Exercise 'Al-e Bayt al-Maqdis'; What is the IRGC After?

On Friday, 120 Basij battalions held an exercise around the city of Qom, referred to by Iranian news agencies as the large exercise 'Al-e Bayt al-Maqdis 94', with battalions from Greater Tehran and the provinces of Qom, Alborz, Tehran, Semnan, and Markazi participating. Meanwhile, Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the IRGC, announced a restructuring and reorganization of the Basij forces compared to before. According to Jafari, there are now 500 Imam Hussein battalions and 1500 Al-e Bayt al-Maqdis battalions formed across various provinces of the country. Morteza Mahdavi Azad, a political analyst residing in Germany, explains the initial goals of organizing the Imam Hussein and Al-e Bayt al-Maqdis battalions: 'The Imam Hussein and Al-e Bayt al-Maqdis battalions are considered a combined force, although they originated from the Ashura battalions, they are a product of the street protests of 2009 and 2010. The Imam Hussein battalions are fully offensive units for capturing cities, while the Al-e Bayt al-Maqdis battalions have four main objectives: first, cultural-social activities; second, defense of neighborhoods; third, responding to unforeseen events; and finally, territorial defense, responsible for maintaining cities. The goal of these battalions is to be able to join the IRGC's ground forces or the official security forces of the regime in times of crisis and ultimately ensure the continuation of central governance decisions in remote cities and villages.' The IRGC commander also referred to changes in threats against Iran and considered Friday's exercise a drill to counter extra-regional threats and proxy wars against the country. Hossein Aryan, a military and security expert residing in England, cites among the reasons for holding this exercise the preparation of Basij battalions for their deployment to Syria: 'This exercise, taking place on the eve of Basij Day, which is December 5, is very extensive, with the number of participants, namely 120 Basij battalions, exceeding thirty thousand. Part of its objectives is propaganda, meaning we stand against the U.S. and any threats. Another part relates to increasing the combat capability of the Basij battalions and enhancing their coordination with the IRGC's ground forces, and there is also the possibility that some of these battalions will be sent to the battlefield in the Syrian civil war or be placed in conditions where they can be deployed to the battlefield as soon as possible.' Mohammad Ali Jafari described the Paris incidents as the peak of insecurity and stated that the enemy made significant efforts to destabilize our country, but with the power and efforts of security forces, all these conspiracies were thwarted. Morteza Mahdavi Azad believes that the Basij and IRGC forces, in addition to targeting external threats, including from the Islamic State group, are also keeping an eye on upcoming events, including the parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections in March of this year: 'The involvement of these two battalions in the issue of ISIS creates the impression that the IRGC is pursuing a larger project aimed at weakening the government. In fact, if you observe the IRGC's movements, from dealing with bloggers in recent months to confronting journalists and government critics, as well as the propaganda of government media and even today’s statements by General Jafari, it shows that with the term infiltration raised by Ayatollah Khamenei, the IRGC sees a more fundamental threat to the Islamic Republic. Accordingly, on one edge of this threat, there is ISIS, and on the other edge, there are internal critics. The focus of the IRGC and Basij on the Al-e Bayt al-Maqdis battalions indicates that the IRGC is more focused on missions ahead of this year’s elections than on targeting ISIS.' In another part of his remarks on Friday, Mohammad Ali Jafari referred to the intertwining of popular forces and defenders of the Islamic Revolution, including in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon, and called it one of the achievements of the Basij.