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Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20921/iran-military-calculations-and-miscalculations
Are Iran's Revolutionary Guards Capable of Fighting a Real War?
(Asharq Al-Awsat) Amir Taheri - Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its appendages such as the Baseej, the Quds Force, and at least four security and intelligence services account for less than 5% of the Iranian population. Yet they have the largest share of plum jobs in the public sector. Despite the investment of more than twice what is allocated to the regular army, the IRGC never became a military force in the classical sense. Its military experience consisted of fighting secessionist groups in the frontier provinces and crushing unarmed protesters. The IRGC has developed into a factory producing large numbers of one-star generals who retire at 60 but live to be 80 or 90. Thus, you need to find them jobs. The decade-long Syrian war provided an outlet, as hundreds of retirees "volunteered" to go there to supervise the killing of Syrians and return home with a medal and a bundle of cash. But, as the "Zionist foe" started killing them with airstrikes, the flow of "volunteers for martyrdom" dried up. According to French scholar Stephane Dudoignon, over 100 IRGC generals were killed by the Israelis. Last month, when for a brief moment it seemed that the "Supreme Guide" might be forced to risk direct war with the "Zionist foe," the question surfaced: Is the IRGC capable of fighting a real war? My guess is that Khamenei's answer was "no." This is why, having held consultations for several days, he decided to choose "tactical retreat." The writer was executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979.