Qasem Soleimani
Qasem Soleimani (Persian: قاسم سلیمانی, romanized: Qâsem Soleymâni; 11 March 1957[note 1] – 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] Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen said Soleimani's strategies had "personally tightened a noose around Israel's neck."[15]
Qasem Soleimani
11 March 1957[note 1]
Qanat-e Malek, Kerman Province, Imperial State of Iran
3 January 2020 (aged 62)[7]
Baghdad Airport Road, Baghdad, Iraq
1979–2020
- 1979 Kurdish rebellion
- Iran–Iraq War
- Operation Tariq-ol-Qods (WIA)
- Operation Fath-ol-Mobin
- Operation Beit-ol-Moqaddas
- Second Battle of Khorramshahr
- Operation Ramadan
- Operation Before the Dawn
- Operation Dawn
- Operation Dawn 3
- Operation Dawn 4
- Operation Dawn 5
- Operation Dawn 6
- Battle of the Marshes
- Operation Kheibar
- Operation Badr (1985)
- First Battle of al-Faw
- Operation Dawn 8
- Operation Karbala 1
- Operation Karbala 4
- Operation Karbala 5
- Operation Karbala 6
- Operation Karbala 10
- Operation Dawn 10
- Second Battle of al-Faw
- Operation Mersad
- KDPI insurgency
- South Lebanon conflict
- War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- 2006 Lebanon War
- Iraq War
- Iran–Israel proxy conflict
- Syrian civil war
- Battle of al-Qusayr
- Southern Syria offensive
- Battle of Zabadani
- Northwestern Syria offensive
- Latakia offensive
- Kuweires offensive
- Battle of Aleppo
- Encirclement of Aleppo
- Hama offensive (March–April 2017)
- Syrian Desert campaign (May–July 2017)
- Eastern Syria campaign (September–December 2017)
- 2017 Abu Kamal offensive
- War in Iraq (2013–2017)
- 2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis
6 including Zeinab Soleimani
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 propaganda outlets subsequently represented Soleimani as a national hero.[27][28][29][30]
Early life
Soleimani was born on 11 March 1957,[note 1] 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]
Sanctions
In March 2007, Soleimani was included on a list of Iranian individuals targeted with sanctions in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1747.[129] 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][130] 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.[131]
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".[132] 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.[133] Soleimani was also sanctioned by the Swiss government in September 2011 on the same grounds cited by the European Union.[134]
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.[135]
Public image in Iran
Iranian propaganda
Soleimani cultivated public relations and a personality cult that formed part of his image.[136][137][138]
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.[139][140][141][142][143][144][145] It is believed by many that these measures have been at least partially successful, arguing that even some American outlets were biased.[146][147][148][149]
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][150] 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,[151] including the U.S., which supplied weapons and intelligence to Iraq,[152] Soleimani had developed into an architect of Iran's foreign policies in the Middle East[16][153][154] 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.[155][156][157] 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.[158][159]