Joining the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) during Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979 and rising through the ranks as a young commander through the bloody Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, Soleimani took command of the IRGC’s elite foreign operations formation, the Quds Force, in 1998.
Under Soleimani’s leadership, the Quds Force:
-- Took on al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, coordinating with Northern Alliance forces ahead of the US invasion.
-- Provided Hezbollah with material and war training assistance in the years leading up to the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which left the regime a bloody nose and forced it to sign a humiliating ceasefire.
-- Under Soleimani’s watch, Iran set aside religious and ideological difference with Gaza’s militias, with one senior Hamas representative saying the tunnel networks that have successfully bogged down Israeli forces after the 2023 invasion were in part Soleimani’s brainchild.
-- Took charge of Iran’s counterterrorism advise and support mission in Syria in 2012, with Soleimani personally lobbying Russia to intervene against ISIS in 2015.
-- Coordinated and trained Iraq’s mostly Shia Popular Mobilization Forces militias, which played an instrumental role in the ground operations to crush ISIS. Quds Force advisers served alongside the PMF in frontline roles, with at least 13 killed in battle between 2014-2017.
Soleimani’s Quds Force has been widely credited with helping to free the Mideast’s Sunni and Shia communities from the scourge of Takfiri extremism, and saving minorities, from Christians and Kurds to Yazidis and Alawites, from physical extermination.
Soleimani was also one of the conceptual fathers of the Axis of Resistance – a loose alliance of countries and militias battling US imperialism (colloquially known as "Global Arrogance"), Israel, and terrorism across the Middle East. In the ongoing regional conflict which began in October 2023, the informal coalition has bogged Israel and the US down in a costly seven-front war.
Iran has repeatedly vowed to bring Qasem Soleimani's killers to justice. In late 2023, a Tehran court ordered the US government and dozens of individuals and entities charged with conspiring to assassinate the Quds Force commander to pay nearly $50 billion in compensation for “material, moral and punitive damages” as part of a class action lawsuit. The court ruled Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the NSA, the CIA and 38 other individuals, organizations and entities were responsible for Soleimani's death.
Iran has also sought to pursue US officials using international judicial and legal venues, twice attempting to issue Interpol arrest warrants against Trump and others, in June 2020 and January 2021, respectively. Interpol refused to help, citing the case's “political” nature.
In the immediate aftermath of Soleimani's death, Tehran also threatened to target US officials directly in a tit-for-tat, eye-for-an-eye manner, but gave up on the idea after failing to find any American commander or political leader of equal value.
Source: Sputnik
4194
Your Comment