The 16th Quds Division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps consisted of combatants from Gilan Province during the Sacred Defense.

With the outbreak of the imposed war, most of the combatants from Gilan and Mazandaran Provinces were present at the 25‌^th Karbala Special Brigade (the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Mazandaran Province) on the fronts. After some time, the Quds Brigade was formed in Mehr 1361 with three battalions— Hezbollah, Ruhollah, and Tharallah— from forces dispatched from Gilan Province⁠[1] and was assigned the mission of establishing security in Sanandaj⁠[2]. In the same year, 850 personnel, 70 percent of whom were regular IRGC personnel, were organized in this brigade⁠[3].

In Azar 1362, the Quds Brigade was renamed the 105th‌^th Quds Special Brigade⁠[4] and the building complex of the Water Organization in southeastern Sanandaj, known as Quds Garrison, became the brigade' s main headquarters⁠[5]. From 1361 to Mehr 1364, the brigade conducted 20 internal operations, including patrols, attacks, ambushes, and pursuits of counterrevolutionaries. It also participated in 50 counterinsurgency-clearing operations along the Baneh, Sardasht, Piranshahr, around the Alvatan forests, the Doupazeh Heights, and Divandarreh axes⁠[6]. During this period, of the brigade' s 1,200 personnel, 800 were IRGC members, 150 were Basij members, and 250 were conscript Guards⁠[7].

The 105th‌^th Quds Special Brigade participated with two infantry battalions and one fire-support (artillery) battalion in Operation Qader (Mehr 1364), and with three infantry battalions and one fire-support (artillery) battalion in Operation Valfajr 9 (Esfand 1364) in the Sulaymaniyah region of Iraq.

In Khordad 1365, with the addition of the Imam Hussein and Malik al-Ashtar battalions to the brigade, it was upgraded to a division, named the 52 Quds Division, and came under the command of the IRGC Ground Forces⁠[8].

The 52‌^th Quds Division participated with five combat battalions and three combat-support battalions in Operation Karbala 2 (Shahrivar 1365) in the Haj Omran region⁠[9]; with ten infantry battalions and five support battalions in Operations Karbala 4 and 5 (Dey 1365)⁠[10]; with seven combat infantry battalions and four support battalions in Operation Nasr 4 (Khordad 1366) in the Mawut region of Iraq⁠[11]; with five combat infantry battalions and four combat-support battalions in Operations Nasr 8 and Bayt al-Moqaddas 2 (Aban and Dey 1366) in the Mawut region of Iraq and the Gerdarash and Qamish heights⁠[12]; and with five combat battalions and four combat-support battalions⁠[13] in Operation Valfajr 10 (Esfand 1366) in the Halabcheh Plain of Sulaymaniyah Province, Iraq.⁠[14]

In 1367, the 52‌^th Quds Division participated with five combat battalions and three combat-support battalions in Operation Bayt al-Moqaddas 7 in the Shalamcheh region and, following acceptance of Resolution 598 and the renewed invasion of the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Iraqi Army, entered the battle with three combat battalions⁠[15].

Hassan Rastgarpanah, Seyyed Alireza Rabiei-Hashemi, Hossein Hemmati, Elias Hazrati, and Ali Abdollahi commanded the Quds Division during the imposed war⁠[16]. Hossein Amlaki, the division' s deputy commander; Mahmoud Gholipour, the division' s chief of staff; and Mehdi Khoshsirat, commander of Brigade 2 and deputy division commander, were among the martyrs of the 16 Quds Division⁠[17].

After the end of the imposed war, the 52 Quds Division assumed responsibility for the air defense of the Baneh region of Kurdistan⁠[18].

In Shahrivar 1367, the Quds Division was renamed the 16 Quds Gilan Division⁠[19] and operated with three brigades: the 1st in Rasht (the division' s current headquarters), the 2‌^nd in Someh Sara, and the 3‌^rd in Rezvanshahr⁠[20]. In 1369, the division' s 2nd Brigade was dispatched to Kurdistan and remained stationed in Saqqez until 1371; in 1371, the 2nd Brigade returned to Gilan and the 1‌^st Brigade replaced it in Saqqez; the 3rd Brigade was also stationed in Bukan. In 1381, the 2‌^nd Brigade was again dispatched to Saqqez for one year, and in 1382 the 1st Brigade replaced it. In 1381, the division' s commando battalion was dispatched to Sistan and Baluchestan for two years. Finally, in 1387, its 3rd Brigade was disbanded and merged into the other two brigades⁠[21].