Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) hasestablished clandestine cells in Iraq to launch attacks on Gulf countrieshosting US troops, bypassing established Iraqi armed factions to avoiddetection, Reuters reported on Friday, citing Iraqi military, security, and “militia”sources.
The network consists of three or four cells, each madeup of around 10 elite Iraqi Shiite fighters operating outside the commandstructure of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella alliance ofIran-backed factions, and reporting directly to Tehran. The sources saidfighters launched at least seven drone attacks from desert areas near Basra andSamawa between April 20 and May 17 against sites in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, andthe United Arab Emirates.
According to the report, the development points to ashift in Iran's regional approach as it seeks to preserve its influence whileconfronting military setbacks, economic difficulties, and the erosion of alliedarmed groups. Several major Iraqi factions have recently signaled a willingnessto disarm and shift their focus to domestic politics, a trend that may haveencouraged Tehran to rely on smaller, tightly controlled networks.
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“The newer groups established by the IRGC appearsmaller, more ideologically hardened and more tightly controlled, reflectingIran's need to conserve resources amid economic strain,” retired Iraqi armygeneral Jasim Al-Bahadli remarked.
The allegations, the report added, present an earlytest for Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi, who has pledged to prevent Iraqiterritory from being used to threaten regional security. Iraqi authorities areinvestigating whether recent attacks on Gulf states originated inside Iraq,while Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have lodged protestswith Baghdad.
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