25th Karbala Division

25th Karbala Division of Mazandaran
لشکر 25 کربلا
Country	Islamic Republic of Iran
Branch	Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Type	Infantry Special forces
Size	Division
Garrison/HQ	Sari, Mazandaran province
Nickname(s)	"Karbala" (کربلا)
Engagements	Iran–Iraq War Syrian Civil War[1]
Commanders
Notable commanders

25th Karbala Division (Persian: لشکر 25 کربلا) was a division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It covered the Mazandaran province, which also included Golestan province back then.

It was first officially organized as the 2nd Karbala Brigade (تیپ 2 کربلا) during Iran–Iraq War, and was later expanded into a division.

According to Mohsen Rezaei, after a series of unsuccessful Iranian offensive operations in late stages of the Iran–Iraq War, it was decided to form several new brigades in the IRGC, and one new "special" division. The Karbala Division was later selected to be the special division. A team consisted of , , and other commanders were tasked to organize this division, and was appointed as its commander. Since then, the division was called 25th Karbala Special Division (لشکر 25 ویژه کربلا). The division was employed in the Operation Dawn-8, which was successful in capturing the strategic Al-Faw Peninsula.^[2] According to Iranian sources, Iraqi General Maher Abd al-Rashid had described the unit as a "black scorpion" that should be destroyed,^[3][4] possibly a reference to their black frogman suits during the operation.

Sepah-e Karbala[]

The division was merged with the Basij of Mazandaran Province to form the Mazandaran Karbala Provincial Corps during the rearrangement of the IRGC units in 2008.

References[]

External links[]

• How was the 31st Ashura Division formed? mashreghnews.ir(in Persian)
• 31st Ashura Division defamoghaddas.ir (in Persian)