TEHRAN – A senior commander says that the Iranian Army is stationing ground forces in the Western province of Ilam, the Mehr News Agency reported on Thursday.

Since Ilam shares borders with Iraq, the Army is going to station a brigade in the province, Commander of the Iranian Army’s Ground Forces Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said while visiting the construction site of the garrison where the brigade is to be stationed.

Pourdastan described the deployment as part of the Army’s spatial planning, adding, “Besides the garrison, the military complex will include an education center.”

To the west, Iran is neighbor to Iraq, parts of which are now seized by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

ISIL has captured several cities and other territories of Iraq, beginning with a swift attack on the major city Samarra on June 5, 2014, followed by the seizure of Mosul on 10 June and Tikrit on 11 June.

SP/OSN