Iran’s military has stated that it is ready to respond to Israeli military attacks on Palestine. This was the aftermath of Israel’s repeate attacks on the Gaza Strip which resulted in thousands of Palestinians becoming victims. Iran is also know to have a strong military. One of them is the presence of the Al Quds troops.
The Al Quds Force, also known as the Quds Force, is one of the most famous elite units of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Army (IRGC). Iran’s Al Quds Force has a large influence in politics and conflicts in the Middle East region. Apart from that, the Al Quds Force is also well know for their secret missions, intelligence and special operations abroad. So what is the profile of the Quds force like? The following is the complete profile.

Quds Force Profile

The Al Quds Force or also known as the Jerusalem Army is one of the eight branches of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Quds Force found after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and is task with defending the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Al Quds Force carries out operations outside Iran to promote the Islamic revolution. Initially, this force was formed to maintain the influence of the Iranian Islamic revolution throughout the world and provide support to groups fighting against Iran’s enemies.
The Al Quds Force’s headquarters are located in Tehran and they have developed ties with armed groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories. The Al-Quds Force commander operates in a parallel structure and is solely responsible to Iran’s supreme leader.
According to Britannica, the Al Quds force has the main responsibility for carrying out operations abroad. Their primary focus is organizing, supporting, and sometimes leading local forces abroad with goals that support the interests of the IRGC and Iranian clerical groups.

Quds Force Operations

The Al Quds Force first became active as an independent unit in 1982, when it was involved in the Lebanese Civil War following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. These forces provide support to Hezbollah, a Shia-dominated militia founded the same year to resist the Israeli invasion.

They remained close allies and sponsors of Hezbollah even after the end of the civil war in 1990. In the 1990s, their focus shifted to Afghanistan, especially on Iran’s eastern border, as they provided support to the Northern Alliance in the fight against the rise of the Taliban.

The role of the Al-Quds Force has become increasingly visible in the 21st century, especially after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and regional instability following the Arab Spring. In Iraq, they played an important role in organizing and supporting Shia militias against US forces by coordinating specifically with the Badr Organization.

Furthermore, when the 2011 uprising in Syria turned into civil war, the Al-Quds Force came to support the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, who was an important ally in Iran’s “Axis In Yemen, they provided support to the Houthis, who strengthened their rebellion against the central government after Yemen’s 2011-2012 uprising.

The Al Quds Force also played a major role after the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) militant group gained a foothold in Syria and Iraq. The Al Quds Force also helped mobilize and lead tens of thousands of Shia militias against the terror group.

However, their influence in Iraq’s internal affairs became the target of popular protests after the Al-Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani, intervened in October 2019 to prevent the overthrow of Iraqi Prime Minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Current Leader of the Al Quds Force

General Qassem Soleimani is a very famous leader of Iran’s Al Quds Force. Soleimani led the force for more than two decades and played a central role in coordinating operations in the Middle East region. However, on January 3, 2020, General Soleimani was killed in an airstrike carried out by the United States at Baghdad International Airport, Iraq.

After General Soleimani’s death, General Esmail Ghaani was appointed as his successor in leading the Al Quds Force. Ghaani is a military veteran with extensive overseas operations experience.

Following Ghaani’s promotion to commander of the Quds Force on January 3, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised his important role. He called Ghaani one of the leading commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

General Esmail Ghaani was born in Mashhad, the capital of Khorasan Province, Iran’s second largest city. He is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War. During that war. Ghaani led the Nasr-5 and Imam Reza-21 Brigades, which later developed into division.

Ghaani has been a member of the Al Quds Force since its inception. Over the past two decades, he held positions as an intelligence official as well as deputy top commander under the leadership of General Soleimani.
In 2012, the United States Treasury Department listed Ghaani as a “specially designated citizen,” citing his alleged role in overseeing the sources of funds and arms shipments to elements of Hezbollah and Lebanon’s Al Quds Force in the Middle East and Africa, especially in The Gambia.

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