General Soleimani Assassination 2-Year Appraised
Statement on the 2nd anniversary of the assassination of General Soleimani
The assassination that brought the Middle East to a verge of an all-out war, spurred sharp reactions from all corners of the globe, especially from international lawyers, and independent political figures labelling the act as a “gross violation of international law”, and an example of “state terrorism”.
General Soleimani’s Assassination;
A Two-Year Appraisal
It is two years since a U.S. drone attacked the civilian convoy of General Soleimani, minutes after he left Baghdad International Airport on 3rd January 2020. As later formally announced by Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the then Prime Minister of Iraq, General Soleimani was on a diplomatic mission to deliver a message to the Prime Minister that could have led to a de-escalation of tensions in the region.
Just a few hours after the horrific assassination, U.S. officials publicly conceded that Donald Trump personally ordered the strike. He, himself, reconfirmed this in a press conference and soon after tweeted that the United States would target 52 Iranian sites including “those important for Iran and Iranian culture if American assets were hit.” Later on, Tamir Hey, the former intelligence chief of the Israeli army, confessed that the Zionist regime was also involved in the assassination of General Soleimani.
The assassination that brought the Middle East to a verge of an all-out war, spurred sharp reactions from all corners of the globe, especially from international lawyers, and independent political figures. They all labelled the act as a ‘gross violation of international law’, and an example of ‘state terrorism’. Agnes Callamard, the then Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions, for example, held that the U.S. drone strike was an "arbitrary killing" for which “the U.S. is responsible under international human rights law”. Similarly, Andrea Prasow of the Human Rights Watch emphasized that Trump's threat "showed a callous disregard for the global rule of law". The former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Affairs, Joseph Nye also said that this action “violated international law”. Mary Ellen O'Connell, law professor in the University of Notre Dame, pointed out that "The United States had no justification to carry out this strike; we don't have any right to attack on Iraqi soil.
From the very beginning, nobody has ever doubted that the assassination was an act of terrorism and a violation of the sovereignty of Iraq. As a result, the Iraqi Parliament immediately reacted to the act and in an emergency session, formally called for expelling U.S. troops from the territory of Iraq. Accordingly, the current presence of the U.S. forces in Iraq is illegitimate and in contrast with the will of Iraqi people, expressed through the decision of their deputies in the Parliament.
Today, it is also well known that the United States is the country which sowed the seeds of extremism and international terrorism in the region to pursue its narrow- minded and short sighted political objectives. It is also evident to everybody that the U.S. and its stooge ally, the Zionist regime of Israel, show no sign of hesitation in resorting to terrorist acts wherever they find it useful for imposing their hegemon. The assassination of General Soleimani is a case in point. Soleimani was not just an Iranian incumbent General, but a well-recognized soldier who devoted his life to fight against terrorism and extremism. He was the one who defeated the ISIS in Iraq and Syria and swept them away from these territories.
However, the inaction or callous indifference of Western powers which always preach others about ‘human rights values’ or falsely boast for fighting against international terrorism have emboldened the U.S. and the Israeli regime to continue their terrorist activities with a sense of total impunity. Just less than a year later, on 27th November 2020, Israeli agents assassinated Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Head of the Iranian Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, in suburb of Tehran. He was the fifth Iranian scientist who was assassinated in the past years by Mossad. Dr. Fakhrizadeh like Prof. Shahriari was killed next to his wife and assassinated like Prof. Ali-Mohammadi on his way home.
In the past two years, many things have changed in the region but the menace of terrorism and extremism is yet thriving, and considering the recent developments, it seems even looming large. It is crystal clear that the assassination have not changed Iran’s defense policies or strategies against terrorism or even slightly weakened Iran’s strong position in the region, but recent surge in terrorist activities carried out by ISIS and the other UNSC designated terrorist groups in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrates that it has directly benefited the terrorist groups in their reviving the terrorist cells and re-organizing the vicious fighters. This is an evidence of how far the assassination of General Soliemani helped terrorists and how close the interests of the US and these terrorist groups are. It is brutally telling why the ISIS called the assassination a ‘divine intervention’.
It is often said that the United States is preparing to withdraw its troops from the region. This is a claim which needs to be tested though. The uncontested fact, however, is that the U.S. came to the region under the pretext of fighting terrorism. But after over two decades of presence in the region, the only legacy it can boast of is a trail of destruction, extremism, and international terrorism which it is going to leave behind. It is shameful that many Western Powers are either complicit to or silent to this unfortunate ‘legacy’.
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