IRGC Forms Base Near Saudi Border
LONDON [MENL] -- Iran has established a military base in Iraq near the
border with Saudi Arabia.
An Iraqi military source said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
was operating a base in Naqib, along the Saudi border. The unidentified
source said IRGC was storing weapons as well as training Hizbullah.
"They want to create a foothold for IRGC's Quds Force along the Saudi
border," the source said.
The source, identified as an Iraq Army colonel, told the Saudi-owned
A-Sharq Al Awsat that IRGC was working with its Shi'ite proxy, Abbas
Brigade. The brigade was said to have expelled the residents of Naqib, also
off-limits to the Iraq Army.
"They also want to secure a safe land route to transport IRGC fighters
and weapons into Syria and Lebanon," the Iraqi officer said.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia came under mortar attack from alleged
Iranian-sponsored militias in southern Iraq. As a result, Saudi Arabia has
bolstered its military presence along the Iraqi border.
Other Iraqi sources confirmed that IRGC held large areas of southern
Iraq, particularly around Basra. They said Teheran was controlling much of
the south through such proxies as Hizbullah-Iraq and Shi'ite militias funded
by the Quds Force.
"When armed militias seized control of the town [Naqib], Sunni and
Shi'ite Arabs were expelled under the pretext that they want to protect
Karbala from Islamic State of Iraq and Levant fighters," the Iraqi colonel
said.

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