Who is Qassem Suleimani? Iran farm boy who became more powerful than a president..Quds leader was extraordinarily successful in reshaping the region in wake of Iraq war and Syrian revolution
US drone strikes in Baghdad on Friday morning have killed not just one of the most influential men in Iran but also in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, too.
Qassem Suleimani had become well known among Iranians in past years and was sometimes discussed as a future president.
Qassem Suleimani had become well known among Iranians in past years and was sometimes discussed as a future president.
Yet the leader of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force was still a relatively obscure figure outside a region that he may have done more than anyone to reshape.
He was more important than the president, spoke to all factions in Iran, had a direct line to the supreme leader and was in charge of Iran’s regional policy,”
said Dina Esfandiary, a fellow at the Century Foundation think tank. “It doesn’t get more important and influential than that.”
The shadowy Quds force are tasked with spreading Iran’s influence abroad and, in the past two decades, Suleimani, 62, had extraordinary success doing so. In the chaos and death that followed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and the 2011 Syrian revolution,
Suleimani saw opportunity, pouring in men and money to build a crescent of pro-Iran forces stretching across the region from Lebanon in the west to Yemen in the south.
The continued rise of Hezbollah, the most powerful armed force in Lebanon; Iran’s decisive intervention to prop up Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war; the ongoing resistance of Yemen’s Houthi militias to Saudi Arabian-led forces, and the ascendance of Shia militias in Iraq:
each of these developments can be traced back in some measure to the short, grey-haired Iranian commander born to a poor farming family in 1957.
Suleimani wrote in his autobiography that he was born in Rabor, a city in eastern Iran, and was forced to travel to a neighbouring city at age 13 and work to pay his father’s debts to the government of the Shah. By the time the monarch fell in 1979,
Suleimani was committed to the clerical rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and joined the Revolutionary Guards, the paramilitary force established to prevent a coup against the newly declared Islamic Republic.
Within two years, he was sent to the front to fight in the war against the invading Iraqi army. He quickly distinguished himself, especially for daring reconnaissance missions behind Iraqi lines, and was appointed the head of a brigade.
He was wounded at least once and lost many men, but never his taste for conflict. The war also gave him his first contact with foreign militias of the kind he would wield to devastating effect in the decades to come.
By the the time the Iraq government fell in 2003, Suleimani was the head of the Quds force and blamed for sponsoring the Shia militias who (along with their Sunni militant opponents) killed thousands of civilian Iraqis and coalition troops.
As fighting raged on Iraq’s streets, Suleimani fought a shadow war with the US for leverage over the new Iraqi leadership.
A message he passed in 2007 to American commander David Petraeus has become notorious. “General Petraeus,” it read, “you should know that I, Qassem Suleimani, control the policy for Iran with respect to Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, and Afghanistan.
The ambassador in Baghdad is a Quds force member. The individual who’s going to replace him is a Quds force member.” (Petraeus, in a 2008 letter to the then-US defence secretary, described Suleimani as “a truly evil figure”.)
A recent leak of diplomatic cables showed the extent of Suleimani’s influence in Iraq: helping lead a battle against Islamic State, coercing a then-transport minister to allow Iranian planes to overfly Iraq with weapons bound for
Syria, and spending regular time with government officials.
It was his ability to build relationships that made him so effective, said Esfandiary. “He built them with everyone, inside and outside Iran, inside and outside government,” she said.
It was his ability to build relationships that made him so effective, said Esfandiary. “He built them with everyone, inside and outside Iran, inside and outside government,” she said.
Suleimani had been instrumental in crushing street protests in Iran in 2009. Outbreaks of popular dissent in Lebanon, Iraq and Iran in recent months were again putting pressure on the crescent of influence he had spent the past two decades building. Violent crackdowns on the
protests in Baghdad were blamed on militias under his influence. He was no longer operating in the shadows.
Eighteen months before his death, Suleimani had issued Donald Trump a public warning that may prove correct, though not in the way he may have intended. “Mr. Trump
Eighteen months before his death, Suleimani had issued Donald Trump a public warning that may prove correct, though not in the way he may have intended. “Mr. Trump
the gambler, I’m telling you, know that we are close to you in that place you don’t think we are,” he said, wagging his finger and dressed in olive fatigues. “You will start the war but we will end it.”
“It was an extremely dangerous, foolish escalation ... He was the most effective force fighting against 👉Islamic State 👈and al Qaeda terrorists👈,” Zarif said.
Nearly 3000 troops from 82nd Airborne to be deployed to Middle East
Defense officials told the AP that nearly 3,000 more troops from the 82nd Airborne Division would be deployed to the Middle East amid fears of reprisals against the US for the killing of Iranian general Suleimani
Defense officials told the AP that nearly 3,000 more troops from the 82nd Airborne Division would be deployed to the Middle East amid fears of reprisals against the US for the killing of Iranian general Suleimani
The AP reports:
The United States is sending nearly 3,000 more Army troops to the Mideast as reinforcements in the volatile aftermath of the killing of an Iranian general in a strike ordered by President Donald Trump, defense officials said Friday.
The United States is sending nearly 3,000 more Army troops to the Mideast as reinforcements in the volatile aftermath of the killing of an Iranian general in a strike ordered by President Donald Trump, defense officials said Friday.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a decision not yet announced by the Pentagon, said the troops are from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
They are in addition to about 700 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne who deployed to Kuwait earlier this week after the storming of the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad by Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer argued Trump “does not have the authority for a war with Iran” and questioned what “legal basis” the president had for the Suleimani strike.
“The need for advance consultation and transparency with Congress was put in the Constitution for a reason,” Schumer said, noting that Democratic leaders were not given advance notice of the strike.
The New York Democrat added, “When the security of the nation is at stake, decisions must not be made in a vacuum.”
Iran has spent decades preparing for a moment like this, developing methods and networks around the world that give Tehran the widest possible choice when it comes to taking revenge.
In the weeks immediately after the airstrike that killed Iran’s most powerful general, the threat against Americans and their allies will be greatest in the Middle East, but the risk will balloon out across the globe over the months and years to come.
Any US outpost in Syria and Iraq, military or diplomatic, is vulnerable to attacks, likely to come from Iranian-backed militias linked to Kata’ib Hezbollah, which has served as Tehran’s most reliable fist in Iraq.
In Iraq, there will be even less protection from the state, which is furious about the attack outside Baghdad airport.
Congressman Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, expressed fear that the Suleimani strike could lead to escalation between US and Iranian forces.
“I’ve had the opportunity to get a briefing on the intelligence that led to the recent strikes, and I have profound concerns about the prospect for serious escalation,” the California Democrat told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Reuters: 'airstrikes target Iraqi militia convoy north of Baghdad, killing six people, an Iraqi army source says'
Early reports have emerged on a fresh airstrike that took place in Baghdad and the details in the past hour appeared increasingly credible.
Early reports have emerged on a fresh airstrike that took place in Baghdad and the details in the past hour appeared increasingly credible.
Reuters reports: “Airstrikes targeting Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces umbrella grouping of Iran-backed Shi’ite militias near camp Taji north of Baghdad have killed six people and critically wounded three, an Iraqi army source said late on Friday.
Two of the three vehicles making up a militia convoy were found burned, the source said, as well as six burned corpses. The strikes took place at 1.12am local time, he said.”
Iraq official says airstrike targets Iran-backed militia, Associated Press reports
The Associated Press has reported new details on the latest airstrike in Iraq which it attributes to an Iraqi official who says the strike hit two cars and killed five members of the
The Associated Press has reported new details on the latest airstrike in Iraq which it attributes to an Iraqi official who says the strike hit two cars and killed five members of the
Iran-backed militia they were carrying. The unnamed official said the identities of those killed are unknown.
The salvo comes a day after a US drone strike that killed top Iranian general Gen. Qassem Soleimani — an act of aggression which Iran has promises to avenge.
The salvo comes a day after a US drone strike that killed top Iranian general Gen. Qassem Soleimani — an act of aggression which Iran has promises to avenge.
Newsweek says it has been told by Pentagon officials that the attack was on the Imam Ali Brigades, an Iraqi Shia militia with ties to Iran. There was a “high probability” that the strike resulted in the death of the brigades leader, Newsweek says adding that it was a US operation
Mike Pompeo has expressed disappointment with European reaction to the US killing of the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani, suggesting that the UK, France and Germany had not been sufficiently supportive.
The US secretary of state compared the European response unfavourably with US “partners in the region”, a likely reference to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which Pompeo had consulted after the Suleimani assassination.
“I spent the last day-and-a-half, two days, talking to partners in the region, sharing with them what we were doing, why we were doing it, seeking their assistance. They’ve all been fantastic,” Pompeo told Fox TV.
“And then talking to our partners in other places that haven’t been quite as good.😬🤔😳🤔
“Frankly, the Europeans haven’t been as helpful as I wish that they could be. The Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did, what the Americans did, saved lives in Europe as well.
European reaction to the drone strike killing of Suleimani and Iraqi Shia militants travelling with him in Baghdad, has been cautious and apprehensive. While noting Suleimani’s destructive role in the region, European governments have called for restraint.
Policy towards Iran has been a deeply divisive issue between the US and Europe since Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 multilateral agreement with Iran that imposed strict limits on its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.
European officials have blamed Trump’s efforts to strangle Iran economically for the rising tensions in the Persian Gulf.
There were immediate signs that the killing of Suleimani would inhibit the broad coalition effort to wipe out Isis in Iraq and Syria, in the short term at least.
Nato suspended its training of Iraqi security forces, currently led by Canada, and the US-led counter-Islamic State (Isis) mission in the region, Operation Inherent Resolve, also cut back its activities, including the training of Iraqi counter-terrorist units.
There are also reports that the US has been withdrawing forces involved in tracking down Isis fighters from exposed outposts in the region, to better defended bases.
In the aftermath of the US drone strike that killed the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad, the phrase “World War III” began trending on social media.
More startlingly, a US government agency which registers young men for a potential military draft saw its website crash
More startlingly, a US government agency which registers young men for a potential military draft saw its website crash
“The US simply isn’t in the practice of assassinating senior state officials out in the open like this,” said Charles Lister, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington. “While Suleimani was a brutal figure responsible for a great deal of suffering,
and his Quds force was designated by the US as a terrorist organization, there’s no escaping that he was arguably the second most powerful man in Iran behind the supreme leader.”
Donald Trump’s gloating tweets over the killing combined with a sparse effort to justify the action in either domestic or international law has led to the US being accused of the very crimes it normally pins on its enemies.
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, denounced the assassination as an “act of international terrorism”.
Vipin Narang, a political scientist at MIT, said the killing “wasn’t deterrence, it was decapitation”.
There has been no shortage of US interventions over the past half-century that have attempted – and in some cases succeeded –
There has been no shortage of US interventions over the past half-century that have attempted – and in some cases succeeded –
in removing foreign adversaries through highly dubious legal or ethical means. The country has admitted to making no fewer than eight assassination attempts on Castro, though the real figure was probably much higher.
William Blum, the author of Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, points to a litany of American sins from invasions, bombings, overthrowing of governments, assassinations to torture and death squads.
“It’s not a pretty picture” is his blunt conclusion.
The CIA was deemed to have run so amok in the 1960s and 70s that in 1975 the Church committee investigated a numerous attempted assassinations on foreign leaders including Lumumba, Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican
The CIA was deemed to have run so amok in the 1960s and 70s that in 1975 the Church committee investigated a numerous attempted assassinations on foreign leaders including Lumumba, Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican
Republic, Vietnam’s Ngo Dinh Diem and, of course, Castro. In the fallout, Gerald Ford banned US involvement in foreign political assassinations.
The ban didn’t last long. Since 1976 the US has continued to be engaged in, or accused of, efforts to eradicate foreign leaders.
Ronald Reagan launched bombing raids in 1986 targeting Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. As recently as two years ago
Ronald Reagan launched bombing raids in 1986 targeting Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. As recently as two years ago
North Korea alleged that the CIA tried to assassinate its leader, Kim Jong-un.
But most of the interventions in the modern era have been covert and conducted beneath the radar. Where they have been proclaimed publicly, they have tended to
But most of the interventions in the modern era have been covert and conducted beneath the radar. Where they have been proclaimed publicly, they have tended to
target non-state actors operating in militias or militant groups like Islamic State.
Barack Obama and Trump both claimed huge public relations victories when they oversaw the killings of Osama bin Laden and the Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, respectively.
Barack Obama and Trump both claimed huge public relations victories when they oversaw the killings of Osama bin Laden and the Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, respectively.
