Gen. Qassim Soleimani and years of fighting against terrorism

For every
Iranian, and for those out of Iran in the Middle East whose countries have
suffered from terrorism in one way or another, the name ‘Major General Qassim
Soleimani’ signifies unmatched bravery, total sacrifice and non-stop fighting
against different terrorist organizations.

This great man
spent nearly 20 years of his life in the Quds Force, one of five branches of
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), fighting terrorists mostly in
Iran’s neighboring countries. Even before that and during the Iraq-Iran war
that lasted nearly 8 years, young Soleimani was always in the frontline of the
battlefields, fighting Saddam’s invader troops.

What made this
brave man to be known in all around the world more than anything, however, was
his heroic stance against the terrorist group called ISIS (the Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria, especially since the year 2014. In that year, this terrorist
group appeared so powerful that it could drive Iraqi government forces out of
key cities in its Western Iraq offensive, followed by its capture of Mosul and
the Sinjar massacre. With financial and military support from some western
countries, including the US, ISIS committed the most inhumane crimes against
men, women, and children in Iraq and later in Syria. In Syria, the group
conducted ground attacks on both government forces and opposition factions, and
by December 2015, it held an area extending from western Iraq to eastern Syria,
containing an estimated eight to twelve million people and ruthlessly killing
tens of thousands.

Hearing about
the bloodiest crimes in Iraq and Syria carried out by the ISIS group, General
Qassim Soleimani decided to accept the formal request of Iraq and Syria’s
governments for help and in an act of sacrifice, went personally to the most
dangerous places to fight the ISIS terrorists.

More than anyone
else, General Soleimani was the creator an arc of influence, “Axis of
Resistance” against terrorists and foreign enemies of Iran and the region. and
thanks to his efforts, the Axis of Resistance now extends from the Gulf of Oman
through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea,
a coalition against common enemies and the terrorist groups that they support.

The great
General was not only brave in fighting terrorists, but he was also very wise in
finding the very sources that supported and sponsored the terrorists to create
chaos in the region, repeatedly reminding Washington of its role in providing so-called
secret financial and military aid to the ISIS terrorists. This was indeed
something that Hillary Clinton openly confessed about in her book “Hard
Choices” that it was in fact the United States that created this terrorist
group in the Middle East region.

Finally, and
after years of non-stop fight against the ISIS terrorists, General Soleimani,
this larger-than-life hero could defeat the terrorists and triumphantly
announced this great victory. In a message sent to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei back in November 2017, Major General Soleimani said Islamic
State had been defeated.
Ayatollah Khamenei congratulated General Soleimani on the defeat of the
ISIS group and said it was a blow against Israel, America and its allies, an
allusion to Saudi Arabia. Last but not least, the story of General Soleimani’s
bravery and sacrifice against terrorists in the region will never be forgotten.
Even after his brutal martyrdom by the US government, which was a flagrant
terrorist attack and a total breach of the international law, there are still
many more devoted soldiers like Major General Soleimani to continue his path in
fighting terrorists and terrorist conducts.