Front page of Newsweek filled with the face of Major General Qasem Soleimani, saying “ First he Fought America. Now he crushing ISIS”.
This is Newsweek’s report on commander of Quds Force of IRGC Major General Qasem Soleimani's role in defeating ISIS terrorist group in Iraq.
When Mosul fell on June 10 2014, a wave of terror rippled through Baghdad’s population. Rumours and truths flew through the crowded markets and streets: ISIS fighters were a mere 20km (12 miles) from the city; ISIS were killing Shia and raping women; ISIS had come to destroy all Shia Muslims, Janine Di Giovanni Middle East editor at Newsweek wrote in report which published this week .
Five months on, with the American led campaign to “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS, underway, the Shia militias are the backbone of the Iraqi military operation, she added.
As Newsweek wrote “Iraqis insist there is nothing to fear from Iran’s presence in Iraq. They also say, in many ways, their allegiance lies with Iran.”
“Who arrived here to save us three days after Mosul fell?” asks Dr Mowaffak al-Rubaie, a Member of Parliament and a former National Security Adviser.
“Not the Americans. They only sent abysmal air strikes three months later when their citizens [the journalists James Foley, and later Steven Sotloff and Peter “Abdul-Rahman” Kassig] were beheaded. The speed of the Iranian response to Baghdad and Erbil was the next day.”
"The Iranians sent 88 Russian-made Sukkhoi ground attack jets within weeks. They also sent their best fighters to train and advise – members of the elite Republican Guard. They sent pilots, weapons, and uniforms. They also sent their military mastermind, Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Quds Force, whom many military leaders regard as an excellent, and highly strategic commander", Newsweek claimed.
"General Soleimani allowed himself to be photographed last September on the battlefields of Amerli, clearly sending a message to the West that Tehran was very present,"it siad.
As to why Iraq would trust Iran, al-Rubaie shrugs: “We are faced with an existential threat – ISIS. You use any means in this case. You use any means.”
“He is here often in Baghdad, and Northern Iraq,” said one of Iraq’s leading Shia politicians who asked to remain anonymous. “Of course the Iraqi government knows about this. He is smart... He knows he is good at it( war).”