Qasem Soleimani

Major General Qasem Soleimani (11 March 1957 – 3 January 2020) was one of the most consequential military figures of the 21st century — a man who reshaped the balance of power across the Middle East from the shadows of clandestine operations spanning four decades. Born into poverty in the small village of Qanat-e Malek in Iran's Kerman Province, he belonged to the Soleimani tribe, an ethnic Lur people from the region. His family was so poor that his father had borrowed money from the government and the young Qasem felt personally responsible for repaying the debt. He left school at thirteen, moved to the city of Kerman to work construction, and by his own account spent hours each day lifting weights and training — shaping the physical discipline that would define his military career.

The 1979 Islamic Revolution transformed his life. He joined the newly formed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and found his calling on the battlefields of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), where he rose from a simple guard to commanding the 41st Tharallah Division. He was known for his fearlessness and personal connection with his soldiers, often fighting alongside them rather than directing from the rear. He was wounded in combat and decorated multiple times.

In 1998, Supreme Leader Khamenei appointed him commander of the Quds Force — the IRGC's elite extraterritorial operations unit responsible for Iran's military and intelligence activities across the region. Over the next two decades, he became the architect of Iran's strategic depth, building and sustaining alliances with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, various Shia militias in Iraq, the Assad government in Syria, and the Houthi movement in Yemen — what became known as the "Axis of Resistance."

His most visible moment came in 2014 when ISIS swept through Iraq, capturing Mosul and threatening Baghdad. Soleimani flew to Baghdad within days, personally coordinating the defense of the capital alongside Iraqi security forces and the newly mobilized Popular Mobilization Forces. Photographs emerged of him at the front lines in Tikrit, Ramadi, Baiji, and later Aleppo in Syria, turning him into a public figure. He was photographed selfie-style by Iranian soldiers and became an unlikely celebrity, admired even by many who opposed Iran's policies. The New Yorker described him as "the single most powerful operative in the Middle East today."

In Syria, he played a central role in securing Russian military intervention in 2015, traveling to Moscow to personally brief President Putin on the military situation. Iranian analysts credit him with convincing Russia to enter the conflict, which proved decisive in preserving the Assad government. He directed Iranian operations in Syria throughout the civil war and was photographed in the Syrian Desert as late as June 2017.

On 3 January 2020, he was killed when a United States MQ-9 Reaper drone fired missiles at his convoy departing Baghdad International Airport. The strike, personally authorized by President Donald Trump, also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, and six others. The US justified the strike by claiming Soleimani was planning imminent attacks on American personnel in the region. Iran and Iraq disputed this characterization. His body was returned to Iran where millions attended his funeral processions across multiple cities — one of the largest funeral gatherings in recorded history. He was buried in his hometown of Kerman. Iran retaliated by firing ballistic missiles at US bases in Iraq, causing traumatic brain injuries to over 100 American service members. Iraq's parliament voted to expel US forces from the country. His death fundamentally altered the strategic landscape of the Middle East and remains one of the most debated acts of targeted killing in modern history.