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Source: http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-iraq-iran-20140915-story.html
Iran Fills Key Role in Battling Islamic State in Iraq
(Los Angeles Times) Nabih Bulos and Patrick J. McDonnell - Mala Bakhtiar, military supervisor of the Kurdish peshmerga forces in Khanaqin in northeastern Iraq, spoke openly of comprehensive Iranian involvement in logistics, intelligence-sharing and provision of military equipment to Kurdish troops. "They gave us rockets, cannons, maps," he said. He also confirmed the presence of Iranian Revolutionary Guard advisors who, he said, "were very helpful" in the battle to dislodge Sunni extremists from the nearby town of Jalawla and vicinity. It was Iranian-backed Shiite militias that helped the Iraqi military thwart the extremists' rampage toward Baghdad in June and July. The main Iraqi Shiite militia coordinating with the Iraqi forces in the south is the Badr Brigade, which has a "long history of being trained by Iran," noted Hamid Reza Taraghi, a Tehran-based analyst.