Iran's Man in Iraq and Syria
Iranian Quds Forces leader Qasem Soleimani, who played a central role in post-2003 Iraq, has taken a different slant in his approach to the Syrian conflict, writes Mushreq Abbas.
It came as no surprise when Riad Hijab, the former Syrian prime minister who defected from the Assad regime, revealed in February that Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force — a division of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard — was managing the conflict in Syria in favor of the regime, particularly given that as far as the Syrian crisis is concerned, Iran has had the most obvious stance.
Nevertheless, calling attention to Soleimani, who has made headlines in the media and within international intelligence circles following the role he played in Iraq throughout the last decade, on a basic level seeks to imply an Iranian military and intelligence role in Syria.
However, Soleimani’s performance seems drastically different from what was seen in Iraq during the past ten years, even though deciding on Soleimani to fulfill this task emanates from two unshakable facts:
First, Soleimani has succeeded in preserving Iranian interests in Iraq over the last decade.
