Iran's Revolutionary Guard Deployed Against ISIS Forces in #Iraq

The Wall Street Journal's been amping up the Iraq coverage, seen at my tweet below.

And here's more at WSJ, linked through Blazing Cat Fur, "Iran Deploys Forces to Fight al Qaeda-Inspired Militants in Iraq: Iranian Revolutionary Guard Forces Helped Iraqi Troops Win Back Control of Most of Tikrit, the Sources Said":

Dramatic front-page coverage at today's @WSJ. pic.twitter.com/9objueoBqE

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 12, 2014

BEIRUT, Lebanon—Iran has deployed Revolutionary Guard forces to fight al Qaeda-inspired militants that have overrun a string of Iraqi cities, and it has helped Iraqi troops win back control of most of Tikrit, Iranian security sources said.

Two battalions of the Quds Forces, the elite overseas branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps that have long operated in Iraq, have come to the aid of the besieged, Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, they said.

Combined Iraqi-Iranian forces had retaken control across 85% of Tikrit, the birthplace of former dictator Saddam Hussein, according to Iraqi and Iranian security sources.

They were helping guard the capital Baghdad and the two cities of Najaf and Karbala, which have been targeted by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, an al Qaeda offshoot whose lightning offensive has thrown Iraq into its worse turmoil since the sectarian fighting that followed the 2003 U.S. invasion of the country.

Tehran has also positioned troops along its border with Iraq and promised to bomb rebel forces if they close within 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, from Iran's border, according to an Iranian army general.  In addition, it was considering the transfer to Iraq of Iranian troops in Syria, if the initial deployments fail to turn the tide of battle in favor of Mr. Maliki's government.

The Iraqi government has asked the U.S. to carry out airstrikes and to speed up the delivery of promised weapons, which raises the prospect of both the U.S. and Iran lending support to Mr. Maliki against ISIS insurgents, who are seeking to create a caliphate encompassing Iraqi and Syrian territory.

General Qasim Sulaimani, the commander of the Quds Forces and one of the region's most powerful military figures, traveled to Baghdad this week to help manage the swelling crisis, said a member of the Revolutionary Guards, or IRGC.

Qassimm al-Araji, and Iraqi Shiite lawmaker who heads the Badr Brigade block in the country's parliament, posted a picture of him and Mr. Sulaimani holding hands in a room in Baghdad on his social-networking site with the caption, "Haj Qasem is here," reported Iranian news sites affiliated with the IRGC on Wednesday. "Haj Qasem" is Mr. Sulaimani's nom de guerre.

At stake for Iran in the current tumult in Iraq isn't only the survival of an Shiite political ally in Baghdad, but the safety of Karbala and Najaf, which along with Mecca and Medina are considered sacred to Shiites world-wide.

An ISIS spokesman, Abu Mohamad al-Adnani, urged the group's Sunni fighters to march toward the "filfth -ridden" Karbala and "the city of polytheism" Najaf, where they would "settle their differences" with Mr. Maliki.

More.