Ruhollah Abdolmaleki, researcher in regional studies
During the days these lines are being written down, the world is witnessing an asymmetrical confrontation between two opposing sides, which has displayed the peak of brutality as well as desperation on one side and innocence along with heroic resistance on the other side. It would suffice to review the distant past years so that a completely different image forms in our minds. In those days, whenever Palestine and the Muslims living in it were mentioned, the atmosphere of innocence, being doomed to failure, and suffering under occupation prevailed in the background of phrases and sentences. In the same way, the words Zionist regime and occupation emanated a sense of undisputed power, security dominance, and military invincibility. Unlike that era, now the bubble of security dominance and military invincibility of the Zionist regime has burst, and the political intrigues, diplomatic tricks and media propaganda of the occupiers have disintegrated like a loose spider web. Operation Al-Aqsa Flood has destroyed the credibility of the Zionist regime in various aspects, and the resistance of the innocent Muslims of Gaza and their resilience against the huge and comprehensive volume of the round-the-clock bombardments have drawn the admiration and astonishment of world nations.
With a broader look at the years of confrontation and conflict between Global Arrogance and its vassals in West Asia on the one hand, and the Resistance Front and popular forces on the other hand, there remains no doubt that the astonishing work by Hamas and the residents of Gaza in Palestine are the domino effect of successive defeats of the hegemons and global colonialism in the region. The decline of Western colonialism, which was caused by the increasing strength of the resistance and the weaknesses of the Arrogance Front, smashed the expansionist plots and conspiracies that were planned so as to dominate the West Asia region under titles such as the greater or the new Middle East plan. In elucidating this point of view, one of the major policies of the US government in the first decade of the current century was the pursuit of the “New Middle East” plan, and the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq under the title of “War on Terror” created the capacity to initiate the “New American Century” in line with the New Middle East plan. Although the Zionist regime and Lebanon’s Hezbollah engaged in a confrontation in the Lebanon War and the United States did not openly intervene militarily in it, the authorities of this country interpreted the war as the formation of a New Middle East. In this regard, Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, said during the 33-day war in Lebanon in the summer of 2006: “What we’re seeing here is, in a sense, the growing—the birth pangs of a new Middle East, and whatever we do, we have to be certain that we’re pushing forward to the new Middle East, not going back to the old Middle East.” According to the Leader of Iran, the West’s plan was to draw a new geopolitical map for a New Middle East to secure the interests and needs of the US and the West. In this geopolitical situation, for which a hypothetical map was prepared by Ralph Peters, a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel, dividing the Middle East into smaller countries and changing the borders were considered fundamental solutions to the problems of the current Middle East.
However, more than two decades of resilience and courage by the Resistance Front and the resistance of the Muslim nations in different countries, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and recently Palestine, showed that the New Middle East plan as well as securing the hegemonic interests of the US in West Asia and the Islamic geography of the region have failed. One of the most significant international figures who played a prominent and distinct role in imposing this defeat was martyr General Soleimani. Some of the failures of the Arrogance Front and the impact of martyr General Soleimani on them are mentioned below.
Palestine
The latest case of these defeats is the ongoing Gaza crisis, which was mentioned at the beginning of this article. While the United States and the Zionist regime have sought to pass the Palestinian issue into oblivion and isolate Hamas in Gaza in their long-term plan, the fact that the Palestinian issue has become the headline of many alternative and independent media outlets and even the mainstream media, which have had no choice but to report the regime’s oppression in Gaza — albeit in a very biased manner — demonstrates the failure of the conspiracy to pass the cause of Palestine into oblivion. An important factor in empowering the Palestinian resistance to confront the Zionist regime and the innovative and unannounced attack on the Israeli-occupied territories is the arming of this group with its needed weapons by the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the most central role in this regard relates to martyr General Soleimani. This arming of the Palestinian resistance has been mentioned by international political and military experts and analysts, the Supreme Leader of Iran, and even the Palestinian resistance officials. A few years before Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the Supreme Leader of Iran highlighted the prominent role of General Soleimani in empowering Palestine and Gaza: “that man empowered the Palestinians. He did something to make a small region like the Gaza strip — which is a small strip of land — stand up to the Zionist regime despite all their extravagant claims. He created such a disastrous situation for them that they asked for ceasefire after just 48 hours!”
Syria
In the midst of the Islamic Awakening uprisings in the Arab and Islamic countries of West Asia and North Africa, the Western countries plotted instability and insecurity in Syria in order to abuse the conditions of chaos and direct it to their advantage. As soon as the internal situation in Syria turned toward unrest, the US ambassador went to the opposition and by his presence tried to provoke them and turn a political dispute into a civil war. Then, with the escalation of internal tensions, the United States and its allies provided political, military, and logistical support to the Syrian opposition in order to further escalate the conflict and intensify the civil war, and conditioned any political solution on the removal of Bashar al-Assad from power. Of course, before the unrest in Syria, the United States had condemned the government of this country on the pretext of supporting groups such as Hamas, the Islamic Jihad of Palestine, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as well as for providing logistical support to the Lebanese Hezbollah. This was while the most dangerous terrorist groups in the region, such as the DAESH, were created by the US — as admitted by American authorities — to achieve their goals in the region by fomenting terrorism and promoting terrorist acts. The interference of the United States and its allies in Syria changed the situation in such a way that many analysts doubted the survival of the legitimate government of Syria. It seemed that with the overthrow of the Syrian government, the country should welcome permanent chaos. Nevertheless, as the editor of Al-Masdar News writes, this situation changed in early October when General Soleimani, along with several IRGC officers, arrived at Bassel al-Assad International Airport in Syria’s Latakia. General Soleimani’s role in the Syrian crisis had many dimensions, which included a briefing and advisory presence, formation of popular mobilization forces, reconstruction of the Syrian army, strong presence on the battlefield, and leading military operations against the DAESH in the Arab country. The Long War Journal writes about the field presence and military leadership of General Soleimani in Syria that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and foreign Shia militias under the command of General Soleimani played an important role along with the support of the Russian Air Force in the siege of Aleppo during a 15-month operation and managed to avert two major offensives by the Islamist-led coalitions. Therefore, one of the effective factors in thwarting the project of overthrowing the Syrian government and imposing permanent chaos in this country was the actions of General Soleimani at various levels.
Iraq
In 2013, after conquering Ramadi, Fallujah, Mosul, Tikrit, and some other areas in northern Iraq, the DAESH entered into a full-scale war with the Iraqi government and managed to capture more than 50,000 kilometers of Iraq and subjugate more than 4 million of the country’s population. While the DAESH was advancing in Iraq, the US took advantage of the difficult situation in the Arab country and pressured the then Iraqi government to resign. As a result, Nouri al-Maliki had no other choice but to resign. The DAESH’s threats and brutality, captivity of women and children, and mass killing of opponents, as well as its strict laws not only painted an ugly, hateful and completely false image of Islam, but also instilled fear in the hearts of the Iraqi people and drove some opposition groups to the Iraqi government. The Iraqi government asked General Soleimani for help to save it from this predicament, and following his military advice and managerial capability and initiative in mobilizing the people and using Hashd al-Shaabi, the offensive path of the DAESH in Iraq was stopped. General Soleimani’s skill in using the capacity of popular mobilization in cases such as bringing together Kurdish and Shia forces to fight the DAESH was pivotal, and his supervision of the joint operations carried out by these two groups (Ostovar 227) was fruitful. In addition to monitoring the situation, General Soleimani’s active participation in popular operations was his other important feature that uplifted the spirit of the Iraqi popular mobilization against the DAESH. Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced in an interview that Qasem Soleimani was present in all the operations organized by Hashd al-Shaabi against the DAESH. “In some of them, which were carried out in Amerli, Tal Afar, and Tuz Khurmatu, we needed drones to come to the aid of the Mujahideen. In some military operations, we also needed artillery, and Haj Qasem provided all the military facilities and weapons from the Islamic Republic of Iran to Iraq.” During the DAESH incursion into Iraq, if it was not for General Soleimani and his effective role at levels such as the transfer of weapons from Iran to Iraq, the Arab country would not have been able to resolve the problems and obstacles in the war with the terrorist group. Nouri al-Maliki says in this regard: “We used to buy weapons at that time, but the world countries did not give us weapons when it was necessary. However, [General] Soleimani helped us a lot because of his role in Iraq and his permanent presence in this country.” Martyr General Soleimani’s strategic view and management and organization capabilities showed another level of his capabilities in pushing back the DAESH from the occupied areas of Iraq. For example, the report of Britain’s Independent newspaper about the battle with the DAESH in Tikrit shows the capabilities of Martyr Soleimani in organizing and operational planning as well as his vital influence in recapturing the Iraqi city of Tikrit from the DAESH. This city, which is located on the left bank of the Tigris River and is the largest and most important city between Baghdad and Mosul, had great strategic value for the DAESH, and its loss dealt a heavy blow to this group. In this way, the DAESH was expelled from Iraq.
Therefore, General Soleimani, having the required skills to make use of various military capacities, was one of the most effective people who challenged Western expansionism in the Islamic countries of the region and brought projects such as the New Middle East to failure. In relation to the influence of this figure, the Foreign Policy magazine, in its annual 2019 report introducing the top 100 thinkers in various fields, placed General Soleimani at the top of the military and security figures and wrote about him: “Soleimani’s fingerprints are everywhere that Iran is active, from Yemen to Iraq to Syria.” As the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said, “In today’s world of Islam, whenever some people wish to resist in the face of arrogant bullying, their role model and their code word is Shahid Soleimani. … In fact, he taught the people how to use the resistance software and the fighting paradigm and he promoted them among nations.”
(The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Khamenei.ir.)
References:
Ostovar, Afshon. Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Oxford UP, 2016.
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