Who was Iranian General Qassim Suleimani?

The explosions killed more than a hundred people in Iran on Wednesday took place on the occasion of an anniversary commemoration Major General Qassim Suleimani, the top Iranian commander killed by a US drone strike four years ago.

General Suleimani, the most powerful Iranian commander at the head of the foreign-facing arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, was considered a hero by some in Iran and other parts of the region. building an axis of allied militias to defend Iranian interests in the Middle East and to help defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

That network, with Iran at its center, countered U.S. influence in the region and served as what many saw as a resistance force against Israel.

In the United States, he was considered a force behind international terrorism campaigns and President Donald Trump said his murder was ordered to “stop a war” in January 2020 because General Suleimani had plotted attacks on US diplomats and military personnel.

Who was Qassim Suleimani?

General Suleimani was labeled a terrorist by the United States and Israel, where he helped organize waves of militia attacks. But among some Iranians he is an almost mythical figure, known as a warrior-philosopher who played a key role in the fight against the country’s enemies.

General Suleimani was part of it That of Iran revolutionary generation, and joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in his early 20s after the 1979 theocratic uprising that toppled the Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, a close American ally.

He rose through the hierarchy during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, and in 1998 became the head of the powerful, outward-looking arm of Iran’s military security apparatus, the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force. There he combined intelligence work with the strategic nurturing of other militias abroad.

General Suleimani created a Shiite-led network of groups in Iraq and Syria and helped arm and support other militant groups such as Hamas, which rules Gaza, and the Lebanese Hezbollah.

He consolidated Iran’s grip on Iraq and had a profound impact on the Syrian civil war, supporting President Bashar al-Assad and fighting the Islamic State. U.S. officials also blamed him for hundreds of American deaths in Iraq.

How did the United States kill General Suleimani?

General Suleimani was killed in a US drone strike authorized by President Trump as he arrived at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. He was killed along with several officials from Iraqi militias backed by Tehran.

In a rack After the attack, the Pentagon accused General Suleimani of planning attacks on Americans, orchestrating attacks on coalition bases in Iraq and authorizing an attack on the US embassy in Baghdad.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on CNN that the US drone strike had disrupted an “imminent attack” on US interests in the Middle East.

Following the death of General Suleimani, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for three days of public mourning and then retaliation.

What happened after his death?

Huge crowds of mourners gathered for the funeral of General Suleimani, and a few days later Iran two bases attacked in Iraq, where American troops were stationed to avenge his murder.

On the same day, Iranian missiles struck a Ukraine Airlines plane, killing all 176 people on board. After days of denying responsibility, Iran announced that it had been shot accidentally the jet plane.

In the following years, General Suleimani’s supporters erected many busts and statues of him in Iran. They also organized annual commemorations that drew thousands of people, including the one attacked on Wednesday.

But the tribute also infuriated his opponents. Several statues were vandalized and in October an Asian Champions League football match between the Iranian and Saudi Arabian teams was canceled after players from the Saudi club refused to enter the field due to the presence of three busts of General Suleimani.

Iranian authorities have also made several arrests of people accused of vandalizing and burning statues of the general. This was reported by the Iran International News Channel.

At the same time, Iranian officials have continued to vow to avenge General Suleimani’s death.

“We have not forgotten and will not forget the blood of martyr Suleimani,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told an audience of thousands of people last year on the anniversary of General Suleimani’s death. according to Al Jazeera.

“The Americans should know that revenge for the blood of martyr Suleimani is certain, and the murderers and perpetrators will not sleep easily,” he added.

Farnaz Fassihi And Ahmed Al Omran reporting contributed.