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" Foreign Legions and Fire Ant Warfare: "
Stranger, Emily
Choksy, Jamsheed
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1105716
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| Doc. No
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TLpq2321858557
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| Main Entry
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Choksy, Jamsheed
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Stranger, Emily
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| Title & Author
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Foreign Legions and Fire Ant Warfare:\ Stranger, EmilyChoksy, Jamsheed
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| College
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Indiana University
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| Date
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2019
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| student score
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2019
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| Degree
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M.A.
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| Page No
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70
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| Abstract
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Since Iran’s intervention into Syria’s civil war and the simultaneous coalition formed to battle the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Iran has formed and supported a number of militias that are currently entrenched in both Syria and other nearby countries. One of these militias, the Fatemiyoun brigade, is composed of foreign fighters from both the Afghan diaspora inside Iran and civilian populations inside Afghanistan. My research findings illustrate how Iran is using Shiite militias, such as the Fatemiyoun brigade, as part of an offensive strategy in the Middle Eastern region. I also identify the process of foreign militia formation and look at the similarities and differences between the formation of the Fatemiyoun Brigade with the formation of Hezbollah. I first argue that John Mearsheimer’s theory of offensive realism explains how Iran is seeking Middle Eastern hegemony, and I identify how – based on key points of offensive realism theory – Iran is acting as an offensive state and how Iran could use these foreign militias as part of its grand strategy; secondly, I look closely at the Fatemiyoun brigade to identify the lifecycle of these fighters and predict how these fighters could also be used in conflicts back in their home states; thirdly, I draw a comparison between the Fatemiyoun brigade and Hezbollah, focusing on their differences in recruitment and purpose, in order to illustrate that the arrival of the Fatemiyoun brigade is indicative of a new Iranian military strategy, and fourthly, I introduce my strategy of “Fire Ant Warfare” to explain how Iran could use these and similar militias to accomplish Iran’s goals of regional hegemony. My methodology consists of synthesizing published reports from international think tanks and various media sources to include Iranian and Arabic news outlets. In addition, information for this project was researched and collected from a research Facebook account that I created. Throughout the course of six months, the official Facebook pages administered by Iranian-supported militias and individual militia fighters were followed.
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| Subject
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International relations
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Middle Eastern studies
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Military studies
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