Who was Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s IRGC’s Quds Force leader?
Al JazeeraGeneral Qassem Soleimani was killed alongside six others following a US air raid at Baghdad’s international airport. General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force has been killed early on Friday alongside several others following a US air raid at Baghdad’s international airport. Soleimani acquired celebrity status at home and abroad as leader of the Quds Force, the foreign arm of the IRGC, and for his key role in fighting in Syria and Iraq and spreading Iranian influence in the Middle East, which the United States and Tehran’s regional foes Saudi Arabia and Israel have struggled to keep in check. Soleimani’s Quds Force, tasked with carrying out operations beyond Iran’s borders, shored up support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad when he looked close to defeat in the civil war raging since 2011, and also helped armed groups defeat the ISIL group. “If it wasn’t for people like him, this region would have seen black flags flying across the region.” Threats to Soleimani Soleimani was rumoured to be dead on several occasions, including in a 2006 aircraft crash that killed other military officials in northwestern Iran and following a 2012 bombing in Damascus that killed top aides of embattled Syrian President al-Assad.