Iran’s Quds Force commander General Qasim Suleimani killed in US airstrike

Qasim Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force, has been killed in an airstrike at Baghdad International Airport. The Americans have taken responsibility for this attack. Qatib Hizbollah commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis has also been killed in this attack. READ MORE

The statement from the US Department of Defense stated that “On the instructions of the US President, a step has been taken to kill Qasim Soleimani to protect American military personnel living abroad. The US had declared him a terrorist.”

This statement said that “Soleimani has been involved in carrying out attacks on US military bases in Iraq for several months, including on December 27. In addition, he also approved his attack on the US embassy last week.”

At the end of the statement, it said, “This Airstrike was aimed at stopping Iranian attack plans in the future. The US, wherever it may be, will continue to take all necessary actions to protect its citizens.” READ MORE

The death of General Qasim Suleimani is said to be a major incident involving the Middle East and it is feared that Iran and its supported Middle East forces will now take strong retaliation against Israel and America.

On Sunday itself, the US targeted targets of Qatib Hezbollah organization located in eastern Syria and western Iraq. In which at least 25 fighters were killed.

After this, on Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi said that the US airstrike is a violation of the sovereignty of his country and after that, he will review his relations with America.

At the same time, Qatayb Hizbollah commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis has said that he will give a befitting reply to the US forces in Iraq.

After this, the US Embassy in Baghdad was attacked by protesters on Tuesday and US President Donald Trump blamed Iran for this.

Sulaimani is considered to be the chief strategist to conduct Iranian activities in West Asia.

Quds Force is a branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that carries out operations outside the country and its chief Major General Qasim Sulemani was directly accountable to the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was considered very close to Khamenei and was seen as a future leader.

In 2003, Saddam Hussein’s power in Iraq came to an end in the US-led military attacks. Since then, the Quds army intensified its operations in the Middle East.

The Quds started giving arms, money and training to anti-government factions of other countries that supported Iran.

At the same time it also began to adopt non-traditional methods of war, as a result of which Iran gained an edge over its opponents who depended on traditional weapons.

Among these techniques are swarm techniques (fighting individual targets with large contingents), use of drones and cyber attacks.

In April this year, US President Donald Trump called the Quds Force a “foreign terrorist organization”, including the Iran Revolutionary Guards.

This was the first time that America had declared an organization associated with another government as extremist.

Iran responded to this decision by the US, saying in the gestures that “the US military in the Gulf region is no less than a terrorist group.”

Jack Straw, who was Britain’s foreign minister between 2001 and 2006, visited Iran several times and believed that General Qasim Suleimani’s role was more than just a military commander.

He said that “With the power of the military, Sulaimani is running Iran’s foreign policy for the Allies.”

The United States says that Hezbollah has been continuously attacking its military bases in Iraq.

Since 2009, the US has declared Qatib Hezbollah a terrorist organization. He also named its commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis as a global terrorist. America says that this organization is a threat to Iraq’s stability and peace.

The US Defense Department says that Qaitib Hezbollah has links with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the global operation arm of the IRGC, Quds Force, and it receives much help from Iran.

Originally published at https://www.mubahisa.in.