The al Quds Brigade
Recently there have been several references to the shadowy al Quds Brigade of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that has been reported to be active in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere around the world. In fact the al Quds Brigade is the secret underground army of the Iranian revolution, answerable not to the high command of the IRGC, but directly to the highest authority in Iran, the Head of the Iranian Revolutionary Council, Ayatollah Khamenei.
Al Quds means in Arabic "the Holy" (similar to Kodesh in Hebrew) and refers to Jerusalem. From the beginning of the Iranian revolution in 1979 it has been a stated goal of the Shia state to recapture Jerusalem from the Jews. One of the slogans of the Iranians in the war against Iraq in 1980-88 was "the road to Jerusalem leads thru Baghdad." But, they of course failed to achieve their goal of capturing Baghdad, let alone Jerusalem. Notably the al Quds Brigade played an active role in the war against Iraq and it is believed that Pres. Ahmedinejad of Iran was a former member of this force.
Now with the ferment in Iraq and the activism of a large segment of Iraqi (Arab) Shia there, this goal of capturing Baghdad now seems feasible to the Iranians. They have their agents actively supporting the Shia insurgency, including Muktada al Sadr and his 10,000 man Mahdi Army. The reason it is called the Mahdi Army is that the Shia believe in the coming of a Messiah (as derived from Judaism), but in their case it would be the secret 12th Imam who would take over the victorious Islamic forces. They believe that this could happen once Jerusalem is restored to them.
A presentation about the al Quds Brigade of the IRGC was given by Daniel Diker in the recent symposium in Jerusalem organized by The Israel Project (www.theisraelproject.org) entitled "Hamas, Hizbollah and Iran." He makes the point that until recently little was known about the activities of the al Quds Force, but recently they have been detected in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza. Earlier activities of the al Quds Force include the 1983 bombings in Beirut of the US Embassy killing 63 and the US marine barracks that killed 241 US servicemen and the bombings in Buenos Aires, Argentina, of the Israeli Embassy in 1992 that killed 29 and the Jewish Community Center in 1994 that killed 85, for which high officials of Iran are now wanted under an Interpol warrant. These bombings were carried out in cooperation with Hizbollah, which is closely associated with the al Quds force. In fact it is known that a senior Hizbollah operative, Imad Mugnieh, was involved in carrying out these bombings, and is now known to be living in Iran. Members of the al Quds force have been captured by the IDF in Lebanon and by US forces in Iraq. They are also reportedly active in Gaza, training a Hamas army of 10,000 men modeled after Hizbollah.
The al Quds Force is the secret underground army of the Iranian revolution that engages in international activities on behalf of the Iranian state. It is the Shia equivalent to, and competitor of, the Sunni al Qaeda. Look for it in your vicinity, if it's not there yet, it will be soon.
Al Quds means in Arabic "the Holy" (similar to Kodesh in Hebrew) and refers to Jerusalem. From the beginning of the Iranian revolution in 1979 it has been a stated goal of the Shia state to recapture Jerusalem from the Jews. One of the slogans of the Iranians in the war against Iraq in 1980-88 was "the road to Jerusalem leads thru Baghdad." But, they of course failed to achieve their goal of capturing Baghdad, let alone Jerusalem. Notably the al Quds Brigade played an active role in the war against Iraq and it is believed that Pres. Ahmedinejad of Iran was a former member of this force.
Now with the ferment in Iraq and the activism of a large segment of Iraqi (Arab) Shia there, this goal of capturing Baghdad now seems feasible to the Iranians. They have their agents actively supporting the Shia insurgency, including Muktada al Sadr and his 10,000 man Mahdi Army. The reason it is called the Mahdi Army is that the Shia believe in the coming of a Messiah (as derived from Judaism), but in their case it would be the secret 12th Imam who would take over the victorious Islamic forces. They believe that this could happen once Jerusalem is restored to them.
A presentation about the al Quds Brigade of the IRGC was given by Daniel Diker in the recent symposium in Jerusalem organized by The Israel Project (www.theisraelproject.org) entitled "Hamas, Hizbollah and Iran." He makes the point that until recently little was known about the activities of the al Quds Force, but recently they have been detected in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza. Earlier activities of the al Quds Force include the 1983 bombings in Beirut of the US Embassy killing 63 and the US marine barracks that killed 241 US servicemen and the bombings in Buenos Aires, Argentina, of the Israeli Embassy in 1992 that killed 29 and the Jewish Community Center in 1994 that killed 85, for which high officials of Iran are now wanted under an Interpol warrant. These bombings were carried out in cooperation with Hizbollah, which is closely associated with the al Quds force. In fact it is known that a senior Hizbollah operative, Imad Mugnieh, was involved in carrying out these bombings, and is now known to be living in Iran. Members of the al Quds force have been captured by the IDF in Lebanon and by US forces in Iraq. They are also reportedly active in Gaza, training a Hamas army of 10,000 men modeled after Hizbollah.
The al Quds Force is the secret underground army of the Iranian revolution that engages in international activities on behalf of the Iranian state. It is the Shia equivalent to, and competitor of, the Sunni al Qaeda. Look for it in your vicinity, if it's not there yet, it will be soon.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:08 PM
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