IRAN OPEN ITS BORDERS TO ANTI-SADDAM IRAQI FORCES
By An IPS Special Correspondent
TEHRAN 20 Mar. (IPS) Tehran ordered on Wednesday its armed forces to
"open the borders" for the Iran-based Iraqi soldiers opposed to Saddam
Hoseyn, "facilitating their crossing into Iraq", according to a
well-informed source.
Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i
, the leader of the Islamic Republic, who is also the supreme commander of all Iranian forces, issued the order, the source told Iran Press Service in Tehran, speaking on condition of anonymity.Iranian military experts estimate at between 25.000 to 50.000 the number of the Iraqi forces, known as the "al-Badr Brigade", which is controlled by the Tehran-based Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI), led by Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim.
Based in the southern, oil-rich province of Khoozestan and near to the borders with Iraq, the Brigade, made mostly of Iraqi Shi’ites who fled the brutalities of the Iraqi ruling Ba’th Party over the years or Iraqis made prisoner during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, is trained and equipped by Iranian militaries of the Revolutionary Guards.
According to the source, the massive entry of these soldiers into the southern region of Basra, homeland to many of them and also dominated largely by the Shi’ites would "clean" the road up to Baghdad for American and British forces.
Officials in Washington and London expect local inhabitants not only to give a warm welcome to the al-Badr soldiers as "liberators", but also to upraise against Iraqi forces in the region.
American and British military experts do not expect the Iraqi soldiers stationed in the area to put up a strong resistance, as they belong to the regular army, are poorly equipped and very demoralised.
Though Iranian ruling ayatollahs, the very person of the leader in particular, are staunchly hostile to the American-led operations, -- now expected in a "few hours", possibly immediately after the end of the 48 hours deadline President George W. Bush fixed in his Monday evening (Washington local time) address to the nation for his Iraqi counterpart to leave Baghdad – but at the same time, they are discreetly co-operating with the Americans in providing "logistic and transport facilities" to the Iraqi opposition, mostly to the Shi’ites in the south and the Kurds in the north.
A small number of al-Badr soldiers were recently allowed by the Iranians to enter Iraqi Kurdistan, where they hold a "token" parade near Soleymanyeh, the "capital" of the region controlled by the Patriotic Union of (Iraqi) Kurdistan, the Iraqi Kurds largest party after the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (DPK).
Likewise, leaders of major anti-Saddam organisations use Iran as their entry point to the "liberated" Iraqi Kurdistan, where they held last month their last, but crucial meeting and formed a "post-Saddam Provisory Government" which includes leaders of major Iraqi groups recognised by both Washington and Tehran.
In a "lightening", unannounced visit to Tehran last Sunday, Syrian President Bashar Asad met Ayatollah Khameneh'i and assured him that "was he more cooperative" with the Americans, his regime would not be destabilised once Saddam, Iranians most hated man, is toppled.
Khameneh'i’s staunch anti-American position and his policy on Iraq, known as "passive neutrality" was interpreted both at home and outside as "supportive" of the Iraqi dictator and openly denounced by many lawmakers and personalities.
"Either you change your neutrality from passive into positive and feel
sure that no harm would be done to your regime or face all the
consequences", Mr. Asad was reported to have told the Iranian leader.
Before ordering his militaries to "open the borders" for the al-Badr Brigade, Mr. Khameneh'i had discussed the Iraqi situation and the latest developments in the region with five most senior clerics, namely President Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami, Judiciary head Ayatollah Mahmood Hashemi Shahroodi, Majles Speaker Hojjatoleslam Mehdi Karroobi, Council of the Guardians’ Secretary Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, and Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Chairman of the Expediency Council and the regime’s most powerful man after the leader.
"In the framework of the "Open The Borders", Iranian Kurds would also be authorised to cross into the Iraqi Kurdistan and fight Saddam alongside Iraqi peshmergas (freedom fighters), the source further told IPS.
For years after the victory of the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iranian Kurds, led by the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (DPIK) and the "Komoleh", a small but very active Communist-inspired organisation, fought against the Islamic Republic for autonomy, but ended the conflict after two of the "historic" leaders of the Party were assassinated by Iranian agents and also of exhaustation. ENDS IRAN OPEN BORDERS 20303