Fighters of the Hamas Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Photo: Wikipedia.

Iran is reportedly planning to deploy Hamas operatives to fight the Islamic State in Mosul, according to a-Sharq al-Awsat and reported by the Jerusalem Post.

The report suggests that Iran still maintains significant influence over the Palestinian terrorist organization. In the battle for Mosul, Hamas terrorists would fight with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Lebanese Hezbollah, and Shi’ite Houthi militias.

Hezbollah and Houthi fighters remain bogged down in the Syrian and Yemeni civil wars. Nevertheless, their main benefactor, Iran, continues to exploit its main terrorist proxies to pursue its regional hegemonic ambitions at the expense of local considerations.

Now Hamas is reportedly expected to divert its forces to the Iraqi theatre, despite Gaza’s economic woes and the growing Salafi-jihadist internal threat.

According to the report, Hamas would also help take over Kirkuk, the oil-rich city under Kurdish control since June 2014, in order to destabilize the Kurdistan region in pursuit of Iran’s interests.

This development would further signal that the Palestinian terrorist organization prioritizes its relationship with Iran and its terrorist ambitions over the domestic needs of Gaza’s population.

Hamas continues to divert significant resources to rebuilding and enhancing its underground tunnel network in order to attack Israel, instead of investing in civilian reconstruction projects.

Moreover, Hamas claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of a bus in Jerusalem last week, as the terrorist group seeks to enhance its presence in the West Bank and reignite a violent Palestinian uprising targeting Israelis.

Steven Emerson is the Executive Director the Investigative Project on Terrorism (www.investigativeproject.org) where this article first appeared.