At the beginning of the Syrian revolution, Qassem Soleimani’s periodic visits were directed to Damascus to himself lead the battle of his soldiers, according to US intelligence reports. According to US officials, Soleimani was “leading the fight for Assad’s survival from his headquarters in Damascus,” and to emphasize the importance of Syria to Iran, Soleimani says in one of his speeches in 2013 that “Syria is the first line of defense for the resistance and this fact is beyond doubt.”
A report published in the same year, The New Yorker, said that Qassem Soleimani was fighting a battle to take control of the city of Qusayr in Homs countryside from a heavily fortified building, and was forming an operations room that included leaders of the Assad Army, Hezbollah forces and the multinational militia from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The magazine notes that Soleimani coordinated attacks and trained attacking militias that were also able to eavesdrop on opposition communications. Soleimani cooperated in the Qusair battle with Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militia “Hezbollah”, to send in thousands of fighters. The battle started with the siege imposed on the Syrian city which rose up against Assad and formed an early climate of revolution for freedom. But Soleimani, with his coalition of foreign and domestic fighters, managed to defeat the uprising. This victory was pivotal as it gave the Iranian General kudos from the Assad regime necessary to solidify himself as a military powerhouse in Syria.
It is noteworthy that the battle to control the city of Qusair took place after the militia had already killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed 90% of the city after massive and continuous bombing coupled with a suffocating siege. Reports indicate that Soleimani’s Iranian forces and Lebanese militias, in addition to regime soldiers, killed a total of about three thousand people from the region. In addition, this battle displaced thousands of Qusair civilians who were never able to return to their homes. Only a few hundred regime loyalists remained in the city.
ON TO ALEPPO
Between 2014 and 2016, the Iranian leader became involved in the battle for Aleppo and was leading militia fighters who managed to blockade the city. The blockade alone was responsible for countless deaths that included women and children.
A similar military campaign against the city of Zabadani in 2015 forced most of its population to the neighboring city of Madaya and then the regime forces bombed Madaya with explosive barrels and imposed a tight siege. It was reported that those who were trapped resorted to eating cats, dogs, weeds and foliage just to stay alive.
After seizing Aleppo in late 2016, Qassem Soleimani came to see the ruins of this defeated city and rejoiced at the victory that he, along with his ally, Assad and the Russians, had accomplished. Together, they managed to kill tens of thousands of people that also resulted in Syria’s largest displacement of civilians.
Syrian activists and journalists accuse Soleimani of being primarily responsible for the damage caused to the city of Aleppo, its destruction, deaths and the displacement of its residents. And so, The National Alliance of the Syrian Revolution and the opposition forces welcomed the killing of Qassem Soleimani because of his pivotal role in helping the Assad regime brutally crush the revolution in Syria. He was the engineer of demographic displacement in most of the Syrian provinces and regions, especially around Damascus.
Qassem Soleimani’s death, justifies joys by Syrians who have been so deeply affected by his heinous crimes. Those joys were mixed with tears of sorrow for lost cities and the lives lost under his command. But Syrian blood is still on the hands of an empty and silent world that has turned a blind eye on all of the atrocities that Soleimani and his militias were allowed to carry out with impunity. And in Idlib, the last stronghold of resistance to Assad and his allies, chants could be heard on the day of Soleimani’s death, hoping that Assad will meet a similar fate.
This article was penned by a correspondent who’s name remains anonymous to protect his identity.
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