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Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-iran-commentary-idUSKCN0YN2XW
With Washington Looking the Other Way, Iran Fills a Void in Iraq
(Reuters) Mohamad Bazzi - In recent weeks, thousands of Iraqi soldiers and Shi'ite militia members supported by Iran assembled on the outskirts of Falluja for the expected attack on the Sunni city. In the lead-up to the assault, General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, the special operations branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, met with leaders of the Iraqi Shi'ite militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. More broadly, Tehran wants to ensure that Iraq never again poses an existential threat to Iranian interests. Iran will do whatever is necessary to keep a friendly, Shi'ite-led government in power in Baghdad. Since mid-2014, Tehran has provided tons of military equipment to the Iraqi security forces and has been secretly directing surveillance drones from an airbase in Baghdad. Iran has also sent hundreds of its Quds Force fighters to train Iraqi forces and coordinate their actions. The writer, a journalism professor at New York University, is former Middle East bureau chief at Newsday.