TEHRAN – An Iraqi analyst says that martyr General Soleimani succeeded to defeat Daesh through establishing unity between resistance groups and people in West Asia.

“All Islamic parties and organizations in the Arab and Islamic world that reject normalization with the Zionist regime agreed to describe the great commander Qassem Soleimani as a martyr of ‘Islamic unity’,” Najah Mohammad Ali tells the Tehran Times. “He succeeded to bring resistance groups and factions together properly and eliminate Daesh.”
According to Mohammad Ali, General Soleimani “considered unity a divine, immediate and strategic duty among the resistance factions.”
The following is the text of the interview:

Q: How do you describe General Qassem Soleimani’s efforts in confronting terrorism in West Asia?

A: We must divide the region’s developments into before and after the emergence of Daesh (ISIS), which brought about fundamental changes in the region. Before Daesh, there were many terrorist organizations operating in Iraq and various other countries in the world, and some of them were inside the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the MEK organization and others that worked against Iran and against regional and global peace and security, especially al-Qaeda.

Moreover, the Zionist regime and its intelligence apparatus, Mossad, have practiced terrorist acts in the region. Israel invaded Lebanon and occupied south Lebanon in 1982. 

The massacres it has committed and is still committing inside occupied Palestine are all a form of terrorism. The American occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the American intervention in Somalia all came to support terrorism. Meanwhile, Iran made every effort to confront the invasions and occupations, which indicates that terrorism is not a new phenomenon in our region.

We must admit that martyr Qassem Soleimani risked his life in order to confront the Daesh that was sponsored by the Israeli-Saudi axis while all the Arab countries and even the U.S. were talking about thirty years for ISIS to be expelled from the region, Iraq, and Syria. We can also call the war that Saddam imposed on Iran a type of terrorism because it was not a just war as he committed brutal massacres, violated sanctities and killed civilians.

Saddam’s regime demonstrated terrorist action by using chemical and internationally prohibited weapons. It used long-range missiles to destroy Iranian cities. This is terrorism because it targets civilians, and terrorism that is inconsistent with international laws and rules and is against human values. Organized crimes are terrorism and mass murder is a kind of terrorism. 

The killing operations that were practiced against the Kurds and Shias in Iraq are terrorism, as is the case with executions without trial in Iraq.

That was why Iran faced these terrorist practices in the region.

Iran’s fight against international drug trafficking networks is a war on terror, and Iran played a large role in this regard.

After the U.S. invasion of Iraq, various takfiri organizations also entered the scene under the pretext of resistance to American occupation, but they were practicing terrorist operations on a large scale.

They targeted churches, mosques, and Hussainias. The Islamic Republic helped the Iraqis confront these terrorist attempts when the U.S brought chaos to Iraq and occupied it.

Iran has supported factions in the resistance axis such as the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq in facing the American occupation, and, of course, martyr Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis played a great and prominent role in the resistance against terrorism and the American occupation.

Indeed, the United States of America has practiced all kinds of terrorism against civilians, especially children in Iraq, but the Islamic Republic of Iran stood by the honorable Iraqis and forced the American troops to withdraw at the end of 2011.

The unfair blockade imposed by Washington on Iran was followed by the UN-led sanctions on Iraq that resulted in the death of about two million Iraqis, most of them children, while the Islamic Republic played a constructive role in saving Iraq from the blockade.

Iran stood beside Iraq by violating the decisions of the United Nations in various ways when broke the embargo and helped its neighbor to export oil and petroleum products. The Iraqi officials themselves acknowledged it.

It should refer to an interview with the governor of the Iraqi Central Bank under Saddam's presidency, who explained the Islamic Republic's aid to Iraq in breaking the blockade and economic terror practiced against the Iraqi people.

Regarding the war in Syria, Soleimani was the one who convinced the Russian president through two visits to Moscow to help Syria through air force in countering terrorism, while Iran played its role on the ground.

Had it not been for the Iranian advisory presence and the mobilization of the resistance factions in the region, the Syrian state would have fallen to the takfiri groups.

After the emergence of Daesh (ISIS) in 2014 and what they call the “caliphate state” in Iraq, Iran played the greatest role in combating terrorism, overthrowing the caliphate state and aborting the American-Zionist-Saudi project.

The U.S. was seeking to create a new geopolitical reality in the region by imposing the caliphate state, but the statement of Ayatollah Sistani and the efforts of Qassem Soleimani, as well as the weapons that he brought to Iraq, saved Baghdad and Erbil from falling.

Soleimani, after his success in establishing the Hashd al-Shaabi with the participation of Iraqis and the help of martyr Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, could manage the liberation of cities from the Daesh rule and overthrew this terrorist organization.

Daesh was a reality on the ground, openly killing civilians while American forces were looking. It is interesting and paradoxical that America formed an alliance to combat Daesh, and Iran and Russia were not invited to join, despite their clear positions and efforts in fighting terrorism.

In a word, Iran played a constructive role in the war on terrorism. Only those who sponsor terrorism can deny this role.

Q: How do you assess Iran's policy in combating all kinds of terrorism?

A: The martyr commander, Qassem Soleimani, has done a lot on the issue of confronting terrorism, both for Iran and for the region before and after his martyrdom. 

Even when he assumed great responsibilities in confronting drug trafficking networks and criminals in the borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan, martyr Soleimani played a vital role in this regard. 

After his martyrdom, Soleimani’s influence also became clearer. At least now in Iraq, there are great calls by Parliament and the Iraqi people to expel the American forces from Iraq.

This heroic spirit has been nurtured by Qassem Soleimani among the Iraqis. The great clergies, especially the four Shia figures, participated in his funeral ceremony, and we noted that Ayatollah Sistani sent his son to represent him in receiving the bodies of the two martyrs (Soleimani and al-Mohandes) in Najaf. Ayatollah Sistani also issued a statement describing the two martyrs as the great commanders of victory.

Martyr Qassem Soleimani in particular had a direct role in promoting harmony between the nations of the region in general and the resistance factions in particular. 

For example, in Iraq, there was a difference in the views of some of the resistance factions that contributed to the expulsion of the American forces at the end of 2011. 

Martyr Qassem Soleimani, along with martyr Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, managed to resolve the differences and unite factions even before the statement of Ayatollah Sistani. They attempted to unify the resistance factions. In fact, three resistance groups met three months before the Daesh attacks start in Iraq.

After the emergence of Daesh, Soleimani played a prominent role, and we must not forget the role of the rest of other military advisers, especially great martyr Hamid Taqavi, who had a role in establishing new factions in the Iraqi resistance axis to fight Daesh.

Taqavi was interested in training, counseling, ideological education, and boosting the morale of volunteers who came in response to the statement and the call of the religious authorities.

We must admit that martyr Qassem Soleimani risked his life in order to confront the Daesh that was sponsored by the Israeli-Saudi axis while all the Arab countries and even the U.S. were talking about thirty years for ISIS to be expelled from the region, Iraq, and Syria.
However, martyr Soleimani, by eliminating Daesh, showed that the U.S. and its allies are liars.

The United States considered martyr Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, because of their efforts, the first enemy, even before the occupation of Iraq by the United States of America.

The question is what if Soleimani was not fighting terrorism? Our memory and the memory of recent history must answer the question by two pictures: in the first scene U.S. President Barack Obama and the commander of the American armies with him, said that facing ISIS would require thirty years, and in the second scene we must evoke the cages in which Yazidi women are lining up waiting to be sold in the markets.

These two pictures were erased by martyr Soleimani.

We must also point out in this regard that all Islamic parties and organizations in the Arab and Islamic world that reject normalization with the Zionist regime and support the resistance axis against the Zionist project have unanimously agreed to describe the great commander Qassem Soleimani as a martyr of "Islamic unity".

 In this context, statements were issued saying that martyr Qassem Soleimani considered unity a divine, immediate and strategic duty among the resistance factions.

 He succeeded to bring resistance groups and factions together properly and eliminate Daesh.

Q: Do you think that assassination of senior commanders such as General Soleimani will impede the path to fight terrorism and occupation?

A: The main goal of the assassination of the two martyrs, Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, is to undermine the resistance movement that is fighting global terrorism backed by the United States of America.

The absence of leaders like martyr Soleimani in Iraq paves the way for the return of Daesh again from the Americans' point of view.

Indeed, in the first quarter of last year (the first three months after Soleimani's martyrdom), the number of Daesh operations increased to 560, targeting the headquarters and bases of Hashd al-Shaabi and Iraqi security forces.

During the past few months and comparison between July and August alone, we see that the number of terror operations in July was 75, which rose to 100 operations by Daesh in August.

So the absence of the two martyrs (from America's point of view) contributed to the resurgence of Daesh activity again.

However, the official U.S. military website says that the Iraqi security forces were able to stop the escalating Daesh operations alone and without the support of the American forces. This website is affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense and is considered to be close to the so-called “deep state” in the U.S.

This confirms that the absence of the two martyrs, although it creates a vacuum that nothing can fill, due to the personality of Qassem Soleimani, it does not mean that confrontation against terrorism by the resistance movement in the region including in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and even in Venezuela, (the backyard of America that General Qassem Soleimani penetrated) will stop.

America today suffers from severe weakness in its national security in that region (Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea) because of what Qassem Soleimani did, so we can now talk about a new situation.

Qassem Soleimani's influence reached Yemen and Venezuela. In Yemen, for example, now Ansarullah is able to accomplish precise operations using ballistic and cruise missiles and advanced drones, as happened in the attack on the Saudi Aramco. 

This is a message indicating a major change in the power equation, not only with Saudi Arabia but even with the Zionist regime.

All these are the results of the victories achieved by martyr Soleimani, as the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations on Iran has ended, and now China and Russia can sell weapons to Iran.

There is talk of a large trade agreement between Iran and China, as a result of the victories achieved by Qassem Soleimani. He is the one who provided support for all resistance movements in the region, even in the world, and played a central and pivotal role in confronting global terrorism against Syria.