Just as a new year has dawned, January 3 marks the second anniversary of the elimination of Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Iraq by U.S. forces. Soleimani was the notorious commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’(IRGC) terrorist group, the Quds Force, and was heavily involved in exporting Iran’s terrorism across the Middle East.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said, “Soleimani was killed along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Al Hashd Al Shaabi, (aka. Popular Mobilization Forces) and the secretary-general of Kata’ib Hezbollah, both Iraqi proxies of the Iranian regime. Soleimani’s death delivered an irreparable blow to Iran’s ruling theocracy and its warmongering machine.”
On December 30, 2021, the Iranian regime’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf expressed the regime’s condolences, stating that they miss him and “feel his absence in the Resistance fronts (the regime’s proxy wars).”
On the other hand, Iranians across the world, along with the people of Syria and Iraq, publicly celebrated his demise, the celebrations of which then circulated on social media.
The NCRI said, “Despite the regime’s efforts to portray Soleimani as a national hero, defiant youth tore down or set fire to thousands of Soleimani’s posters during the major Iran protests in January 2020. At the same time, Iranians have not missed any opportunity to mock and ridicule Soleimani and the regime.”
In the run-up to his anniversary, Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of Lebanon’s group Hezbollah, praised Soleimani for his help in the past and for providing ‘logistical support’ for them.
Soleimani also helped to coordinate and plan attacks around the world, including in places such as Thailand, New Delhi, Lagos, and Nairobi. In these places alone, the Quds Force carried out at least 30 terrorist attacks during 2011 and 2012.
It wasn’t just internationally where Soleimani made his mark. Domestically, he was heavily involved in the regime’s repression of society in his role as a senior member of the IRGC’s high command, with one of his main targets being the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Between January 1993 and April 2003, over 150 terrorist attacks were carried out by the IRGC’s Quds Force against the MEK at their exiled camp in Iraq.
Between 2009 and 2016, the regime used their proxy terrorist groups inside Iraq to attack the MEK’s Ashraf and Liberty camps, which resulted in the deaths of 141 MEK members. 52 members lost their lives on September 1, 2013, during a pre-dawn raid at Camp Ashraf by the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s Special Forces, under the command of the IRGC’s Quds Force. The MEK members were lined up, with their hands tied behind their backs, and were shot execution-style in the head.
The NCRI said, “The Iranian regime’s “beloved commander” was a cruel psychopath who carried out the regime’s deadly strategy with maximum brutality and bloodshed. He was dubbed as a “child killer” among Syrians.”
The President-elect of the NCRI, Maryam Rajavi described Qassem Soleimani’s elimination as an “irreparable blow to the clerical regime.” Without him, the regime’s power over other Middle Eastern countries is definitely weakened, but their terrorist activities have continued on regardless.
The NCRI said, “In response, the international community must adopt a firm policy to counter the Iranian regime’s terrorism and regional adventurism. Appeasement will only embolden the regime to pursue the same nefarious policies in the region and beyond.”
Source » irannewsupdate