraq reveal the horrendous scale of the Iranian regime’s meddling.
The death of IRGC commander Hamid Taqavi in the Iraqi city of Samarra, and the presence of the terrorist Quds force commander Qasem Soleimani in Iraq were all distressing signs of Tehran’s interference, he said.
He quoted a source close to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who told the Washington Post: “Iran has sent more than 1,000 military advisers as well as elite units to Iraq and has conducted air strikes and spent more than $1 billion on military aid”.
The Iranian Resistance had put the number of IRGC forces in Iraq at 7,000, he said.
He added: “It would be naïve to assume that Tehran’s aim in despatching forces to Iraq is simply to confront the Islamic State.
“Their aim is to expand their dominion and influence in Iraq, a policy which the Iranian regime has been pursuing since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
“In recent days the terrorist Quds Force and its linked militias have staged an unprecedented genocidal campaign against the Sunni population in various Iraqi provinces. The bloodshed caused by Quds Force operatives and paramilitaries is even worse than the atrocities caused by ISIS.
“As long as Iranian backed militias such as Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, Kata’ib Hezbollah and Badr are authorised to operate in Iraq with impunity, human rights violations will continue to rise and the flames of sectarian war will be fanned. The commanders of these militias together with their Iranian masters such as Qasem Soleimani and Ayatollah Khamenei are the culprits of these and a large number of similar crimes in Iraq.
“The Obama administration and the European Union must end their silence and inaction regarding these crimes and should adopt concrete steps to help the new Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi in evicting the Iranian regime from Iraq. Failure to do so will turn the Middle East into a quagmire of sectarian war with no end in sight.”
