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Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-889198
Iran's Revolutionary Guards Are Hiding in Hospitals, as Hamas Did
(Media Line-Jerusalem Post) Omid Habibinia - After a week of American and Israeli strikes, Emily Blout, an Iran specialist at the Pentagon, told Media Line: "Dispersal of the IRGC into these unusual locations, including hospitals and schools, is a core part of their strategy for survival. And the strategy actually makes sense. By decentralizing command into local autonomous units and by dispersing munitions across the country, the IRGC aims to maintain control even though its central leadership is eliminated. But hiding in places, especially in hospitals, is a page out of the Hamas playbook." Many IRGC forces are now exhausted and left without secure bases or headquarters. Even their makeshift cover locations, such as sports stadiums, have come under attack. An Iranian military officer told the Media Line that the tactic of wearing down and rendering the Islamic Republic's military and security apparatus effectively homeless has begun to work and it is unlikely they will be able to sustain this condition for the coming weeks. He said the repeated bombardment of the leader's residence and the cover sites used for the deployment of IRGC forces indicates an effort to crush the organizational structure of these forces. That would facilitate defections from the ranks of the IRGC, the Basij, and other repressive bodies. One week after the outbreak of war, the IRGC has lost its commander and nearly all of its field commanders. It is said that at least 800 of its members have been killed.