Who is Qasem Soleimani?

The 'living martyr of the revolution' was the most powerful military man in the Middle East

Born in a poor village in eastern Iran, Soleimani left home when he was 13, to earn money to repay an agricultural loan his father had taken from the government of the Shah. He worked as a labourer, saving money in eight months before returning home. He only had a high school education, when aged 22, he joined the Revolutionary Guard after the overthrow of the Shah.

He grew up the ranks, learning on the job and became known for his bravery and smarts. He romanticised war, calling the battlefield a paradise. In 1998, he was named to head the Quds Force, the tip of Iran's military spear. Soleimani has since shaped the region with multiple moves against the US and Israel, in the process forming a network of Shia militia in the Arab world. He was respected and feared by counterparts in the shadowy world of intelligence. Ayatollah Khomeini hailed him as a 'living martyr of the revolution'.

An opportunistic strategist, Soleimani worked alongside the Americans post-9/11. The support dried up when George Bush named Iran in his infamous Axis of Evil speech. Soleimani's influence in Iraq grew exponentially in the last decade. He is credited with stopping the march of the ISIS. A staunch ally of Syria, he prevailed upon Bashar al-Assad to not use chemical weapons on his own people. There have been several attempts by the US to capture or kill Soleimani even during the Obama administration, but they were not successful till now.

1998
When Qasem Soleimani became the head of the Quds Force

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