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Alwaght- The first anniversary of the assassination of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and a number of his colleagues at Baghdad International Airport on the direct order of the US President Donald Trump on January 3 is nearing and the Iranians, as well as the whole world’s free minds and consciences, are still living the grief of losing him. General Soleimani’s enemies called him a big strategist and his friends and colleagues lauded his high humane and religious manner.
Alwaght has talked to Saadullah Zarei, the head of Iranian Andisheh Sazan Nour Institute for Strategic Studies who had close familiarity with General Soleimani, to elaborate on the general’s legacy, ideas, and measures.
Alwaght: As a commander, what traits did General Soleimani have?
Zarei: If we want to summarize the features of martyr Soleimani, we should mention his extensive responsibility to the Islamic Republic and also the arrangement of the stuff in the best interest of the Islamic Republic and also the mobilization of the resources to defend the Islamic Republic.
Haj Qassem considered the Islamic Republic the essence of Islam and believed that the whole Islamic Republic is sacred. He considered Iran, with 1,800,000 square kilometers of size, as a shrine and defense of the Islamic Republic a defense of the shrine. He mentioned this point as a guardian of the holy shrines in Iraq and Syria. General Soleimani said that any measure taken to defend the Islamic Republic will serve as a defense of the holy shrines. For him the defense of shrines was absolute, like guarding the shrine of Prophet Muhammad, Sayed al-Shohada (Imam Hussein), and Amir al-Mumenin (Imam Ali). For him defending the Iranian women and children was defending the Prophet’s granddaughters Hazrat Zaynab and Hazrat Rughaya. Haj Qassem repeatedly said that when we fondle orphan and needy children, we actually express our love to the Imams like by fondling the children of Imam Hussein and Hazrat Zeynab. This is a firm belief showing extreme zealotry to the soil of the Islamic Republic. Many think that because his area of activity was abroad, he did not care much about the Iranian soil. But the fact is that the Iranian soil was not comparable to any other soil to him. For him, the Iranian soil was unique. He could be buried anywhere he wished, in Karbala or other holy sites. But he willed to be buried in Iran and in the Martyr Cemetery of Kerman as his hometown. This was expressive of his strong zeal for the Islamic Republic.
The second point is that he was very prudent about the Islamic Republic, namely, he worked in a way to guarantee its definite strengthening. Haj Qassem always said that if we take a step abroad, it should have tangible outcomes for the Islamic Republic. If a single rial is spent abroad, its tangible result should be the strengthening of the Islamic Republic. He never believed in pointless and unplanned work outside the country. Any work he did was aimed at upgrading Iranian security or solving a problem of it.
He deeply believed in the mobilization of resources and forces. He seriously did. So, his legacy during the 15 years of the Iraq war, namely during the US War against Iraq and also ISIS emergence there, is not just liberation of Iraq from the American occupation or defeat of the ISIS terrorist group. Yes, these were the positive outcomes of his actions and prudence but the essential achievement of him for Iraq was that when in the future a country like the US wants to wage a war against Iraq or other countries of the Axis of Resistance or ISIS wants to reorganize again, they know that they will face Soleimani again. After all, General Soleimani’s foundations are strong, defensive, and coherent in Iraq. The Americans now never think of the occupation of Iraq again like what they did in 2003. Iraq is no longer a corrupt and weary regime that would collapse shortly. The Americans know that if they want to go the 2003 path, they have to counter at least 150,000 perfectly-trained, ready-for-battle forces, each adequate to engage five or more foreign and American forces. Or in Syria and Lebanon, he set a foundation that not only thwarts any Israeli aggression but also these countries are no longer vulnerable to aggression. Actually, he saved these countries forever and any aggressor, no matter the US, France, the Israeli regime, and Turkey, will find themselves in the face of powerful defenses created in these countries. Albeit, General Soleimani had no duty at the time of Lebanese Hezbollah foundation but since he was appointed commander of the Quds Force in 1997 until his martyrdom in 2020, he did extraordinary jobs. In fact, he transformed Hezbollah from a small and relatively fragile organization to a heavyweight playing regional roles, like in the Syria war. This was the general’s job.
Likewise, in Yemen, the Ansarullah popular forces are resisting the American, British, and French-armed Saudi and Emirati aggression that is armed to the teeth. The war is now in its sixth year. Initially, Saudi rulers predicted a 7-day operation to capture Yemen. They asked for week-long support from the allied states. But after three weeks, they surrendered and the UN resolution ensued which was, actually, an admission of defeat. The UN at the same time sanctions and questions the movement’s defense against the Arab coalition’s aggression. Simultaneously, it recognizes Ansarullah and addresses it as a responsible party of war. The UN resolution just 21 days after the start of the war marked a big defeat to the Saudis.
Ansarullah is now in a position that threatens the Saudi ports, while they are distant from Yemen. But Ansarullah has the capability to strike and when it warns, the aggression countries take it seriously. This is while before the war, the Yemenis were in need of simple AK-47 rifles. They even were devoid of such rifles. When Saudi Arabia and allies waged war against Yemen, I addressed the war in an article titled “The Barefooted VS. Affluent Sultans in Yemen War”, because at the time the Yemenis were really empty-handed. But now the Saudis send interlocutors to persuade Ansarullah to accept the buffer line between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. In the beginning, they sought to seize the whole of Yemen. Then they moved towards Yemen disarmament. Afterwards they asked the Yemenis to put down their heavy weaponry. And now they are satisfied with a buffer zone inside Yemen. However, Ansarullah says it approves of a line on the Saudi soil not on Yemen’s. This Ansarullah position comes from the amassment of power General Soleimani sought and arranged. Now in each of the mentioned countries, there is an amassed power, there is legitimate power, a recognized power. A collection of these powers make a regional chain, to a degree that now the world admits that only the Resistance front has a chain of powers. The Russians have no such movement or organization. The Chinese have no such powers. The French and the British have no such organizations. Only the US and Iran exclusively have such organizations and positions. Even the Saudis have no such powers and in the Yemen war conflicted with their allies. The Persian Gulf and African states are not with Saudi Arabia and it has no such a front. Only the Axis of Resistance has this front in the region and General Soleimani created it. Some work was done before the general but there was no front and General Soleimani created this chain of power.
Alwaght: How was General Soleimani’s relationship with his forces?
Zarei: His relationship with them was a mix of decisiveness, strictness, and lenience. You could neither be comfortable nor uncomfortable with the general. You could not be comfortable because he did not approve of any work and was very precise, strict, and dominant. A dominant person sees all the details and has more expectations. Still, he never thought of pointless, delicate, and coercive strictness. I cannot remember anybody working with the general who after separation or end of work was an opponent to him. In the job environment, there may be some distance, but nobody grew opponent of him. All who worked with him had faith in him, even those subjected to his strictness. The forces knew that such strictness was not because of anger but of love to work. His managerial behavior was a mix of strictness and kindness.
Alwaght: Tell us about the general’s role in the Saddam war on Iran in the 1980s.
Zarei: In the eight-year war, there were some frontrunner divisions. Perhaps the number of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) divisions was 27 and the brigades were 60. Besides, there were a number of active engineer brigades. The army was the same. Among all these forces, there were some frontrunner forces. One of them was Kerman Sarallah Division, commanded by General Soleimani. During operations Karbala 4 and 5 and Valfajr 8, which were strenuous, this division forced its way ahead and broke the enemy lines, followed by other forces. This division made the fiercest resistance to the enemy attacks. General Soleimani more than once explained that during some operations to recapture Majnoun Island or capture Faw Island he prevented other divisions from moving and his force undertook the missions. Or other divisions like Imam Division or Al-Mahdi Division, or Najaf Division. These units were forerunners that did unique and difficult jobs during the war.
Alwaght- What was the cause of General Soleimani’s popularity in the country?
Zarei: General Soleimani considered Iran as a holy shrine. He loved all the people and never divided them into good and bad. His love for people was not in words and ostensible. He went in Khuzestan muds when the southern province was swept with flash floods while nobody expected him to help during the floods as he had no responsibility in this area. This behavior was penetrating deep in the hearts of the people. He had such a place among people for his purity of heart. Many tried to play as a fan of people but none became General Soleimani. None was given the size of General Soleimani’s funeral.
Alwaght: How was his view of the Palestinian cause?
Zarei: For the general, Palestine was a point of influence and endless sorrow, impossible to be ignored. He believed that Palestine will not be liberated unless by a heavy war starting from outside Palestine, as Palestine was occupied from outside by the Jewish Agency when it was under the British mandate. So, the sacrificial forces should be amassed behind the occupied Palestinian borders to liberate the state. He hardly thought that the current processes can liberate Palestine. He did some works, like dispatching forces to the Palestinian borders in Golan Heights and Lebanon. He was implementing his plan step by step and strongly had faith in this path for Palestine liberation.
Alwaght: What was his role in the Iran-Hezbollah-Palestine alliance?
Zarei: The general was a linking point. The Palestinians and Lebanese since old times had differences. The Palestinians were responsible, mainly. The Lebanese showed some toughness arguing that the Palestinians had no internal unity and were not secretive and the Israeli regime easily penetrated them. They thought that if these two problems were not in the Palestinians, they could defeat Tel Aviv. They argued that in Lebanon the Shiites stood against the Israeli regime and forced it out. If the Palestinians, whose population is 5.5 million, unite, they can expel the Israelis even easier. General Soleimani brought these two close and prevented the Lebanese distance from the Palestinians.
Alwaght: What was his view of the Israeli regime?
Zarei: He believed that the Israeli regime is complicated and thus requires complicated. They require complicated intelligence, communication, and human work. He stressed that each and every card of the Israelis must be wrested from them. After all, the Israeli regime has a complicated intelligence apparatus. It is said that Mossad is even more powerful than the CIA. In technical and communicative terms, the Israelis are strong. They are strong in creating a political order. He held that we need to work on each and every one of these cards and take them from the Israelis.
The general did a great job in a set of areas when countering the Israelis. He destroyed their military supremacy and now we have a Tel Aviv-Hezbollah balance of power. The Palestinians are on the threshold of this military balance with the Israeli regime.
Alwaght: What was General Soleimani’s take of the Islamic awakening and Arab uprisings?
Zarei: We can say that the general struggled for an occurrence in this area. But this did not take place. He invested massively on the Egyptians and had high hope in Egypt. But Egypt had a grand weak point and it was that in that country some known groups that had no constructive function took the power after the revolution. They were neither advisable nor good managers. so, they were fast eliminated from the Egyptian political scene. This was unfortunate but he did not lose hope in Egypt.
Alwaght: How was General Soleimani’s fight against takfiri and terrorist groups?
Zarei: This is clear to all. The Americans and many others admitted he was the top man of the battle against terrorism. Many figures agreed that he was the strong man on the anti-terror fronts.
Alwaght: What was the distinguished feature of the general’s sophisticated confrontation against the US?
Zarei: General Soleimani was neither naïve to underestimate the US power nor intimidated to say we cannot do anything in the face of the Americans. He believed that the US has a very hard structure that cannot be shaken easily. He had his own analysis of the US interior, knew the elements of power there, and had abundant knowledge of the internal US developments. For example, concerning the “Occupy Wall Street” protests, while many argued that they would hurt the US, he said that they would not and that is because the power in this country is not built on public. He argued back that the people are never a determining factor or a pole of power. Rather, the power is held by circles that play with the public and thus hardline opinions cannot inflict damage on the American power structure. The US has other kinds of power elements and this structure cannot be taken easy. He at the same time was not intimidated and asserted that even this power can be beaten. And he did so, at least in our region. He defeated the US in the region several times. He knew the American weak spots. He broke in from those spots and dealt blows. After blows, he knew how to manage the developments and implications.
