Photos appearing to show the leader of Iran‘s powerful Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, liaising with Iraqi authorities near Baghdad have prompted speculation — and concern — over the role Iran and its proxies intend to play in driving ISIS out of Mosul and Fallujah.
Soleimani’s presence in Iraq amid two major counter-ISIS offensives — in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, and in Mosul, further north — has unnerved those familiar with Iran’s campaign to cultivate influence in the region through Shiite proxy militias, whose presence in Sunni-majority areas could provoke sectarian violence.
“I can’t emphasize enough how alarmed I am over these photos of Soleimani,” Ali Khedery, the longest continuously serving US official in Iraq, told Business Insider in an interview. “Iran has a formal campaign of cultivating Shiite proxies, and those proxies have now been put on the Iraqi government’s payroll in the form of the PMU.”
Read More- Business Insider
Image courtesy of Reuters
Photos appearing to show the leader of Iran‘s powerful Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, liaising with Iraqi authorities near Baghdad have prompted speculation — and concern — over the role Iran and its proxies intend to play in driving ISIS out of Mosul and Fallujah.
Soleimani’s presence in Iraq amid two major counter-ISIS offensives — in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, and in Mosul, further north — has unnerved those familiar with Iran’s campaign to cultivate influence in the region through Shiite proxy militias, whose presence in Sunni-majority areas could provoke sectarian violence.
“I can’t emphasize enough how alarmed I am over these photos of Soleimani,” Ali Khedery, the longest continuously serving US official in Iraq, told Business Insider in an interview. “Iran has a formal campaign of cultivating Shiite proxies, and those proxies have now been put on the Iraqi government’s payroll in the form of the PMU.”
Read More- Business Insider
Image courtesy of Reuters
COMMENTS
There are on this article.
You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article.