1.Who was Qassem Soleimani, and why is his death a major
development in U.S.-Middle East relations?
An Iranian carries the portraits of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Gen. Qassem Soleimani, left.
ByMARKDECAMBRE
Qassem Soleimani, leader of the foreign wing of
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed in a U.S. airstrike at
Baghdad’s international airport Friday, local time, escalating long-brewing
animosities between Tehran and Washington.
President Donald Trump authorized the airstrike that
killed Soleimani, a top Iranian general who is considered
one of the most revered military leaders in the Islamic Republic: “At the
direction of the president, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive
action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing,” the U.S. Department of
Defense said in a statement.
In a tweet, Iran’s
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described the strike that killed the
general as an act of international terrorism: “The US’ act of international
terrorism, targeting & assassinating General Soleimani—THE most effective
force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al—is extremely dangerous &
a foolish escalation,” he wrote on Twitter. “The US bears responsibility for
all consequences of its rogue adventurism,” he said.
The US’ act of international terrorism, targeting &
assassinating General Soleimani—THE most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS),
Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al—is extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation.
The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism.
The U.S. has said that
the assassination of Soleimani was an attempt to deter attacks against U.S.
embassies, service members or diplomats.
Here’s why the death of
the general is particularly significant in the intensifying tensions between
the U.S. and Iran.
Who was Soleimani?
“He’s probably the most powerful figure that is
generally unknown outside Iran and the Middle East. He’s essentially Iran’s
viceroy for Iraq,” Jim Phillips, Middle East analyst for conservative think
tank the Heritage Foundation, was quoted as saying in a 2015 interview with NBC News.
Soleimani rose to prominence during
the 1980–’88 Iran-Iraq War, and by 2013 had become one of Iran’s most important
figures.
Soleimani was named major general of the Quds
Force in 1998 and ran it until his death. The Quds Force has no equivalent in
the U.S. but has been described as “analogous to a combined CIA and Special
Forces,” according to an article in the New
Yorker back in 2013. The Quds Force, which is estimated to
consist of about 20,000 personnel, has been designated a terrorist group by the
U.S. since 2007, according to reports.
The New Yorker article also
described Soleimani as “ the single most powerful operative in the Middle East
today,” citing former CIA officer John Maguire.
Reports have had also
described Soleiman as second to only the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
in power in Iran.
In fact, Khamenei has
referred to Suleimani as “a living martyr of the revolution,” and last March
expressed hope that he would die as one.
“I hope that Allah the Exalted will reward and
bless him, that he will help him live a blissful life and that he will make his
end marked by martyrdom,” Khamenei said as
he awarded Soleimani the Order of Zulfaqar — the
highest miliary honor in Iran that was established in 1856 and had not been
awarded since 1979 until it was revived to honor the Quds Force commander.
To some U.S. leaders, Soleimani has been viewed
as a shadowy figure. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referred to him as “dangerous
as Islamic State leader Abu al-Baghdadi,” who was killed in
a U.S.-led raid in northwestern Syria in late October.
“Qassem Soleimani has the blood of Americans on
his hands, Bret, as does the force that he leads, and America is determined each
time we find an organization, institution or an individual that has taken the
lives of Americans, it is our responsibility,” Pompeo told Fox News’s Bret
Baier in an interview back in April 2018, after the U.S. designated Iran’s
Revolutionary Guards Corps a foreign terrorist organization,
marking the first time that the U.S. has labeled an entity of another
government as a terrorist organization.
It isn’t clear how Iran will respond to the
death of the revered leader, but analysts and observers on Friday were
speculating that Tehran would consider Soleimani’s death an act of war.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/who-was-qassem-soleimani-and-why-is-his-death-a-major-development-in-us-middle-east-relations-2020-01-03?mod=home-page
Continue reading →