Qasem Soleimani
Based on Wikipedia: Qasem Soleimani
On the morning of January 3, 2020, a slim figure stepped out of a car at Baghdad's airport—precisely where he had been betrayed. Qasem Soleimani, the architect of Iran's proxy wars and the shadow commander who had eluded American forces for two decades, was dead. His assassination by an American drone struck not just him, but the very heart of Tehran's regional ambitions.
A Soldier's Origin
Soleimani was born into modest circumstances on March 11, 1957, in the village of Qanat-e Malek, deep in Iran's Kerman Province. His family belonged to the Soleimani tribe—an ethnic Lur community rooted in these lands for generations. He left school at thirteen years old, moving to the city of Kerman to labor on construction sites, repaying his father's agricultural debts through hard work rather than education.
By 1975, he was a contractor for the Kerman Water Organization—a job that offered neither fame nor fortune but forged resilience in the young man. When not hauling pipes or surveying infrastructure, Soleimani spent his time weight training in local gyms, attending sermons of Hojjat Kamyab, a preacher and protégé of Ali Khamenei—the future Supreme Leader of Iran—who reportedly encouraged him toward "revolutionary activities."
The Islamic Revolution of 1979 changed everything. The overthrow of the Shah and the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini created new possibilities for men of action like Soleimani. He joined the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) that year, his training minimal but his ambition vast. Early in his career, he helped prevent a Kurdish uprising in northwestern Iran—a conflict that would later shape his understanding of internal security.
War and Rise
On September 22, 1980, Saddam Hussein launched an invasion of Iran—setting off the grinding horror of the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988). Soleimani joined the battlefield as a company commander, leading men from Kerman whom he personally assembled and trained. He quickly earned a reputation for bravery that seemed almost reckless.
He rose through ranks because of his role in successful operations to retake occupied lands—eventually becoming commander of the 41st Tharallah Division while still in his twenties. Most of his deployments were on the southern front, where the fighting was fiercest.
He was seriously injured in Operation Tariq-ol-Qods. In a 1990 interview, he called Operation Fath-ol-Mobin "the best operation I participated in"—noting its difficulties yet positive outcome.
After the war, during the 1990s, he served as an IRGC commander in Kerman Province—a region adjacent to Afghanistan where Afghan-grown opium traveled through Turkey toward Europe. His military experience helped earn him a reputation as an effective fighter against drug trafficking, turning swords into plowshares.
He visited Mecca and Medina for Hajj in 1992 with Commander Mahmood Khaleqi—his faith sustained amid the pressures of post-war Iran.
The Quds Force and Regional Ambition
The transformation came in 1998. According to journalist Dexter Filkins, Soleimani became commander of the Quds Force—the unit named after Jerusalem (Qods), an IRGC division responsible for extraterritorial and clandestine military operations. Some records suggest his appointment was between September 10, 1997 and March 21, 1998.
Upon appointment, he strengthened relationships with Hezbollah—sending operatives to assist in forcing Israel's withdrawal from Southern Lebanon and ending the Israeli occupation. He played a role in advising Hezbollah for its defense during the 2006 Lebanon War, and at least once accompanied Imad Mughniyeh—the legendary Hezbollah commander who would later be assassinated.
In an interview aired in October 2019, Soleimani said he was in Lebanon during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict to manage the situation—his presence a secret until revealed by his own mouth.
The Shadow of Asymmetric Warfare
Israeli analysts described him as "the single most powerful operative in the Middle East" and a "genius of asymmetric warfare." Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen said Soleimani's strategies had "personally tightened a noose around Israel's neck"—a statement that revealed both admiration and fear.
In his later years, he was considered by analysts to be the right-hand man of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei—the second-most powerful person in Iran behind him. He secured Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war—a diplomatic masterstroke that turned the tide for President Bashar al-Assad.
For attacks orchestrated against Americans and other targets abroad, Soleimani was personally sanctioned by both the United Nations and the European Union. The United States designated him as a terrorist in 2005—his name on every watch list, his face on every briefing.
According to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, an Israeli think tank, he "directed a network of insurgent groups in Iraq that killed over a thousand Americans." The Quds Force was reported by National Council of Resistance sources to control companies specializing in anti-tank mines—operating under the IRGC's aegis. They were responsible for making bombs that killed American and British soldiers in Iraq starting in 2005.
Defense One reported that more than 500 American soldiers were killed by explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) and other Iranian weapons in the Iraq War—an attribution the Pentagon later revised to 196.
The End
On January 3, 2020, everything ended at Baghdad's airport. A targeted drone strike—ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump—killed him instantly.
Iranian officials publicly mourned his death and launched missiles against U.S. military bases in Iraq, wounding 110 American troops. Iranian outlets represented him as a national hero—a symbol of resistance against American pressure.
He was not merely a soldier but an architect of regional power—man who transformed Iran's proxy conflicts from scattered incidents into coordinated campaigns. His death marked the end of a chapter, yet his legacy continues through those he trained and the strategies he designed.
He remains perhaps the most consequential figure in recent Middle Eastern history—a man whose decisions shaped conflicts, whose networks spanned continents, whose death altered the trajectory of American-Iranian relations forever.