Qassem Soleimani Haunted the Arab World
In much of the Middle East, and even in Iran, the military commander was feared, and his death has been greeted with elation.
BEIRUT—As soon as Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was confirmed dead, lawyers and lawmakers in Washington began their debates. Was the strike that killed him legal? How would the attack play into the political cycle of impeachment and the 2020 presidential campaign? What are the potential consequences of conflict with Iran?
Yet in parts of the Middle East, the reaction was different. Soleimani, a man thought of as invincible and all-powerful in the region, was killed at about 1 a.m. local time, just as he was leaving Baghdad airport., a man’s voice can be heard lauding the killing, saying the deaths of Iraqi protesters had been avenged.
