The Influence Of The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Forces (IRGC) In The Middle East

IRGC troop parade (Photo: commons.wikimedia.org File: Parade of IRGC tank transporters)

JAKARTA - General Qasem Soleimani, one of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) troops was killed by US troops. The death of the most influential person in the IRGC took the international public by storm.

Meanwhile, according to the United States, Soleimani was one of the terrorists because he was the leader of the IRGC which became a threat to the US. Then, how much influence does the IRGC have in the Middle East?

Reporting from various sources, the IRGC was formed when the Iranian revolution started in 1979. The Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Khomenei was aimed at overthrowing the monarchist regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlevi, also known as Mohammad Reza Shah, and establishing the Islamic Republic.

The forerunner of the IRGC force was originally created to monitor the Shah regime's military and protect the country from possible counterrevolutionary activity. On May 5, 1979, or a month after the declaration of the Islamic Republic, Khomeini asked the Revolutionary Council to formally form the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

IRGC troops have three main missions and two secondary missions. This was explained by IRGC Leader Yahya Rahim Safavi when interviewed by the Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency (IRNA) in August 2007.

"The main mission of the IRGC includes defense, security and cultural issues. Meanwhile, its secondary mission is related to national development and carrying out humanitarian assistance and rescue activities in the event of natural disasters," said Safavi.

More specifically, the Iranian Revolutionary Council as written by Frederic Wehrey et al in The Rise of the Pasdaran: Assessing the Domestic Roles of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (2009) divides the role of the IRGC into several categories that we have summarized. Among them:

Assist security forces in arresting or blocking counterrevolutionary movements. Protect against attacks and activities that threaten Iran from foreign forces. Train troops under the auspices of the IRGC in moral, ideological and military political matters. Help the Islamic Republic implement the Islamic revolution. Support the liberation movement and help create justice for the world's oppressed people under the leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Republic. Help overcome Iran's national catastrophe

So, in essence, the IRGC troops have both internal and external roles in the interests of their country. It is not only in defense and security interests but also in the role of spreading influence in the regional area.

At the beginning of its formation, according to the records of the Council on Foreign Relations, the IRGC was in charge of several special forces, namely land forces (Quds one of them) which was estimated to number more than 100,000 troops, marine troops with more than 20,000 registered troops, and Basij troops of around 600,000 troops, plus troops. an unknown amount of air.

IRGC expansion

Apart from guarding domestic interests such as tackling the counter-revolutionary movement, the IRGC with the troops already mentioned has high confidence in the ministry. With confidence they began moving their troops to the regional areas around Iran.

The expansion of IRGC troops overseas was first carried out during the Iran-Iraq war. Still according to the Council on Foreign Relations, they started sponsoring stateless armed groups in the region. The offshoot of the IRGC forces serving in Iraq is the Quds force whose general was recently killed by US troops attacking some time ago.

The Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) became a stepping stone so that Iranian influence through the IRGC expanded. Their network with armed groups extends to Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine and elsewhere. The IRGC's role is to provide military training to maintain Iranian influence in the region.

Notable Iranian-backed troops include Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah seemed to be an extension of Iran's hands to export their revolutionary program, especially in Lebanon. It is also through Hezbollah that Iran maintains a stance against the aggression of Israel and of course its ally, the US.

Some of the incidents predicted to be masterminded by Iran, as a symbol of resistance to the two countries, namely; during the 1983 bombing of the US embassy and French troop barracks in Berut. In addition, Iran has also been suspected of being the mastermind behind the 1994 bombing at the center of a Jewish association in Buenos Aires. The Iranian side denied this accusation.

Incident after incident continued into the early 21st century. After the US invasion of Iraq, US-Iran relations continued to heat up. In 2007, for example, US president George W. Bush accused the Quds force of providing roadside bombs for Shia militants to kill American troops. The US government has recorded that as many as 608 troops in Iraq were killed between 2003 and 2011. The US has accused the deaths of IRGC troops.

Meanwhile, in 2011 following an uprising in Arabia, the Quds force was deployed to Syria. Initially Iranian officials claimed the special forces carried out a mission limited to defending Shia places of worship. Over time they acknowledged that the Quds forces also helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stem the protest movement.

Still according to the Council on Foreign Relations, when the rebellion in Syria turned into a civil war, the Quds forces not only became military advisers but also went directly into the battlefield. Indeed, according to those who have come face to face with the Quds force there are almost no Iranians in it, but they are mostly made up of Hezbollah militias and Afghan refugees recruited by the IRGC. Therefore, these various facts prove that Iran's role through its regional areas has been strong enough to date. And that cannot be separated from the IRGC movement.