MOsC0VV’ S GAME OF POKER

砸∫猢赋 B漱 pa” Anyonc、 vho Ⅵ厂

ants to bc a candidatc rnust Thc quantitatlxycly biggcst para-Ⅱ 1ihtary forcc upon which
∷
翔扪W● g∶ 旺:Ⅰ hrough scvcralstagcsin thc party A person docsn’ t tllc ofFiccrs of tllc IRGC-QF煎 σ C ablc to call was tlIc so-callcd
‘
照ηⅡ唧 篮 ic party ovcrnight¨ Thcrcbrc,part of thc Baath Ba钿 h Par″ Militi'CMun陇 zamat Sha’ bi犭 厂 ,BPM)Through a’

钿贮 | hI-:jh卟 has a sccurity problcm¨ thc Baath was strong combining such formations with scattcrcd dctachmcnts of thc
锏略勰 t create a sccurity Iorce hkc Our country¨ Only formcr rcgular rnnitary,raid squadrons ofdivcrsc intclligcncc and
`ji|dn・
镟 狈∷rⅡ 衤ras tralncd to flght、 vars v/1th thc cncmy¨ 7 sccurlty scrviccs,and shabiha gangs,thc Iranians crcatcd a￡ orcc
modcllcd a丘 crthc Bas刂 Corps ofthcIRGC_oσ kialˇ dcslgnatcd
η‰ 驷;甲 |ェ 三:t【 △
rcc’ Hamcdani dcscribcd was inltially bascd on tllc Natlonal Dcfcncc Forcc CQuwwat a汪 Di壬 l廴 alL硒Iata“ 1NDF)
唧‖ ¨rallcd=Shabih'(‘ Ghosts’
钾骢卜,C`Ⅱ ∶ )and c。 nsistcd ofthrcc maJor, In⒈Iamcdani’ sownⅥ 严
ords∶

|洳 朋菡
π护 i血 扌` cTiΠ 1inal nctw° rks originally run by nobody othcr
辄脚 獭嘿η-呼 、 ofthc c~xtcndcd Assad nm1ˇ v/ˉ llilC rcnσ 吖ncd允 r Some ofthc Ⅵ Ⅵ/as to Create a popular forcc At
`ork wc did
枷 +贮 rm$;Joardination,thcsc sidcd、 vlth thc govcrnmcnt carly on, flrst tl△ cy[Syrians]sald,“ you camc hcrc to cle筑 c anothcr

麒 肥灬
删 l:=cd to thc control oftwo top sccurlty scrviccs,and thcn hcrc is thc rnoncyP′ 函⒎
army￡ or usP′ 函⒎ hcrc arc thc Ⅵ厂
caponsP”
Ⅲ蛳晌 ˉ t1nr° privatc arll△ ics on advicc丘 om,wlth hclp offonding η“c said,“ this is our stratcgy∶ thc participation of thc pcoPlc
"叮
’′⒎
铷相
咖毗 胴 .undcrthc control oξ thc IRGC-QF In ordcrto sccurc to hc1p thc govcrnmcntin so1ving this crisis’ 函hcn thc rolc
i删 i昭 蛩宽五。。Π1inal control ovcr thc cmcrging militias,in2013thc of thcsc 允rccs 、
^`as Cstabhshcd wc saved Damascus wlth
屮
嶝 宀:r~ˉ c Ⅱ
ntclligcncc crcatcd thc so-cal1cd毛 Air F° rcc Shicld1thC their help Thcy camc and said that it rnust be put undcr thc
’
腮M爬剜 eCc ofwhich bccamc tl△ c‘ Tlg∝ For∞ (‘
Quwwat Nimr)∶ control of thc army!η Vc said that this is not corrcct If you
峦屺溅m‖ ru 汕 about 1,400-strong formation consisting of about a wantto strcngthcn thc armyyou rnust rccruit forces Thc nrst
跏照￠鸵 1r△ 互Ⅱ .comp盯 ,-s讫 cd° tIt丘 “ (20巧 0combatallts caClll charactcr泌 tic of thc Islan1ic I△ △
odCl and Bas刂 thinking ls that
腼 w4Ι I汀 血shion,thc‘ Mihtary IntcⅡ igcncc Brancr (‘ Suhbat it is voluntary This forcc is lc,w-c0st and lucrat「
`c Rcally.
敝峥‰山
△服 arat al-Askariy')had Cstabhshcd scvcral of what can thcy did not perccivc this until thcy saw thc rcsults of thcsc
=必
mll脚 k dcstrlbcd as pri、 cs(PMCΦ ,somc act1、
19

`atc military compa血 `itics’

|硫 lld吐 父t grc“ 「largcr and wcrc cvcn bcttcr cquippcd than thc
:邺 哭r Fprcc.bccausc thcir principal purposc、 vas that ofproviding
w铷 拙r虹 ∶
Ⅱoops・ that lcad of± cnsivc opcrations.1: 觯6C砷 鑫 『螅 p¤ 『
鍪 ¤-s肀 镙督
e;睇 $y汛 ¤
ThcIRGC~QF nCvCrtookcarctoConvcrtthcNDF into acohcrcnt
forcc,and thus lt ncvcr cstabhshcd a ccntrahscd con11nand systcm
_bccausc nonc was actually ncccssary∶ lllihtary opcrations of
such允 rmatlons wcrc colltrollcd from tllc IRGC-QF’ sown HQ,
sltuatcd in thc so-callcd‘ CⅡ asshousc’ (‘ Maqarc-Shishc’ i’
),outsidC
Damascus Intcrnatonal Alrport(IAP) Fr。 m thClc,Solcimalll
-followcd by Hamcdani,v严 ho rcplaccd hirn in2014-not only
cxcrciscd control of thc n1ihtary and intcⅡ igcncc apparatus,
but of a11maJor rnilltary opcratlons run on bchalf of thc Assad
govcrnmcnt,and also bcgan dirccting thc proccss of intcgrating
thc IRGC-QF into Bashar a⒈ Assad’ s Syria along thc dircctIx・ C
publicly cxprcsscd by H句 atolCslam Mahdi Tacb lonc ofthc kcy
‘
plannc‘ ofIRGC-QF’ s involxˉ cmcnt in SyriΦ from201⒊ Syria
’ is thc35th provincc ofIran and itis a stratcgic provincc for us’
獭 atants ofthe BP1ˇ 刂s‘ Ba’ ath Brigades’ on the CeIebration ofthe
噔呕侧∷Anniversary ofthe(syrian)Ba’ ath Party,in Aρ ri120刊 3 (sANA) Evcr“ noc,thc IRGC-QF has Cxploitcd thc f;ct that Bashar
al~Assad has no othcr way of rcturning aⅡ thc Iranian岛 vours,
or cvcn pay for morc troops othcr than thosc ofthc Rcpubhcan
1 Guards Dhlslon(RGD)and thC Syrian Arab Air Fo∝ c(璃XAF),
1 but through signing numcrous dcals wlth IRGC-controllcd
Γ coΠ Ⅱncrcial cntcrpriscs, granting thcm lucrativc hccnccs for

⒊ mobⅡ c phonc scrviccs and phosphatc rnining,thc usc ofthousands

1 of hcctarcs of fcrtilc land for岛 rn1ing, construction of oⅡ and
gas tcrΠ1inals,￡ or clcctricity gcncration and thc rights to import
clcctricity丘 om Iran l△ˉ
h Iraql卩 Furtl・ Crmorc,tl△ cI1・ al△ lans hε 1`/c
bought largc parts of Damascus(induding thc cntirc formcr
quartcrl, and bcgan sctding Shih丘 om othcr countrics
JC、 vish
thcrc Thcir clcrgy was grantcd thc cxclusivc pcrΠ 1ission to
opcn numcrous rchgious tcaching ccntrcs,such as in Damascus,
Lattakia,and Jabla~all airncd at convcrting Sunnls and Alawis
RGC-QF’ s spearhead in Damascus∶ Combatants ofthe LiWa Abu ‘
:-FadI aI-Abbas-shi’ a from Iraq and Lebanon,as seen in southern
to CorrcCt’ , Shi’ a Islam by ways of scrmons and stipcnds21
Domascusin2012 (LAFA) Bcforc long,thc Iranians bccamc frank cnough to adn1it thcy arc