Qasem Soleimani

Soleimani receiving the Order of Zolfaghar from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

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.[18] 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.[52]

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.[53]

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.[54][55][56]

On 24 January 2011, Soleimani was promoted to Major General (Sarlaskar) by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.[46][57][58] Khamenei was described as having a close relationship with him, calling Soleimani a "living martyr" and helping him financially.[2]

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] 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][59]

A report issued, late January 2020, by government factions close to IRGC and published by Fars News Agency reveals some of Quds force's infiltration, under the command of Qassem Soleimani, in other countries. The 1992–95 Bosnian War is brought as an example.[60]

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]

Map of Al-Qusayr and its environs. The Al-Qusayr offensive was reportedly orchestrated by Soleimani.[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][59] 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.[61][62] 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[63] 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.[64]

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.[65] 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.[66]

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.[67][68]

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.[68]

Map of the 2015 Aleppo offensives[69][70][71][72][73][74]

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.[75] 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).[76]

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,[77] 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.[78] In December 2016, new photos emerged of Soleimani at the Citadel of Aleppo, though the exact date of the photos is unknown.[79][80]

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.[81]

A map of Saladin Governorate in Iraq. Soleimani was involved in breaking the Siege of Amirli by ISIL in the eastern part of the governorate.[82]

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.[20]

In 2014, Soleimani was in the Iraqi city of Amirli, to work with Iraqi forces to push back ISIL militants.[21] 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".[83][84]

Soleimani praying in the Syrian desert in 2017

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.[85] 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.[82] 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,[86] providing liaisons for intelligence-sharing along with arms, munitions and expertise.[87]

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.[88]

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.[20][89][90]

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.[90]

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.[91]

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."[92][93]

CNBC reported that the U.S. had been in pursuit of the general for decades.[167] President Trump had expressed a desire to target Soleimani in a 2017 meeting with then National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.[168][169] 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.[168][169] In making the 2020 strike, the Pentagon focused on Soleimani's past actions and on deterring future such actions.[170] 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.[171] 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.[152] The death of an Iraqi-American contractor in a rocket attack in December 2019 was reportedly also used as justification for the strike,[168][169] 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.[151][168][169]

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.[172][173] 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,[174] and Mark Esper asserted the general had been expected to mastermind an attack within days.[175] 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.[176]

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.[177]

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.[178]

On 14 February 2020, in a legally required unclassified memorandum to Congress,[179] 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 Engel 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.[180]

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.[181] 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.'"[181]

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.[181]

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"[182] and other scholars argue it violates international law.[183] 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".[184][185]

Analysts Ali Vaez and Iain King and some Twitter users compared the event to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand,[186][187][188] 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".[189] 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.[190]

Democrats, including top 2020 presidential candidates, condemned the killing of Soleimani, arguing that it escalated the conflict with Iran, and risked retaliation or war.[191]

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) praised the killing of Soleimani as a divine intervention, saying it helped jihadists.[192]

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, however, backed the strike, describing the American action as self-defense.[193]

According to a Facebook spokesperson, Instagram and its parent company Facebook are removing posts "that voice support for slain Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani to comply with U.S. sanctions."[194]

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.[195]

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."[196]

Some activists living out of reach of the Iranian authorities, such as Saghar Erica Kasraie, Reza Alijani, and Masih Alinejad, condemned Soleimani.[197][198][199] 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.[200][201][202] BBC reported that "the protests were, however, far smaller than the mass demonstrations across Iran in support of Soleimani".[201]

Ismail Haniyeh described Soleimani as "the martyr of Jerusalem" in a speech pronounced in Tehran during his funeral.[203][204]

Mourners at Azadi Square, Tehran

Soleimani's grave. He had asked for a simple gravestone "similar to [his] shahid comrades" and without any honorific title inscribed along his name.[205][206]

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".[207] 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.[208] Soleimani's remains were taken to the holy Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf.[209] 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.[210][211] Muqtada al-Sadr paid a visit to Soleimani's house to express his condolence to his family.[212]

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.[213][214] Ali Khamenei mourned openly near the coffin while the general's successor swore revenge. Esmail Ghaani, 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."[215] Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif asked if Trump had ever seen "such a sea of humanity".[216] He was given a multi-city funeral, and his funeral procession was said to be the second largest after that of Ayatollah Khomeini.[217] 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.[218][219]

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,[220][221] resulting in no reported casualties but 100 traumatic brain injuries.[222][223][224] Iranian officials[225] and some Western media analysts suggested the strike was deliberately designed to avoid causing any casualties to avoid an American response.[226][227] The Iranian president cautioned the U.S. that Iran will take more retaliatory actions if the U.S. continues to interfere in the region.[228] After the missile attack on Ayn al-Asad airbase, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was tragically 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.[229][230][231]

On 20 July 2020, it was reported by Iranian state television that Mahmoud Mousavi Majd had been executed following his conviction for providing information to the US and Israel about Soleimani and the Quds Force.[232]

Commemoration ceremony (anniversary) of "Qasem-Soleimani", in Tehran

On 3 January 2021, the first anniversary was marked of Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad.[233] Tens of thousands of Iran-back militias marched on the highway leading to the Baghdad airport while chanting anti-American slogans.[234]

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[235][236][237] and several countries, such as Oman, Iraq, Syria and Portugal.[238][239][240][241][242][243]

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.[244][245]