The Reaper
06-30-2014, 09:57
An excellent read on how they do it.
TR
MILITARY INTERVENTION, IRANIAN-STYLE
Farzan Sabet
June 30, 2014 • in Analysis
http://warontherocks.com/2014/06/military-intervention-iranian-style/
The Islamic Republic of Iran today is being confronted by existential attacks on its alliance system, the axis of resistance, on two fronts: first Syria, and now Iraq. While it has largely contained the Syrian civil war-having reversed the tide in favor of Bashar al Assad's regime after three years of sustained military, political, and economic support-the crumbling of the Iraqi state and the possibility of a Sunni resurgence has elites in Iran alarmed.
Iran is now in the uncomfortable position of planning to stage a military intervention in Iraq, one that is likely to follow a pattern that has emerged since 1979.
Two decisive military experiences in the 1980s have helped shape Iran's approach to military intervention and its very strong preference for covert operations. The first is the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), which is arguably the defining experience of the Islamic Republic, on par with the revolution itself.
While Iran's conventional military achieved its primary objective of not conceding an inch of Iranian soil to Iraq using overt operations, it was far less successful in projecting power into Iraq, and the stalemated war ultimately cost hundreds of thousands of casualties and hundreds of billions of dollars.
Critically, Iran learned the limits of its conventional military power, constrained by technological and industrial shortcomings and international balance-of-power dynamics. The second experience was attempts by the Movements Branch, the predecessor of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Jerusalem (Qods) Force, to create resistance movements across the Middle East, especially Hezbollah in Lebanon in the early 1980s, and helped shape an evolving template which has been used widely elsewhere since. This second experience has left a greater imprint on Iranian military interventions due to its relative military success, cost-effectiveness, and deniability.
With this background in mind, what is Iran's approach to military interventions?
It typically follows three basic principles.
1. Leave a light footprint
Iran's preference for a light footprint, especially covert operations, has been confirmed on numerous occasions since 1979; it has relied on small and discreet special operations and intelligence units which gather vital information and act as trainers and advisers to realize its goals, the most well-known example being Major-General Qasem Soleimani's Jerusalem Force. As Robert
Beckhusen has neatly summarized, "The Quds Force is not a front-line unit, but functions as a special operations group whose presence and leadership improves indigenous forces on the battlefield." This preference, shaped by its experiences in the 1980s, coalesced into a more consistent approach in the aftermath of the killing of 13 Iranian diplomats in its Mazari Sharif consulate by the Afghan Taliban in 1998. This was an episode in which a large-scale Iranian overt operation in Afghanistan was seriously contemplated by the regime's national security establishment. While we do not know all of the facts, credible accounts have begun to emerge. As current senior military adviser to the supreme leader and former IRGC commander Majour-General Yayha Rahim-
Safavi recounts:
At that time [1998] I was commander of the IRGC and in 48 hours deployed two divisions with airplanes on the border of Taybad. I made an operational plan and took it before [Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] to ask permission so that we could advance to the Herat region with a number of divisions. Herat is approximately 130 km from our border. I said: 'Give us permission, for the punishment of the Taliban, to advance to Herat; annihilate, punish, eliminate them and return.'
This is said to be one of the few occasions in which Khamenei went against the consensus of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the main body responsible for Iran's foreign and national security policymaking. According to Rahim-Safavi, Khamenei disagreed on two grounds, saying that: "First the Taliban has not entered our territory and not infiltrated our country; the entry of Iran into the land of Afghanistan may lead others to react." Here, Khamenei appears to have firmly established violation of Iranian territory as one of the very few red-lines that could trigger overt military intervention. Second, Khamenei is said to have asserted that "Right now 13 people have been martyred and you go to seek revenge," but in a large-scale deployment this number could increase because "it is not the case that only you kill them."
Rahim-Safavi's alternative proposal to "strike the Taliban border outposts with artillery and mortar and then demolish them with bulldozers and loaders in a short period," was ultimately accepted. This was only a stopgap measure, however, and the thrust of Iran's response to the Taliban from 1998 onward relied on covert operations, including a partnership with the Northern Alliance, an indigenous force in Afghanistan.
Iran's preference for leaving a light footprint in military interventions has been strong enough that even in Syria, where reliable local forces have been stretched to their limits, Iran has tried to avoid using Iranian troops and deployed Lebanese Hezbollah, Iraqi Shi'a special groups, and-allegedly-Shia Hazara refugees from Iran, among others.
2. Partner with indigenous forces and use unconventional warfare
(cont. at link above)
TR
MILITARY INTERVENTION, IRANIAN-STYLE
Farzan Sabet
June 30, 2014 • in Analysis
http://warontherocks.com/2014/06/military-intervention-iranian-style/
The Islamic Republic of Iran today is being confronted by existential attacks on its alliance system, the axis of resistance, on two fronts: first Syria, and now Iraq. While it has largely contained the Syrian civil war-having reversed the tide in favor of Bashar al Assad's regime after three years of sustained military, political, and economic support-the crumbling of the Iraqi state and the possibility of a Sunni resurgence has elites in Iran alarmed.
Iran is now in the uncomfortable position of planning to stage a military intervention in Iraq, one that is likely to follow a pattern that has emerged since 1979.
Two decisive military experiences in the 1980s have helped shape Iran's approach to military intervention and its very strong preference for covert operations. The first is the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), which is arguably the defining experience of the Islamic Republic, on par with the revolution itself.
While Iran's conventional military achieved its primary objective of not conceding an inch of Iranian soil to Iraq using overt operations, it was far less successful in projecting power into Iraq, and the stalemated war ultimately cost hundreds of thousands of casualties and hundreds of billions of dollars.
Critically, Iran learned the limits of its conventional military power, constrained by technological and industrial shortcomings and international balance-of-power dynamics. The second experience was attempts by the Movements Branch, the predecessor of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Jerusalem (Qods) Force, to create resistance movements across the Middle East, especially Hezbollah in Lebanon in the early 1980s, and helped shape an evolving template which has been used widely elsewhere since. This second experience has left a greater imprint on Iranian military interventions due to its relative military success, cost-effectiveness, and deniability.
With this background in mind, what is Iran's approach to military interventions?
It typically follows three basic principles.
1. Leave a light footprint
Iran's preference for a light footprint, especially covert operations, has been confirmed on numerous occasions since 1979; it has relied on small and discreet special operations and intelligence units which gather vital information and act as trainers and advisers to realize its goals, the most well-known example being Major-General Qasem Soleimani's Jerusalem Force. As Robert
Beckhusen has neatly summarized, "The Quds Force is not a front-line unit, but functions as a special operations group whose presence and leadership improves indigenous forces on the battlefield." This preference, shaped by its experiences in the 1980s, coalesced into a more consistent approach in the aftermath of the killing of 13 Iranian diplomats in its Mazari Sharif consulate by the Afghan Taliban in 1998. This was an episode in which a large-scale Iranian overt operation in Afghanistan was seriously contemplated by the regime's national security establishment. While we do not know all of the facts, credible accounts have begun to emerge. As current senior military adviser to the supreme leader and former IRGC commander Majour-General Yayha Rahim-
Safavi recounts:
At that time [1998] I was commander of the IRGC and in 48 hours deployed two divisions with airplanes on the border of Taybad. I made an operational plan and took it before [Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] to ask permission so that we could advance to the Herat region with a number of divisions. Herat is approximately 130 km from our border. I said: 'Give us permission, for the punishment of the Taliban, to advance to Herat; annihilate, punish, eliminate them and return.'
This is said to be one of the few occasions in which Khamenei went against the consensus of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the main body responsible for Iran's foreign and national security policymaking. According to Rahim-Safavi, Khamenei disagreed on two grounds, saying that: "First the Taliban has not entered our territory and not infiltrated our country; the entry of Iran into the land of Afghanistan may lead others to react." Here, Khamenei appears to have firmly established violation of Iranian territory as one of the very few red-lines that could trigger overt military intervention. Second, Khamenei is said to have asserted that "Right now 13 people have been martyred and you go to seek revenge," but in a large-scale deployment this number could increase because "it is not the case that only you kill them."
Rahim-Safavi's alternative proposal to "strike the Taliban border outposts with artillery and mortar and then demolish them with bulldozers and loaders in a short period," was ultimately accepted. This was only a stopgap measure, however, and the thrust of Iran's response to the Taliban from 1998 onward relied on covert operations, including a partnership with the Northern Alliance, an indigenous force in Afghanistan.
Iran's preference for leaving a light footprint in military interventions has been strong enough that even in Syria, where reliable local forces have been stretched to their limits, Iran has tried to avoid using Iranian troops and deployed Lebanese Hezbollah, Iraqi Shi'a special groups, and-allegedly-Shia Hazara refugees from Iran, among others.
2. Partner with indigenous forces and use unconventional warfare
(cont. at link above)