{"id":172375,"date":"2020-01-03T22:11:42","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T19:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whaj24.com\/?p=172375"},"modified":"2020-01-03T22:31:13","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T19:31:13","slug":"soleimani-a-general-who-became-iran-icon-by-targeting-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mennews.net\/?p=172375","title":{"rendered":"Soleimani, a general who became Iran icon by targeting US"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whaj 24 – TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 For Iranians whose icons since the Islamic Revolution have been stern-faced clergy, Gen. Qassem Soleimani widely represented a figure of national resilience in the face of four decades of U.S. pressure.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the U.S. and Israel, he was a shadowy figure in command of Iran\u2019s proxy forces, responsible for fighters in Syria backing President Bashar Assad and for the deaths of American troops in Iraq.<\/p>\n

Solemani survived the horror of Iran\u2019s long war in the 1980s with Iraq to take control of the Revolutionary Guard\u2019s elite Quds Force, responsible for the Islamic Republic\u2019s foreign campaigns.<\/p>\n

Relatively unknown in Iran until the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Soleimani\u2019s popularity and mystique grew after American officials called for his killing. A decade and a half later, Soleimani had become Iran\u2019s most recognizable battlefield commander, ignoring calls to enter politics but becoming as powerful, if not more, than its civilian leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe warfront is mankind\u2019s lost paradise,\u201d Soleimani recounted in a 2009 interview. \u201cOne 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

A U.S. airstrike killed Soleimani, 62, and others as they traveled from Baghdad\u2019s international airport early Friday morning.<\/a>\u00a0The Pentagon said President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. military to take \u201cdecisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing\u201d a man once referred to by Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a \u201cliving martyr of the revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soleimani\u2019s luck ran out after being rumored dead several times in his life. Those incidents included a 2006 airplane crash that killed other military officials in northwestern Iran and a 2012 bombing in Damascus that killed top aides of Assad. More recently, rumors circulated in November 2015 that Soleimani was killed or seriously wounded leading forces loyal to Assad as they fought around Syria\u2019s Aleppo.<\/p>\n

Iranian officials quickly vowed to take revenge amid months of tensions between Iran and the U.S. following Trump pulling out of Tehran\u2019s nuclear deal with world powers. While Soleimani was the Guard\u2019s most prominent general, many others in its ranks have experience in waging the asymmetrical, proxy attacks for which Iran has become known.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump through his gamble has dragged the U.S. into the most dangerous situation in the region,\u201d Hessameddin Ashena, an adviser to Iran\u2019s President Hassan Rouhani, wrote on the social media app Telegram. \u201cWhoever put his foot beyond the red line should be ready to face its consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born March 11, 1957, Soleimani was said in his homeland to have grown up near the mountainous and the historic Iranian town of Rabor, famous for its forests, its apricot, walnut and peach harvests and its brave soldiers. The U.S. State Department has said he was born in the Iranian religious capital of Qom.<\/p>\n

Little is known about his childhood, though Iranian accounts suggest Soleimani\u2019s father was a peasant who received a piece of land under the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, but later became encumbered by debts.<\/p>\n

By the time he was 13, Soleimani began working in construction, later as an employee of the Kerman Water Organization. Iran\u2019s 1979 Islamic Revolution swept the shah from power and Soleimani joined the Revolutionary Guard in its wake. He deployed to Iran\u2019s northwest with forces that put down Kurdish unrest following the revolution.<\/p>\n

Soon after, Iraq invaded Iran and began the two countries long, bloody eight-year war. The fighting killed more than 1 million people and saw Iran send waves of lightly armed troops into minefields and the fire of Iraqi forces, including teenage soldiers. Solemani\u2019s unit and others came under attack by Iraqi chemical weapons as well.<\/p>\n

Amid the carnage, Soleimani became known for his opposition to \u201cmeaningless deaths\u201d on the battlefield, while still weeping at times with fervor when exhorting his men into combat, embracing each individually.<\/p>\n

After the Iraq-Iran war, Soleimani largely disappeared from public view for several years, something analysts attribute to his wartime disagreements with Hashemi Rafsanjani, who would serve as Iran\u2019s president from 1989 to 1997. But after Rafsanjani, Soleimani became head of the Quds force. He also grew so close to Khamenei that the Supreme Leader officiated the wedding of the general\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n

As chief of the Quds \u2014 or Jerusalem \u2014 Force, Solemani oversaw the Guard\u2019s foreign operations and soon would come to the attention of Americans following the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.<\/p>\n

In secret U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, U.S. officials openly discussed Iraqi efforts to reach out to Soleimani to stop rocket attacks on the highly secured Green Zone in Baghdad in 2009. Another cable in 2007 outlines then-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani offering a U.S. official a message from Soleimani acknowledging having \u201chundreds\u201d of agents in the country while pledging, \u201cI swear on the grave of (the late Ayatollah Ruhollah) Khomeini I haven\u2019t authorized a bullet against the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. officials at the time dismissed Soleimani\u2019s claim as they saw Iran as both an arsonist and a fireman in Iraq, controlling some Shiite militias while simultaneously stirring dissent and launching attacks. U.S. forces would blame the Quds Force for an attack in Karbala that killed five American troops, as well as for training and supplying the bomb makers whose improvised explosive devices made IED \u2014 improvised explosive device \u2014 a dreaded acronym among soldiers.<\/p>\n

In a 2010 speech, U.S. Gen. David Petraeus recounted a message from Soleimani he said explained the scope of Iranian\u2019s powers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018Gen. Petreaus, you should know that I, Qassem Soleimani, control the policy for Iran with respect to Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza and Afghanistan,\u2019\u201d Petraeus said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. and the United Nations put Soleimani on sanctions lists in 2007, though his travels continued. In 2011, U.S. officials also named him as a defendant in an outlandish Quds Force plot to allegedly hire a purported Mexican drug cartel assassin to kill a Saudi diplomat.<\/p>\n

The attention the West gave Soleimani only boosted his profile at home. He sat at Khamenei\u2019s side at key meetings. He famously met Syria\u2019s Assad in February together with the supreme leader \u2014 but without Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif being present, which sparking a momentary resignation by the top Iranian diplomat.<\/p>\n

Polling data routinely showed Soleimani rated more favorably than other public figures, according to the Center for International Studies at the University of Maryland. But Soleimani always refuse entreaties to enter politics.<\/p>\n

Soleimani\u2019s greatest notoriety would arise from the Syrian civil war and the rapid expansion of the Islamic State group. Iran, a major backer of Assad, sent Soleimani into Syria several times to lead attacks against IS and others opposing Assad\u2019s rule. While a U.S.-led coalition focused on airstrikes, several ground victories for Iraqi forces came with photographs emerging of Soleimani leading, never wearing a flak jacket.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoleimani has taught us that death is the beginning of life, not the end of life,\u201d one Iraqi militia commander said<\/p>\n

ApNews *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whaj 24 – TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 For Iranians whose icons since the Islamic Revolution have been stern-faced clergy, Gen. Qassem Soleimani widely represented a figure of national resilience in the face of four decades of U.S. pressure. For the U.S. and Israel, he was a shadowy figure in command of Iran\u2019s proxy forces, responsible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mennews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/13980204000625_Test_PhotoI-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mennews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mennews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mennews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mennews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mennews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=172375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mennews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mennews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/172379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mennews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=172375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mennews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=172375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mennews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=172375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}