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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iranian opposition tracking, killing senior military officers |
| 2005-07-19 |
| Iran's opposition is targeting senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iranian opposition sources said several senior officers of the IRGC have been tracked in major cities, including Teheran. The sources reported the killing of several officers of the IRGC and the Basij militia. On July 14, an IRGC colonel was stabbed to death in Teheran, Iran's media said, according to Middle East Newsline. The sources said Col. Morteza Moinfar, commander of the Quds Force, was killed by several unidentified assailants. The Quds Force has been regarded as the foreign intelligence service of the IRGC. The unit has been responsible for aiding Hizbullah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah as well as other insurgency groups in the Middle East, Asia and South America. The IRGC unit was linked to the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 American soldiers. The force was also said to have been responsible for the killing of dissidents in Europe in the early 1990s. Iran's media reported that Moinfar was stabbed repeatedly. So far, authorities have not announced the arrest of suspects. In June, a Basij officer was stabbed to death in the Baghestan area of Teheran. Iranian opposition sources said the officer was attacked by two young Iranians after he threatened them with a pistol. Iran has also been rocked by Kurdish unrest in the northwestern city of Mahabad. On Monday, an Iranian soldier was killed in clashes with Mahabad residents. It's not easy being a Sturmabteilung. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
#6 Iranian opposition tracking, killing senior military officersWorks for me. Can they speed it up a little? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-07-19 22:05 |
| #5 ... the General SS, who were thugs added for the purpose of rear-area einsatzgruppe activities and concentration camp guard duty. The closest would be the Baseej (volunteers). The mullahs assigned them to take over internal security in 1995, when the Guard, along with the Army, refused to get involved in putting down riots in Ghazvin. They also have the same function as the Saudi Mutawa'een. It's a mixed bag: one group established to protect and advance the Revolution. Another to protect the regime. The military to protect the country. The latter two led by those picked from the first group. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-07-19 19:39 |
| #4 The Sturmabteilung were the brown shirts, the SA, political troops of the Nazi party, which is why I compared them to the Revolutionary Guard. Continuing with the analogy, the Iranian Army would be comparable to the Wehrmacht, but there is no clear comparison to the Shutzstaffel, the SS, who started out as an elite army (avg. Masters' degree), which became known as the Waffen SS, or combat SS, to distinguish it from the later dilution of their ranks with the General SS, who were thugs added for the purpose of rear-area einsatzgruppe activities and concentration camp guard duty. The SS were under the command of the Finance Ministry, not the General Staff, which further muddied the waters. In any event, the Revolutionary Guard leaders are now much like the SA, but their rank and file are draftees, so their actual reliability is limited to 2 or 3 brigades that are shuttled around the country as political troops. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-07-19 15:54 |
| #3 The Islamic Revolutionary Guard may be a military organization but it's not part of the Iranian military. The Constitution of Iran gives the Revolutionary Guard [Pasdaran] the responsibility of guarding the Revolution itself. Think of it as a diluted combination of the KGB, SS, and GRU. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-07-19 14:34 |
| #2 Hmmm, I think the IRGC is more like the SS than the Wehrmacht. In which case this makes more sense than I thought it did. The Iranian opposition isn't going to defeat the Mullahs without the aid of the regular army, and the only thing standing between the regular army and unseating the Mullahs is the IRGC. Demoralize and decapitate the SS and the Wehrmacht can overthrow the Fuehrer. In sum, good for the Opposition. Faster, please. |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2005-07-19 14:31 |
| #1 If you don't have the public support pillar, use the loyal and well paid military to stay in power. Makes perfect sense that the opposition is now attacking that pillar of power as well. Of course, it is all Rove's fault... BREWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-07-19 13:48 |