The Role of Intelligence Organizations in Proxy Wars: The Case of Quds Force

Year 2021, , 728 - 747, 30.12.2021

Ali Gök

https://doi.org/10.30784/epfad.1004319

Abstract

While proxy war is characterized by two or more actors aimed at a common purpose, the relationship between the two actors is hierarchical, and the main actor is involved in conflicts through another actor (principal-agent relationship) in order to avoid costly and bloody wars and to achieve his political purpose. It is usually the intelligence organizations of the principal actor that ensure the principal-agent relationship between actors in proxy wars. Intelligence agencies are responsible for coordinating all stages, including organizing, training, arming and conducting operational activities of agent actors. These duties of intelligence organizations in proxy wars make them “quarterbacks”, but besides that, intelligence organizations are basically based on “reasonable deniability”, because of that it makes the proxy wars discussed at the point of violation of sovereignty even more controversial. This study will examine the activities of intelligence organizations that make them quarterbacks and controversial in proxy wars and relationship between intelligence organizations and agent actors will be analyzed in depth. For this purpose, case study was conducted in the study, which is one of the qualitative research designs. For in-depth analysis, the Quds Force and its activities in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen have been selected as cases.

Keywords

PROXY WARS, INTELLIGENCE ORGANIZATIONS, IRAN, QUDS FORCE

Vekâlet Savaşlarında İstihbarat Örgütlerinin Rolü: Kudüs Gücü Örneği

Abstract

Vekâlet savaşı, ortak bir amaca yönelik iki veya daha fazla aktörle karakterize edilmekle birlikte, iki aktör arasındaki ilişki hiyerarşiktir ve ana aktör, maliyetli ve kanlı savaşlardan kaçınmak ve politik amacına ulaşmak için başka bir aktör (asil-vekil ilişkisi) aracılığıyla çatışmalara dâhil olmaktadır. Vekâlet savaşlarında aktörler arasındaki asil-vekil ilişkisini sağlayan genelde asil aktörün istihbarat örgütleridir. İstihbarat örgütleri vekil aktörlerin örgütlendirilmesi, eğitilmesi, silahlandırılması ve harekât faaliyetlerinin yürütülmesi dâhil her türlü safhayı koordine etmekle görevlidirler. İstihbarat örgütlerinin vekâlet savaşlarındaki bu görevleri, onları “oyun kurucu” konumuna getirmenin yanı sıra, zaten temelde “makul inkâr edilebilirlik” üzerine kurulu olan ve egemenlik ihlali noktasında sorgulanan vekâlet savaşlarını daha da tartışmalı hale getirmektedir. Yapılan bu çalışmada da istihbarat örgütlerinin vekâlet savaşlarındaki oyun kurucu rolü ve vekâlet savaşlarını tartışmalı hale getiren söz konusu faaliyetleri incelenecek olup, istihbarat örgütleri ile vekil aktörler arasında nasıl bir ilişki olduğu derinlemesine analiz edilecektir. Bu amaç doğrultusunda çalışmada nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden birisi olan vaka çalışması yapılmıştır. Derinlemesine analiz için örnek vaka olarak İran Devrim Muhafızları Ordusu Kudüs Gücü ve bu örgütün Lübnan, Irak, Suriye ve Yemen’deki faaliyetleri seçilmiştir. 

Keywords

VEKALET SAVAŞLARI, İSTİHBARAT ÖRGÜTLERİ, İRAN, KUDÜS GÜCÜ

References

• Alfoneh, A. (2015). Shiite Combat casualties show the depth of Iran’s involvement in Syria (The Washington Institute). Retrieved from http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/shiite-combat-casualties-show-the-depth-of-irans-involvement-in-syria.
• Alfoneh, A. (2018). Tehran’s Shia foreign legions (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace). Retrieved from https://carnegieendowment.org/2018/01/30/tehran-s-shia-foreign-legions-pub-75387
• Alispahić, B. (2021). The role of intelligence services in forming paramilitary formations. Technium Social Sciences Journal, 18(1), 508-517. Retrieved from https://heinonline.org/
• Azizi, H. (2021). Challenges to Iran’s role in Iraq in the post-Soleimani era (SWP Comment). Retrieved from https://www.swp-berlin.org/en/publication/challenges-to-irans-role-in-iraq-in-the-post-soleimani-era
• Bahgat, G. (2011). Iran’s regular army: Its history and capacities (Middle East Institute). Retrieved from http://education.mei.edu/content/iran%E2%80%99s-regular-army-its-history-and-capacities
• Banerjea, U. (2015). Revolutionary intelligence: The expanding intelligence role of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Journal of Strategic Security, 8(3), 93-106. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/
• BBC. (2020). Analysis: Iran's Quds Force from secret army to saviour of the region. Retrieved from https://monitoring.bbc.co.uk/product/c201ftws
• Byman, D., Chalk, P., Hoffman, B., Rosenau, W. and Brannan, D. (2001). Trends in outside support for insurgent movements. Santa Monica: Rand.
• Caner, M. (2019). ABD-İran gerginliğinde yeni safha: Orduların terör örgütü ilan edilmesi. Kriter Dergi, 4(35). Erişim adresi: https://kriterdergi.com/
• Caner, M. (2020). İran’ın Ortadoğu’daki nüfuz alanları ve sınırları. Kriter Dergi, 4(43). Erişim adresi: https://kriterdergi.com/
• Cordesman, A. H., Sullivan, G. and Sullivan, W. D. (2007). Lessons of the 2006 Israeli Hezbollah War. Washington DC: The CSIS Press.
• Defense Intelligence Agency. (2019). Iran military power, ensuring regime survival and securing regional dominance. Retrieved from https://www.dia.mil/Portals/27/Documents/News/Military%20Power%20Publications/Iran_Military_Power_LR.pdf
• Demirel, H. (2016). Assessing the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps extraterritorial activities in attaining Iran’s foreign policy goals (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Old Dominion University, Virginia.
• Department of Defense. (2010). Unclassified report on military power of Iran. Retrieved from https://fas.org/man/eprint/dod_iran_2010.pdf
• Felter, J. and Fishman, B. (2008). Iranian strategy in Iraq politics and other means (Combating Terrorism Center at West Point Occasional Paper Series). Retrieved from https://ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Iranian-Strategy-in-Iraq.pdf
• Fox, A. C. (2019). Conflict and the need for a theory of proxy warfare. Journal of Strategic Security, 12(1), 44-71. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/
• Fulton, W. (2013). Iran’s global force projection network: IRGC Quds Force and Lebanese Hezbollah (American Enterprise Institute). Retrieved from https://www.aei.org/research-products/testimony/irans-global-force-projection-network-irgc-quds-force-and-lebanese-hezbollah/
• Fulton, W., Holliday, J. and Wyer, S. (2013). Iranian strategy in Syria (The Institute for the Study of War). Retrieved from https://www.understandingwar.org/report/iranian-strategy-syria
• Gök, A. (2020). Hibrit savaşlar: Rusya ve İsrail örnekleriyle. Ankara: Nobel Yayınları.
• Golkar, S. and Aarabi, K. (2021). The view from Tehran: Iran’s militia doctrine (Tony Blair Institute for Global Change). Retrieved from https://institute.global/policy/view-tehran-irans-militia-doctrine
• Groh, T. L. (2019). Proxy war: The least bad option. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press.
• Hinnebusch, R. (2003). The international politics of the Middle East. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
• Hollingshead, E. (2018). Iran’s new interventionism: Reconceptualizing proxy warfare in the Post-Arab Spring Middle East (Political Science Honors Projects No. 75). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/poli_honors/75
• Hughes, G. (2012). My enemy’s enemy: Proxy warfare in international politics. Brighton: Sussex.
• International Crisis Group. (2018). Iran’s priorities in a turbulent Middle East. Retrieved from https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/iran/184-irans-priorities-turbulent-middle-east
• Irish, J. and Rasheed, A. (2018). Exclusive: Iran moves missiles to Iraq in warning to enemies (Reuters). Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-iraq-missiles-exclusive-idUSKCN1LG0WB
• Jones, S. G. (2018). The escalating conflict with Hezbollah in Syria (Center for Strategic International Studies). Retrieved from https://www.csis.org/analysis/escalating-conflict-hezbollah-syria
• Jones, S. G. (2019). War by proxy: Iran’s growing footprint in the Middle East (Center for Strategic International Studies). Retrieved from https://www.csis.org/war-by-proxy
• Karataş, İ. (2021). Iran’s use of Afghan Shiite migrants as proxies: The case of Liwa Fatemiyoun. The Journal of Iranian Studies, 5(1), 31-53. https://doi.org/10.33201/iranian.880171
• Keshavarz, A. (2015). A review of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Quds Force: Growing global presence, links to cartels, and mounting sophistication (Small Wars Journal). Retrieved from https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/a-review-of-iran%E2%80%99s-revolutionary-guards-and-qods-force-growing-global-presence-links-to-car
• Khoshnood, A. (2020). The role of the Quds Force in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Central European Journal of International and Security Studies, 14(3), 4-33. https://doi.org/10.51870/CEJISS.A140301
• Knights, M. (2017). Making the case against Iranian sanctions busting in Yemen (The Washington Institute). Retrieved from https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/making-case-against-iranian-sanctions-busting-yemen
• Knights, M. (2018). The Houthi war machine: From guerrilla war to state capture. Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 11(8), 15-23. Retrieved from https://ctc.usma.edu/
• Koç, M. A. (2019). Tarihi ihtilafların gölgesinde İran-Suudi Arabistan rekabeti: Şii-Vahhabi ilişkilerinin dünü ve bugünü. İran Çalışmaları Dergisi, 3(1), 91-120. https://doi.org/10.33201/iranian.550863
• Levitt M. (2021). Hezbollah’s regional activities in support of Iran’s proxy networks (The Middle East Institute). Retrieved from https://www.mei.edu/publications/hezbollahs-regional-activities-support-irans-proxy-networks
• Loveman, C. (2002). Assessing the phenomenon of proxy intervention. Conflict, Security and Development, 2(3), 29-48. https://doi.org/10.1080/14678800200590618
• Malis, C. (2012). Unconventional forms of war. In: Y. Boyer and J. Lindley (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of War (pp. 146-156). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Mavruk Cavlak, Ç. (2021). Regional power politics: Conflict and cooperation. Ankara: Nobel Bilimsel Eserler.
• Mevlütoğlu, A. (2019). İran’ın askeri kapasitesine genel bakış. Ortadoğu Analiz, 10(88), 76-79. Erişim adresi: https://www.orsam.org.tr/
• Modell, S. and Asher, D. (2013). Pushback: Countering the Iran action network (Center for New American Security). Retrieved from https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/169182/CNAS_Pushback_ModellAsher.pdf
• Mumford, A. (2013a). Proxy warfare. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Mumford, A. (2013b). Proxy warfare and the future of conflict. The RUSI Journal, 158(2), 40-46. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2013.787733
• Ostovar, A. (2016). Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Pompeo, M. R. (2018). Outlaw regime: A chronicle of Iran’s destructive activities (Iran Actıon Group, U.S. Department of State). Retrieved from https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Outlaw-Regime-2020-A-Chronicle-of-Irans-Destabilizing-Activity.pdf
• Saikal, A. and Vestenskov, D. (2020). Iran’s national security and operational capability. Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies, 3(1), 18-30. http://doi.org/10.31374/sjms.29
• Schachtner, A. J. (2006). Military intelligence in the Gray Zone: The strategic role of intelligence in unconventional warfare (Unpublished master’s thesis). Norwich University, Northfield.
• Sönmez, G. (2020). Şii yabancı savaşçılar ve Süleymani sonrası direniş ekseni. Ortadoğu Analiz, 11(93), 80-83. Erişim adresi: https://www.orsam.org.tr/
• Sozer, B. (2016). Development of proxy relationships: A case study of the Lebanese Civil War. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 27(4), 636-658. https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2016.
• U.S. Department of the Treasury. (2012). Treasury sanctions Iranian security forces for human rights abuses. Retrieved from https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1204.aspx
• Ward, S. R. (2009). Immortal: A military history of Iran and its armed forces. Washington: Georgetown University Press.
• Wege, C. A. (2019). Iranian counterintelligence. International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, 32(2), 272-294. https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2019.1565274
• Yaacov, B-S-T. (1984). The strategy of war by proxy. Cooperation and Conflict, 19(4), 263-273. https://doi.org/10.1177/001083678401900405
• Yegin, A. (2016). İran’ın sert gücü. Ankara: SETA.