Smoke rises during clashes between Iraqi security forces and militants of the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Ramadi, July 26, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Osama Al-dulaimi
Iran's Elite Guards Fighting In Iraq To Push Back Islamic State -- Reuters
(Reuters) - In early July, hundreds of mourners gathered for the funeral of Kamal Shirkhani in Lavasan, a small town northeast of the Iranian capital Tehran. The crowd carried the coffin past posters which showed Shirkhani in the green uniform of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and identified him as a colonel.
Shirkhani did not die in a battle inside Iran. He was killed nearly a hundred miles away from the Iranian border in a mortar attack by the militants of the Islamic State “while carrying out his mission to defend” a revered Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra, according to a report on Basij Press, a news site affiliated with the Basij militia which is overseen by the Revolutionary Guards.
Shirkhani’s death deep inside Iraq shows that Iran has committed boots on the ground to defend Iraqi territory.
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My Comment: This news should not surprise anyone. We have known for the past month that Iranian commanders were on front line in Iraq's fight against Suuni militants .... so why not their soldiers. The question that still needs to be answered is .... how many Iranian soldiers are on the ground in Iraq, and how deep of an involvement is Iran willing to go.
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