Iran has sent special forces and a unit of elite troops to Iraq to bolster floundering efforts by the Iraqi government to halt the advance of militants from an al-Qaeda splinter group.

A 150-man unit of the Quds Force, the elite section of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, has deployed to Iraq, supported by a team of Saberin, Tehran’s equivalent of the SAS. The troops will assist Iraqi forces as they regroup after the catastrophic loss of Mosul and Tikrit to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

The deployment marks a further escalation of Iran’s involvement in the conflicts rupturing the Middle East. Already fighting on the ground in Syria to defend the regime of President Assad, the decision to send troops into Iraq underscores Iranian