The events following the assassination of Iranian General Soleimani proved that the aims behind the operation backfired. Washington still suffers the consequences two years after a perilous adventure that put its regional ally under hazard.
January 3 recalls the controversial hostilities and escalations that followed the assassination of Iranian General Soleimani in Baghdad airport. Two years after the incident, the days still proves to be fervent with multiple sorts of incidents concerning the issue.
Early on January 3, 2021, an American MQ Reaper drone targeted a group of cars in the vicinity of Baghdad airport. The cars contained the Iranian commander of IRGC Quds force, a PMU commander, and some other companions. Soleimani assassination hit the headlines few hours later and opened up a series of tensions in the world.
Soleimani had been famous for his decade-long fight against ISIS which led to the annihilation of the group. His influential character in the Middle East, both in military and political spheres, had been decisive in regional trends. Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Palestine and some Persian Gul states were under the influence of the Iranian General.
The developments in the years since the assassination of Soleimani proved that the aims behind the operation backfired. Iranian thirst for revenge still blazes and regional allies help Tehran en route.
Iraqi people are at the front line of cooperation with Iranian in fulfilling the revenge. People in multiple Iraqi cities took to streets to chant solidarity with Tehran against US regional involvement. The protests were reminiscent of massive Iraqi protests back in 2020. Iraqis kept the call against US presence since then.
Spain, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and France held separate events in memory of the anniversary of the Iranian General Soleimani’s death. The events signal a clarifying fact about a regional miscalculation.
Soleimani Assassination; Regional Solidarity
Former US president Donald Trump’s decision was guided by the knowledge about Soleimani’s regional character. His policy of removal, however, neglected a basic principle in ideological fights; faith.
Under such a condition, the physical removal only leads to further reinforcement of inspirations and ambitions. The incidents following the Jan 3, 2021 are the outcome of this structure.
Besides, the assassination of Soleimani approached some regional powers that used to have ideological rifts. Psychoanalytically speaking, like the scared children who sense the loss of shelter, they grabbed one another in a larger umbrella; Iran. As we see, removal of Soleimani led to further solidarity between the nations against Trump’s main target.
Tehran made the most of the condition to debilitate the American regional influence though various ways. Far from unprecedented direct attack against the American Al-Assad air base in Iraq, Tehran wages a series of other offensive against Washington and its regional allies.
Israel, the most prominent American ally in the Middle East, has been at the front of threats. In a latest attack, website of Israeli journal, Jerusalem Post, was subject to a cyber-attack. The hackers uploaded a photo on the homepage with a text that read “we are close to you where you do not think about it.”
Jpost hack was the latest ring in a chain of cyber-attacks that Iran waged against Israeli targets in the past two years. Iran went even further recently to openly threaten Israeli nuclear facilities with missile attacks. Prior to January 2020, the two sides sufficed to verbal face-offs with very limited aggressions.
Trump’s impulsive plan actually started a game that would be hard to end. That’s why democrat’s primary plan is to forsake the region the looks like a fire under the ashes.
