Qasem Soleimani
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Iranian military officer (1957–2020)

Qasem Soleimani (Persian: قاسم سلیمانی, romanized: Qâsem Soleymâni; 11 March 1957 – 3 January 2020) was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until his assassination by the United States in 2020, he was the commander of the Quds Force, an IRGC division primarily responsible for extraterritorial and clandestine military operations, and played a key role in the Syrian Civil War through securing Russian intervention.[12] He was described as "the single most powerful operative in the Middle East" and a "genius of asymmetric warfare."[13][14][unreliable source?] Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen said Soleimani's strategies had "personally tightened a noose around Israel's neck."[15]

In his later years, he was considered by some analysts to be the right-hand man of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, and the second-most powerful person in Iran behind Khamenei.[16][17][18]

For attacks orchestrated or attempted against American and other targets abroad, Soleimani was personally sanctioned by the United Nations and the European Union,[19][20][21] and was designated as a terrorist by the United States in 2005.[22][23][24]

Soleimani was assassinated by a targeted drone strike on 3 January 2020 in Baghdad, Iraq. Iranian government officials publicly mourned Soleimani's death and launched missiles against U.S. military bases in Iraq, wounding 110 American troops.[25][26] Iranian outlets subsequently represented Soleimani as a national hero.[27][28][29][30]

Early life

Soleimani was born on 11 March 1957, in the village of Qanat-e Malek, Kerman Province.[32][33][34][35][note 3] He left school at the age of 13 and moved to the city of Kerman to work on a construction site to help repay his father's agricultural debts.[32][33][37] In 1975, he began working as a contractor for the Kerman Water Organization.[32][38][39] When not at work, he spent his time with weight training in local gyms, or attending the sermons of Hojjat Kamyab, a preacher and a protégé of Ali Khamenei, who according to Soleimani encouraged him to "revolutionary activities".[2][40] His family is of Lurs descent.[41]

Military career

Soleimani joined the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) in 1979[38] following the Iranian Revolution, which saw the overthrow of the Shah and Ayatollah Khomeini take power. Reportedly, his training was minimal, but he advanced rapidly. Early in his career as a guardsman, he helped to prevent a Kurdish uprising in northwestern Iran.[2]

I entered the [Iran–Iraq War] on a fifteen-day mission, and ended up staying until the end ... We were all young and wanted to serve the revolution.

— Quoted in Dexter Filkins (30 September 2013), "The Shadow Commander", The New Yorker

On 22 September 1980, when Saddam Hussein launched an invasion of Iran, setting off the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988), Soleimani joined the battlefield serving as the leader of a military company, consisting of men from Kerman whom he assembled and trained.[42] He quickly earned a reputation for bravery,[43] and rose through the ranks because of his role in successful operations to retake the lands Iraq had occupied, and eventually became the commander of the 41st Tharallah Division while still in his 20s, participating in most of the war's battles and major operations. He was mostly stationed at the southern front.[42][44] He was seriously injured in Operation Tariq-ol-Qods. In a 1990 interview, he mentioned Operation Fath-ol-Mobin as "the best" operation he participated in and "very memorable", due to its difficulties yet positive outcome.[45] He was also engaged in leading and organizing irregular warfare missions deep inside Iraq by the Ramadan Headquarters.[clarification needed] It was at this point that Soleimani established relations with Kurdish Iraqi leaders and the Shia Badr Organization, both opposed to Saddam Hussein.[42]

On 17 July 1985, Soleimani opposed the IRGC leadership's plan to deploy forces to two islands in western Arvand Rud, on the Shatt al-Arab River.[46][why?]

After the war, during the 1990s, he was an IRGC commander in Kerman Province.[44] In this region, which is relatively close to Afghanistan, Afghan-grown opium travels to Turkey and on to Europe.[citation needed] Soleimani's military experience helped him earn a reputation as a successful fighter against drug trafficking.[2]

During the 1999 student protests in Tehran, Soleimani was one of the IRGC officers who signed a letter to President Mohammad Khatami warning that if he did not suppress the protests, the military would, and suggesting Khatami would be deposed.[2][47][48] According to the former IRGC commander, Mohammad Ali Jafari, Soleimani also intervened in the 2009 protests to "control the insecurity and riots".[49]

Command of Quds Force

One type of paradise that is portrayed for mankind is streams, beautiful nymphs and greeneries. But there is another kind of paradise. ... The warfront was the lost paradise of the human beings, indeed.

— Soleimani in a 2009 interview. Quoted by Dexter Filkins.[2]

The exact date of his appointment as commander of the IRGC's Quds Force is not clear, but Ali Alfoneh cites it as between 10 September 1997 and 21 March 1998.[38] He was considered one of the possible successors to the post of commander of the IRGC when General Yahya Rahim Safavi left this post in 2007. In 2008, he led a group of Iranian investigators looking into the death of Imad Mughniyah. Soleimani helped arrange a ceasefire between the Iraqi Army and Mahdi Army in March 2008.[50]

Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, senior U.S. State Department official Ryan Crocker flew to Geneva to meet with Iranian diplomats who were under the leadership of Soleimani with the purpose of collaborating to destroy the Taliban.[2] This collaboration was instrumental in defining the targets of air bombing operations in Afghanistan and in capturing key Al-Qaeda operatives, but suddenly ended in January 2002, when President George W. Bush named Iran as part of the "Axis of evil" in his State of the Union address.[2]

Soleimani strengthened the relationship between Quds Force and Hezbollah upon his appointment, and supported the latter by sending in operatives to retake southern Lebanon.[2] In an interview aired in October 2019, he said he was in Lebanon during the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War to manage the conflict.[51]

During the Iraq War, the Quds Force oversaw the production and mass smuggling into Iraq of improvised explosively formed penetrator (EFP) roadside bombs, which, according to American estimates, were used by the Iraqi insurgency to cause 500 deaths and over 21,000 injuries to American soldiers.[52][53][54] The Quds Force also planned and orchestrated what is thought to be the "boldest and most sophisticated" commando raid against U.S. troops in Iraq, the January 2007 Karbala provincial headquarters raid,[55] and played a coordinating role in Hezbollah's defense from Israel in the 2006 Lebanon War, where Soleimani was personally involved.[56]

Soleimani was described by an ex-CIA operative, responsible for clandestine operations, as "the single most powerful operative in the Middle East today" and the principal military strategist and tactician in Iran's effort to deter Western influence and promote the expansion of Shia and Iranian influence throughout the Middle East.[2] According to David Petraeus who served as the US commander of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, Soleimani claimed in 2008 that he was personally responsible for the policy of Iran when it came to IRGC operations in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, southern Lebanon and in Gaza.[57] In Iraq, as the commander of the Quds Force, he was believed to have strongly influenced the organization of the Iraqi government, notably supporting the election of previous Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki.[2][58]

In 2009, The Economist stated on the basis of a leaked report that Christopher R. Hill and General Raymond T. Odierno (America's two most senior officials in Baghdad at the time) met with Soleimani in the office of Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, but withdrew the story after Hill and Odierno denied the occurrence of the meeting.[59][60][61]

On 24 January 2011, Soleimani was promoted to Major General (Sarlaskar) by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.[44][62][63] Khamenei was described as having a close relationship with him, calling Soleimani a "living martyr" and helping him financially.[2]

A report issued in late January 2020 by government factions close to the IRGC and published by Fars News Agency reveals some of Quds force's infiltration, under the command of Qasem Soleimani, in other countries. The 1992–95 Bosnian War is brought as an example.[64]

U.S. invasion of Afghanistan

In 1998, Soleimani played a role in diffusing the crisis between Iran and the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan caused by the 8 August 1998 killing of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan and the 1998 Mazar-i-Sharif massacre of Hazara Shias by the Taliban. While the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Yahya Rahim Safavi, advocated for an Iranian invasion of Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime, Soleimani convinced Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that a policy of "strategic patience" would be more fruitful. Soleimani instead tripled Iranian support for the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance and his Quds Force ran a secret training camp in Tajikistan for its fighters.[65]

When the United States invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 after the September 11 attacks, Soleimani's Quds Force collaborated with the U.S. and led the 2001 uprising in Herat against the Taliban, which included the Hazaras, Northern Alliance and Quds Force staging an uprising that liberated the city before U.S. forces came in.[66]

Second Intifada and Gaza tunnels

The Quds Force had cultivated relations with Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad since the 1990s under the leadership of Soleimani's predecessor, Brigadier-General Ahmad Vahidi, and the 1995 Kfar Darom bus attack.[68] Soleimani strengthened these relations during the Second Intifada, when he and Hezbollah chief of military operations Imad Mughniyeh oversaw the smuggling of weapons to the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad factions, according to Lebanese militant Anis al-Naqqash.[69]

After the 2007 imposition of a blockade on the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt, Soleimani's Quds Force has been active in supporting the further construction of tunnels under Gaza and the smuggling of weapons through these tunnels to the armed wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In 2021 senior Hamas representative to Lebanon, Ahmad Abd al-Hadi said:

The idea of [digging] tunnels... Today there are 360 kilometers of tunnels in Gaza. There are more than 360 kilometers of tunnels underground. I won't go into details on this. Two people came up with the idea of digging these tunnels: The first is the martyred commander Imad Mughniyeh, and the second is Hajj Qasem Soleimani who went to Gaza more than once and contributed to the defense plan from the moment it was first drafted. I am not divulging any secret, by the way. The enemies know all this but what the enemies do not know is way more than what they do know.[70]

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command Secretary-General Talal Naji also said in a 2021 interview:

The Islamic Republic of Iran has made a great contribution and invested a lot of effort in developing the military capabilities of the Palestinian resistance through training, developing weapons, and teaching our comrades among the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank how to manufacture weapons and rockets. As you know, there are difficulties in transporting these weapons and rockets to occupied Palestine. Even in transporting weapons, Iran made an effort to support us in transporting weapons by way of sea, as you know. Let me tell you about what I heard from General Qasem Soleimani, may he rest in peace. He said: 'We sent ten ships full of weapons.' Most people probably do not know about these ships. Most people know about one ship, called Karine A, which was raided by the Zionist enemy in the Red Sea. By the way, the Karine A was sent to the martyr Yasser Arafat, to the brothers in the Fatah movement – not to Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, the PFLP-GC, the PFLP… No. It was sent to Fatah. Ten ships were sent to the various factions of the Palestinian resistance in Palestine. This was in the beginning, when we were transporting weapons. The martyr Jihad Jibril – the son of Abu Jihad, Ahmad Jibril – was assassinated by Zionist gangs in Beirut. His car was blown up on May 20th, 2002. They killed him because he was in charge of transporting weapons from Lebanon to Gaza. He sent three ships from Lebanon to the Gaza coast, far out at sea. The weapons were thrown from the ships in tightly-sealed barrels. We coordinated with the brothers in Hamas. The martyr Jihad Jibril asked them to send divers and small boats in order to retrieve the barrels from the sea and bring them to the coast, and we used to split the weapons, and even give most of the weapons to them, because of their [relative] size and their responsibility. He used to give them most of the weapons and we took some of them. This was in the beginning. Then, at a later stage, under the supervision of the martyr Qasem Soleimani, [it was decided] that our people who waged resistance in Gaza should be able to manufacture weapons, and even develop rockets. At first, it was very short-range rockets. They used to have a range of 2 kms. The weight of the payload was very limited, and thus its impact was minor. If a rocket has a 2 km range, and its payload is small, then the impact is weak. General Qassem Soleimani supervised the development of these rockets, in cooperation with the brothers in Syria. Sometimes the training took place in the Islamic Republic of Iran, sometimes in Syria, and sometimes in Lebanon, with the brothers in Hezbollah who are waging jihad. As you know, we are an axis – the Axis of Resistance. Soleimani used to supervise these activities himself. He used to supervise these things himself, as you know. This has been disclosed by the beloved brother Hassan Nasrallah – how Nasrallah and Soleimani discussed the necessity to send quality weapons to the resistance fighters in the Gaza Strip. General Qassem Soleimani was the one who planned the delivery of the Kornet – the famous Russian missile that is used against tanks and heavy APCs. Kornet missiles were sent to the Gaza Strip and the Zionist enemy was surprised by this, when its tanks were destroyed. They have a tank that they are proud of, they consider it to be the pride of the Israeli arms industry – the Merkava. Merkava tanks were destroyed in 2009. This bore the hallmarks of General Qasem Soleimani, may he rest in peace.[71]

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh has disclosed the fact that Soleimani was present at the Palestinian Joint Operations Room in Damascus, Syria, throughout January 2009, overseeing operations against the Israeli Army during the 2008-2009 Gaza War.[72]

Assistance to the Iraqi insurgency

While Iran actively supported the U.S. effort on the ground in Afghanistan in the closing months of 2001, in his January 2002 State of the Union Address President George W. Bush singled out the country as part of an "axis of evil" along with Saddam Hussein's Iraq (Iran's longtime enemy) and North Korea. After the U.S. invaded and occupied Iraq in April 2003, the Quds Force under Soleimani supplied insurgents with weapons, most notably explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) or roadside bombs, used to devastating effect against coalition forces and Blackwater mercenaries, as in the 2004 Fallujah ambush and 2004 Good Friday ambush. The Quds Force also helped in the creation and arming of Shia militias such as the Mahdi Army, Kata'ib Hezbollah and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq.[52][74][75]

On 11 January 2007, the United States raided the Iranian Liaison Office in Erbil, Iraq, based on false intelligence that IRGC Commander-in-Chief Mohammad Ali Jafari and Soleimani were there. Nine days later, on 20 January, Qais al-Khazali's Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq militia, with the help of Quds Force Brigadier General Abdolreza Shahlaei and Hezbollah operative Ali Musa Daqduq, infiltrated the U.S. Army's Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Headquarters and killed five American soldiers, in what has been called the most daring and sophisticated insurgent operation of the Iraq War.[76] On the same day, 13 American soldiers died in a helicopter crash and seven others were killed by other insurgents throughout Iraq, making it the third worst day for U.S. troops during the entire war.[77][78][79]

2006 Lebanon War

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has said that Soleimani was instrumental in upgrading Hezbollah's military capabilities since he became head of the Quds Force in 1998 and helping transform Hezbollah into a fighting force capable of not only resisting but also deterring Israel.[81]

On 12 July 2006, Hezbollah, under the operational command of Imad Mughniyeh and Khalid Bazzi, launched a cross-border raid into Israel, killing three IDF soldiers and taking two hostages. Israel responded by invading Lebanon. Soleimani on that day was in Damascus, but went to Beirut under intense Israeli bombing and throughout the course of the war stayed in Dahieh alongside Hezbollah's Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and military chief Imad Mughniyeh, forming a three-man command to supervise all of Hezbollah's operations during the war.[82]

From the end of the 2006 war, Soleimani scrupulously worked on refurbishing Hezbollah’s missile force to make it a strike force that would deter Israel from attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities. Soleimani invested great resources in filling Hezbollah’s missile stocks. After 2006, Soleimani expended most of his efforts in converting a large part of the Hezbollah missiles into precision missiles. To that end, Soleimani built an operational, technological infrastructure in Syria from which he transferred missiles to Lebanon in convoys. When the missiles’ routes between Syria and Lebanon were uncovered, the Quds commander decided to build precision-targeting factories for Hezbollah in Lebanon. At first, the secret facilities were in the Beirut area, but when Israel discovered them, they were moved to the Baalbek region.[83]

Al-Qaeda

According to some sources Soleimani authorized the 12 May 2003 Riyadh compound bombings targeting Saudi and American interests in Riyadh, carried out by an al-Qaeda cell allegedly operating from Iran with the approval of the Quds Force.[85] Saif al-Adel and Saad bin Laden were implicated in the attacks.[86] According to Seth G. Jones, the bombings were planned by al Qaeda in Iran, with apparent Iranian complicity.[87][88]

In May 2003, then-State Department official Ryan Crocker provided information on the upcoming attack to Iranian officials, who apparently took no action.[89] However, according to an interrogation of former al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, al-Adel and Saad were being held prisoner in Iran when the attacks took place.[90] Saad was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan in 2009.[91]

Activities against the CIA

Soleimani was our adversary, and a very, very capable one.

— General David Petraeus, former Director of the CIA.[92]

According to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (case Bernhardt v. Islamic Republic of Iran), Soleimani's Quds Force had provided "sanctuary and mobility" inside Iran to Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the man who recruited Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who in 2009 infiltrated the CIA posing as a Jordanian intelligence liaison and detonated a suicide vest inside the Agency's Forward Operating Base Chapman in Afghanistan, killing seven high-ranking CIA officers.[93] After the attack, the families of the victims sued Iran, and won a judgement of $268,553,684 on March 22, 2023. [94] However, it is unlikely that the victims will receive any compensation, as the US Department of State noted in the case that "The United States does not maintain diplomatic relations with the government of Iran."[95] William Saletan noted the mischaracterization of the attack as "an act of terrorism" in many media reports. As terrorism targets civilians, and the CIA employees were conducting a war, he states that the bombing was clearly "an act of war. It was also espionage. But it wasn't terrorism."[96]

Syrian Civil War

We're not like the Americans. We don't abandon our friends.

— Attributed to Soleimani by a former Iraqi leader, referring to Syria. Quoted by Dexter Filkins.[2]

According to several sources, including Riad Hijab, a former Syrian premier who deserted in August 2012, Soleimani was one of the strongest supporters of the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian Civil War.[2][58] Soleimani was involved in planning and carrying out the Siege of Baba Amr during the Siege of Homs since 2011, according to the Syrian Minister of Defense, Ali Abdullah Ayyoub.[97][98] In the later half of 2012, Soleimani assumed personal control of the Iranian intervention in the Syrian Civil War, when the Iranians became deeply concerned about the Assad government's inability to fight the opposition, and the negative consequences to the Islamic Republic if the Syrian government fell. He reportedly coordinated the war from a base in Damascus at which a Lebanese Hezbollah commander and an Iraqi Shia militia coordinator were mobilized, in addition to Syrian and Iranian officers. Under Soleimani, the command "coordinated attacks, trained militias, and set up an elaborate system to monitor rebel communications". According to a Middle Eastern security official Dexter Filkins talked to, thousands of Quds Force and Iraqi Shia militiamen in Syria were "spread out across the entire country".[2] The retaking of Qusayr in May 2013 from rebel forces and Al-Nusra Front[99] was, according to John Maguire, a former CIA officer in Iraq, "orchestrated" by Soleimani.[2]

Brigadier General Hossein Hamadani, the Basij's former deputy commander, helped to run irregular militias that Soleimani hoped would continue the fight if Assad fell.[2] Soleimani helped establish the National Defence Forces (NDF) in 2013 which would formalize the coalition of pro-Assad groups.[100]

Soleimani was much credited in Syria for the strategy that assisted President Bashar al-Assad in finally repulsing rebel forces and recapturing key cities and towns.[101] He was involved in the training of government-allied militias and the coordination of decisive military offensives.[2] The sighting of Iranian UAVs in Syria strongly suggested that his command, the Quds Force, was involved in the civil war.[2]

In a visit to the Lebanese capital Beirut on 29 January 2015, Soleimani laid wreaths at the graves of the slain Hezbollah members, including Jihad Mughniyah, which strengthened suspicions about a collaboration between Hezbollah and the Quds Force.[102]

Orchestration of military coalition in 2015

In 2015, Soleimani began gathering support from various sources to combat the newly resurgent Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and rebel groups which had both successfully taken large swaths of territory from Assad's forces. He was reportedly the main architect of the joint intervention involving Russia as a new partner with Assad and Hezbollah.[103][104]

According to Reuters, at a meeting in Moscow in July, Soleimani unfurled a map of Syria to explain to his Russian hosts how a series of defeats for President Bashar al-Assad could be turned into victory—with Russia's help. Soleimani's visit to Moscow was the first step in planning for the Russian military intervention that has reshaped the Syrian war and forged a new Iran–Russia alliance in support of the Syrian (and Iraqi) governments. Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, also sent a senior envoy to Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin. "Putin reportedly told [a senior Iranian envoy] 'Okay we will intervene. Send Qassem Soleimani.'" General Soleimani went to explain the map of the theatre and coordinate the strategic escalation of military forces in Syria.[104]

Operations in Aleppo

Soleimani had a decisive impact on the theater of operations, which led to a strong advance in southern Aleppo with the government and allied forces re-capturing two military bases and dozens of towns and villages in a matter of weeks. There was also a series of major advances towards Kuweiris air-base to the north-east.[111] By mid-November, the Syrian army and its allies had gained ground in southern areas of Aleppo Governorate, capturing numerous rebel strongholds. Soleimani was reported to have personally led the drive deep into the southern Aleppo countryside where many towns and villages fell into government hands. He reportedly commanded the Syrian Arab Army's 4th Mechanized Division, Hezbollah, Harakat Al-Nujaba (Iraqi), Kata'ib Hezbollah (Iraqi), Liwaa Abu Fadl Al-Abbas (Iraqi), and Firqa Fatayyemoun (Afghan/Iranian volunteers).[112]

In early February 2016, backed by Russian and Syrian air force airstrikes, the 4th Mechanized Division—in close coordination with Hezbollah, the National Defense Forces (NDF), Kata'eb Hezbollah, and Harakat Al-Nujaba—launched an offensive in Aleppo Governorate's northern countryside,[113] which eventually broke the three-year siege of Nubl and Al-Zahraa and cut off the rebels' main supply route from Turkey. According to a senior, non-Syrian security source close to Damascus, Iranian fighters played a crucial role in the conflict. "Qassem Soleimani is there in the same area", he said.[114] In December 2016, new photos emerged of Soleimani at the Citadel of Aleppo, though the exact date of the photos is unknown.[115][116]

In late March 2017, Soleimani was seen in the northern Hama Governorate countryside in Syria, reportedly aiding Major General Suheil al-Hassan to repel a major rebel offensive.[117]

War against ISIL in Iraq

Soleimani had a significant role in Iran's fight against ISIL in Iraq. He was described as the "linchpin" bringing together Kurdish and Shia forces to fight ISIS, overseeing joint operations conducted by the two groups.[119]

In 2014, Soleimani was in the Iraqi city of Amirli, to work with Iraqi forces to push back ISIL militants.[120] The Los Angeles Times reported that Amirli was the first town to successfully withstand an ISIL invasion, and was secured thanks to "an unusual partnership of Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers, Iranian-backed Shia militias and U.S. warplanes".[121][122]

A senior Iraqi official told the BBC that when the city of Mosul fell, the rapid reaction of Iran, rather than American bombing, was what prevented a more widespread collapse.[123] Soleimani also seems to have been instrumental in planning the operation to relieve Amirli in Saladin Governorate, where ISIL had laid siege to an important city.[118] In fact, the Quds force operatives under Soleimani's command seem to have been deeply involved not only with the Iraqi army and Shia militias but also with the Kurdish forces in the Battle of Amirli,[124] providing liaisons for intelligence-sharing along with arms, munitions and expertise.[125]

In the operation to liberate Jurf Al Sakhar, he was reportedly "present on the battlefield". Some Shia militia commanders described Soleimani as "fearless", one pointing out that the Iranian general never wears a flak jacket even on the front lines.[126]

In November 2014, Shia and Kurdish forces under Soleimani's command pushed ISIL out of the Iraqi villages of Jalawla and Saadia in the Diyala Governorate.[119][127][128]

Soleimani played an integral role in the organization and planning of the crucial operation to retake the city of Tikrit in Iraq from ISIL. The city of Tikrit rests on the left bank of the Tigris river and is the largest and most important city between Baghdad and Mosul, giving it a high strategic value. The city fell to ISIL during 2014 when ISIL made immense gains in northern and central Iraq. After its capture, ISIL's massacre at Camp Speicher led to 1,600 to 1,700 deaths of Iraqi Army cadets and soldiers. After months of careful preparation and intelligence gathering an offensive to encircle and capture Tikrit was launched in early March 2015.[128]

In 2016, photos published by a Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) source showed Soleimani attending a meeting of PMF commanders in Iraq to discuss the Battle of Fallujah.[129]

CIA chief Mike Pompeo said he sent Soleimani and other Iranian leaders a letter holding them responsible for any attacks on U.S. interests by forces under their control. According to Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, a senior aide for Iran's supreme leader, Soleimani ignored the letter when it was handed over to him during the Abu Kamal offensive against ISIL, saying "I will not take your letter nor read it and I have nothing to say to these people."[130][131]

Political career

In 1999, Soleimani, along with other senior IRGC commanders, signed a letter to then-President Mohammad Khatami regarding the student protests in July. They wrote "Dear Mr. Khatami, how long do we have to shed tears, sorrow over the events, practice democracy by chaos and insults, and have revolutionary patience at the expense of sabotaging the system? Dear president, if you don't make a revolutionary decision and act according to your Islamic and national missions, tomorrow will be so late and irrecoverable that cannot be even imagined."[132]

Iranian media reported in 2012 that he might be replaced as the commander of Quds Force in order to allow him to run in the 2013 presidential election.[133] He reportedly refused to be nominated for the election.[132] According to BBC News, in 2015 a campaign started among conservative bloggers for Soleimani to stand for 2017 presidential election.[101] In 2016, he was speculated as a possible candidate,[132][134] however in a statement published on 15 September 2016, he called speculations about his candidacy as "divisive reports by the enemies" and said he will "always remain a simple soldier serving Iran and the Islamic Revolution".[135]

In the summer of 2018, Soleimani and Tehran exchanged public remarks with American President Donald Trump related to Red Sea shipping which heightened tensions between the two countries and their allies in the region.[136]

Masoud Barzani, who is the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iraq, claimed Soleimani supported the US invasion of Iraq as a "great victory" for Iran.[137]

Sanctions

In March 2007, Soleimani was included on a list of Iranian individuals targeted with sanctions in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1747.[138] On 18 May 2011, he was sanctioned again by the U.S. along with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and other senior Syrian officials due to his alleged involvement in providing material support to the Syrian government.[46]

In 2007, the U.S. included him in a "Designation of Iranian Entities and Individuals for Proliferation Activities and Support for Terrorism", which forbade U.S. citizens from doing business with him.[50][139] The list, published in the EU's Official Journal on 24 June 2011, also included a Syrian property firm, an investment fund and two other enterprises accused of funding the Syrian government. The list also included Mohammad Ali Jafari and Hossein Taeb.[140]

On 24 June 2011, the Official Journal of the European Union said the three Iranian Revolutionary Guard members now subject to sanctions had been "providing equipment and support to help the Syrian government suppress protests in Syria".[141] The Iranians added to the EU sanctions list were two Revolutionary Guard commanders, Soleimani, Mohammad Ali Jafari, and the Guard's deputy commander for intelligence, Hossein Taeb.[142] Soleimani was also sanctioned by the Swiss government in September 2011 on the same grounds cited by the European Union.[143]

On 13 November 2018, the U.S. sanctioned an Iraqi military leader named Shibl Muhsin 'Ubayd Al-Zaydi and others who allegedly were acting on Soleimani's behalf in financing military actions in Syria or otherwise providing support for terrorism in the region.[144]

Public image in Iran

Iranian propaganda

Soleimani cultivated public relations and a personality cult that formed part of his image.[146][147][148]

After Soleimani's death, the Iranian propaganda campaign intensified efforts in coordinating positive international public opinion toward him. These efforts included using state-run TV channels and several social media accounts, a large proportion of which had newly been created, and posting images such as heroic, "noble warrior" depictions of Soleimani, appealing to both nationalists and religious conservatives.[149][150][151][152][153][154][155] It is believed by many that these measures have been at least partially successful, arguing that even some American outlets were biased.[156][157][158][159]

Popularity in Iran

According to a poll conducted in collaboration with IranPoll for the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, by October 2019 Soleimani was viewed favorably by 82% of Iranians with 59% of them very favorable toward him.[29] He was often considered the second most powerful person and general in Iran, behind Ayatollah Khamenei.[16][17][160] Since the Iran–Iraq War (1980–88), in which Iran was attacked by Saddam Hussein's Iraq and also felt attacked by other countries which sided with Iraq,[161] including the U.S., which supplied weapons and intelligence to Iraq,[162] Soleimani had developed into an architect of Iran's foreign policies in the Middle East[16][163][164] and a key figure behind Iran's foreign and defence policies.[16]

Following the downing of Flight 752 and the Mahsa Protest, his popularity experienced a swift decline as his involvement in the crackdown and killing of protesters in the past decade and other war crimes came to light.[165][166][167] Consequently, after his assassination, Iranian opponents began to humorously refer to him as "Kotelt" (a Persian term for "cutlet"), drawing a connection between his smashed and mutilated body after the drone strike and the minced meat used in making cutlets.[168][169]

Assassination

Main article: Assassination of Qasem Soleimani

Soleimani was assassinated on 3 January 2020 around 1:00 a.m. local time (22:00 UTC 2 January),[170] by a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport.[171][172] BBC News, NBC News, DW News, Time, The Guardian and other media outlets have said Soleimani was assassinated or described the killing as an assassination.[9][173][174][175][176] Senior officials of the U.S. Department of State compared it to Operation Vengeance in World War II, when American pilots shot down the plane carrying Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto[177] – a comparison concurred with by The New York Times[178] and other prominent media and pundits.[179][180][181]

Soleimani was on his way to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi and had just left his plane, which arrived in Iraq from Lebanon or Syria.[182][183] Adil Abdul Mahdi said Soleimani was bringing Iran's response to a letter that Iraq had sent out on behalf of Saudi Arabia in order to ease tensions between the two countries in the region. The prime minister did not reveal the message's exact content.[184] Also assassinated were four members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Iraqi military commander who headed the PMF.[185] Soleimani's body was identified using a ring he wore on his finger.[186]

Soleimani was posthumously promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General[9] and praised as a martyr by speaker of the Iranian parliament Ali Larijani[187] and Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander of the IRGC.[188] Soleimani was succeeded by Esmail Ghaani as commander of the Quds Force.[189]

According to the Iranian Students News Agency quoting the Iraqi Al-Ahd network, there are diverse narratives concerning the drones which assassinated Qasim-Soleimani (and Abu-Mahdi al-Muhandis). A narrative mentions about the American drones which took-off from Kuwait land, and entered Iraq and did the mentioned operation, on the other hand, the headquarters of the Kuwaiti Armed Forces denied the news after a few hours. The second news says that an American UAV rises from the Al-Adeed base in Qatar and do the mentioned assassination-operation.[190] Also, according to Ahmed al-Asadi, a member of the Iraqi Parliament: "The drones which carried out the assassination-operation, were 3 American UAVs that took-off from the military-base of "Ain al-Assad" and flew in the sky of Baghdad for 20 hours on Thursday morning and then came back directly to the "Ain al-Assad" base after carrying out the assassination operation."[191] According to Radio-Farda quoting American-media, the drones which did the assassination were from the type of "MQ-9 Reaper".[192]

U.S. decision-making

CNBC reported that the U.S. had been in pursuit of the general for decades.[193] President Trump had expressed a desire to target Soleimani in a 2017 meeting with then National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.[194][195] On 13 January 2020, five senior current and former Trump administration officials told NBC News that President Trump had authorized the killing of Soleimani in June 2019 on the condition that he had been involved in the killing of many Americans, a decision backed by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.[194][195] In making the 2020 strike, the Pentagon focused on Soleimani's past actions and on deterring future such actions.[196] The strike followed attacks on the American embassy in Baghdad by supporters of an Iran-backed Iraqi Shia militia and the 2019 K-1 Air Base attack.[197] Anonymous officials told The New York Times that Trump had initially decided to strike at the Shia militia, but instead chose the most extreme option proposed (killing Soleimani) after seeing television footage of the attack on the embassy.[178] The death of an Iraqi-American contractor in a rocket attack in December 2019 was reportedly also used as justification for the strike,[194][195] contradicting the Trump administration's claim that Soleimani was targeted because he was plotting "imminent" attacks on Americans and had to be targeted in order to stop these attacks.[177][194][195]

The U.S. Defense Department said the strike was carried out "at the direction of the President" and asserted that Soleimani had been planning further attacks on American diplomats and military personnel and had approved the attacks on the American embassy in Baghdad in response to U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on 29 December 2019, and that the strike was meant to deter future attacks.[198][199] As part of the administration's changing justification for the strike, a national security adviser asserted that Soleimani had intended further attacks on American diplomats and troops,[200] and Mark Esper asserted the general had been expected to mastermind an attack within days.[201] Trump stated in a Fox News interview that four embassies, including the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, had been targeted; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it was not known where or when the attacks would have taken place.[202]

Legal status of the assassination

The strike was not approved by the U.S. Congress or consented to by the Iraqi government, leading to controversy regarding the legality of killing an Iranian military leader over Iraqi airspace.[203]

An arrest warrant was issued by an Iraqi court for President Donald Trump in connection with the killing of Soleimani. The arrest warrant was for a charge of premeditated murder, which carries the death penalty on conviction.[204]

Under U.S. law

On 14 February 2020, in a legally required unclassified memorandum to Congress,[205] the Trump administration said it was authorized under both the Constitution and the 2002 Authorization of Use of Military Force Against Iraq.

However, the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Eliot Engel (D-NY) said "The 2002 authorization was passed to deal with Saddam Hussein. This law had nothing to do with Iran or Iranian government officials in Iraq. To suggest that 18 years later this authorization could justify killing an Iranian official stretches the law far beyond anything Congress ever intended," adding that he "looked forward" to Pompeo testifying in a 28 February hearing.[206]

Under international law

The United States, as a member of the United Nations, has ratified the Charter of the United Nations and, therefore, is bound by its provisions. Agnès Callamard, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and Director of Columbia University's Global Freedom of Expression project, researched the alleged legal basis for the killing of Suleimani advanced by the United States government and stated that the Suleimani's killing could have been justified under international law only if it had been a response to an "imminent threat." However, she said that the United States had provided no evidence to support that contention. "Absent an actual imminent threat to life, the course of action taken by the U.S. was unlawful," Ms. Callamard wrote in a report that she presented in July 2020 to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.[207] The Trump administration's February 2020 memorandum to Congress was "remarkably vague and inconsequential as far as a possible imminent threat is concerned," Ms. Callamard wrote in the report. "Even at the most basic level, the U.S. did not demonstrate that striking Suleimani was 'necessary.'"[207]

Callamard also concluded that the killing sets an alarming precedent—it was the first targeted drone killing of a senior foreign government official on the territory of a third country. The world now faced "the very real prospect that states may opt to 'strategically' eliminate high-ranking military officials outside the context of a 'known' war, and seek to justify the killing on the grounds of the target's classification as a 'terrorist' who posed a potential future threat," Callamard said in her report. Also, she noted that scores of countries and many non-state actors now have operational drones, and that drones kill many non-combatants for every person targeted.[207]

Reaction

According to Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killing, "the killings of Qassem Suleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis violates international human rights law". She said the U.S. is required to confirm "the individual targeted constituted an imminent threat to others." Callamard also described the killing of other individuals alongside Soleimani as "unlawful"[208] and other scholars argue it violates international law.[209] Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Medea Benjamin (the founder of anti-war advocacy group Code Pink) and Hillary Mann Leverett (a political risk consultant and former director of Iran affairs at the White House's National Security Council) called the assassination of Soleimani "flatly illegal".[210][211]

Analysts Ali Vaez and Iain King and some Twitter users compared the event to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand,[212][213][214] and #Ferdinand and #WWIII began trending on Twitter because of what BBC News called "obvious parallels [...] a single strike bringing existing tensions to boiling point".[215] Some protesters raised concerns that Iraq could become a site of open clashes between Iran and the U.S. following the assassination of Soleimani in Baghdad and Iran's retaliatory missile attacks on U.S. bases.[216]

Democrats, including top 2020 presidential candidates, condemned the killing of Soleimani, arguing that it escalated the conflict with Iran, and risked retaliation or war.[217]

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) praised the killing of Soleimani as a divine intervention, saying it helped jihadists.[218]

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, however, backed the strike, describing the American action as self-defense.[219]

According to a Meta (then Facebook) spokesperson, Instagram and its parent company Meta (then Facebook) are removing posts "that voice support for slain Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani to comply with U.S. sanctions."[220]

In June 2020, Iran placed an arrest warrant for President Donald Trump, with an Iranian prosecutor saying Trump and 35 others "faced murder and terrorism charges" over the killing of Soleimani.[221]

Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said in a leaked tape that "Soleimani's death caused more damage to the country than if the U.S. wiped out an entire city."[222]

Some activists living out of reach of the Iranian authorities, such as Saghar Erica Kasraie, Reza Alijani, and Masih Alinejad, condemned Soleimani.[223][224][225] Some Iranians mourning for the dead of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 less than a week after his death called him a murderer and tore up his pictures during the protests.[226][227][228] BBC reported that "the protests were, however, far smaller than the mass demonstrations across Iran in support of Soleimani".[227]

Ismail Haniyeh described Soleimani as "the martyr of Jerusalem" in a speech pronounced in Tehran during his funeral.[229][230]

Funeral and burial

Main article: Funeral of Qasem Soleimani

On 4 January, a funeral procession for Soleimani was held in Baghdad with thousands of mourners in attendance, waving Iraqi and militia flags[9] and chanting "death to America, death to Israel".[233] The procession started at the Al-Kadhimiya Mosque in Baghdad. Iraq's prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, and leaders of Iran-backed militias attended the funeral procession.[234] Soleimani's remains were taken to the holy Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf.[235] On 5 January, the remains of the bodies arrived in Ahvaz, and then Mashhad. Tens of thousands of mourners in black clothes attended the funeral procession with green, white, and red flags.[236][237] Muqtada al-Sadr paid a visit to Soleimani's house to express his condolence to his family.[238]

On 6 January, the body of Soleimani and other casualties arrived at the Iranian capital Tehran. Huge crowds, reportedly hundreds of thousands or millions, packed the streets. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who had a close relationship with Soleimani, led the traditional Islamic prayer for the dead, weeping at one point in front of the flag-draped coffins.[239][240] Ali Khamenei mourned openly near the coffin while the general's successor swore revenge. Esmail Qaani, who was named commander of the Quds Force hours after Soleimani's killing, said: "God the Almighty has promised to get his revenge, and God is the main avenger."[241] Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif asked if Trump had ever seen "such a sea of humanity".[242] He was given a multi-city funeral, and his funeral procession was said to be the second largest after that of Ayatollah Khomeini.[243] On 7 January 2020, a stampede took place at the burial procession for Soleimani in Kerman attended by hundreds of thousands of mourners, killing 56 and injuring 212 more.[244][245]

Retaliation

See also: Operation Martyr Soleimani

On 7 January 2020, the Supreme National Security Council of Iran announced that it had drafted a 13 revenge scenarios document.

The next day, the Iranian military responded to Soleimani's death by launching ballistic missiles at two U.S. bases in Iraq,[246][247] resulting in no reported casualties but 100 traumatic brain injuries.[248][249][250] Iranian officials[251] and some Western media analysts suggested the strike was deliberately designed to avoid causing any casualties to avoid an American response.[252][253] The Iranian president cautioned the U.S. that Iran will take more retaliatory actions if the U.S. continues to interfere in the region.[254] After the missile attack on Ayn al-Asad airbase, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shortly after it had taken off. While initial reports suggested that the missile strike was a result of a mistake, subsequent evidence raised the possibility that the flight might have been intentionally targeted. Some interpretations of the evidence indicated that this action could have been taken to divert public attention towards the US intervention in the region and to prevent potential retaliatory actions from the United States.[255][256][257]

Execution of spy

On 20 July 2020, it was reported by Iranian state television that a man named Mahmoud Mousavi Majd had been executed following his conviction for providing information to the United States and Israel about Soleimani and the Quds Force.[258]

Anniversary

On 3 January 2021, the first anniversary was marked of Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad.[259] Tens of thousands of Iran-backed militias marched on the highway leading to the Baghdad airport while chanting anti-American slogans.[260]

There have been held commemoration ceremonies by the name of "Commemoration-Ceremony (Anniversary) of Martyr Qassem-Soleimani" (and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis) in presence and virtually (via web conferencing) in the cities of the Islamic Republic of Iran[261][262][263] and several countries, such as Oman, Iraq, Syria and Portugal.[264][265][266][267][268][269]

According to Fars News Agency, the anniversary of the commemoration of Qasem Soleimani, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and their colleagues was held with the presence of local and foreign officials in University of Tehran, Iran.[270][271]

On 3 January 2024, an explosion occurred near a cemetery in Kerman, on the 4th anniversary of Soleimani's death. About 89 people were killed and another 284 wounded, in an attack claimed by the ISIL.[272][273]

Cultural depictions and legacy

In 2015, the British magazine The Week featured a cartoon of Soleimani in bed with Uncle Sam, which alluded to both sides' fighting ISIL.[274]

The 2016 film Bodyguard, directed by Ebrahim Hatamikia, was inspired by Soleimani's activities.[275]

The 2016 Persian book Noble Comrades 17: Hajj Qassem, written by Ali Akbari Mozdabadi, contains memoirs of Qassem Soleimani.[276] In 2017, a computer-animated film, Battle of Persian Gulf II, where Soleimani is portrayed as the hero of the film.[277]

Resalat Expressway in Tehran was renamed "Shahid Sardar Qasem Soleimani" in his honor.[278]

Shortly after his death, various representations of Qasem Soleimani appeared in many wall paintings and propaganda posters in Iran.[279] Since then, his portrait has become more and more an integral part of the iconographic representation of the Islamic Republic.[citation needed]

In August 2020, Iran unveiled a new ballistic missile named Martyr Haj Qasem and a new cruise missile named Martyr Abu Mahdi after Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Iraqi commander killed alongside Soleimani.[280][281]

"Shahid Soleimani Plan" (also "Martyr Soleimani Project") is the name of a complementary project to fight SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran,[282][283][284][285] in which more than 17 million households were screened, and this screening has been performed by more than 4.5 million "health ambassadors" in Iran.[286][287][288][289]

During Mahsa Protests, his pictures, banners featuring him, and also his statutes were targeted, burned and crushed by angry protesters as his involvement in the crackdown and killing of protesters in the past decade and other war crimes came to light.[290][291][292]

On 2 October 2023, the AFC called off a match between Iranian side Sepahan and Saudi side Al-Ittihad in Isfahan after Al-Ittihad refused to take the pitch when their requests for a bust of Soleimani to be removed were refused.[293]

Awards and decorations

Order of Zolfaghar Order of Fath (1st class) Order of Fath (2nd class) Order of Fath (3rd class)

On 13 January 2020, Syrian Minister of Defense Ali Abdullah Ayyoub presented the medal of "The Champion of the Syrian Arab Republic", which President Bashar al-Assad granted posthumously to Qassem Soleimani, to his Iranian counterpart, Amir Hatami.[294]

See also

Iran portal

Biography portal

Haj Qasem (missile)

List of assassinations by the United States

List of Iranian two-star generals since 1979

List of Iranian commanders in the Iran–Iraq War

List of commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Mohsen Hojaji

Notes

References

Bibliography

David Ignatius, At the Tip of Iran's Spear, Washington Post, 8 June 2008

Martin Chulov, Qassem Suleimani: the Iranian general 'secretly running' Iraq, The Guardian, 28 July 2011

Dexter Filkins, The Shadow Commander, The New Yorker, 30 September 2013

Ali Mamouri, The Enigma of Qasem Soleimani And His Role in Iraq, Al-Monitor, 13 October 2013

BBC Radio 4 Profile