Top Iran commander says his forces are there to protect Muslims in Syria and Iraq
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The commander of Iran’s elite Quds forces Qassem Soleimani has defended his country’s interventions in Iraq and Syria, saying Tehran was protecting the lives of fellow Muslims and rejecting claims it was pursuing a policy of adventurism in the Middle East.
“Is Iran’s defense of the lives and properties of Muslims adventurism?” Soleimani asked rhetorically in a speech in the southern city of Kerman on Sunday.
“Extremist groups are buying and selling two thousand women and young girls among themselves and they are destroying mosques,” he said. “Is standing up to these crimes a shame?”
Soleimani has been seen as Iran’s top military man in both Iraq and Syria over the last two years, with photos and video footage showing him leading the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
“Saying Iran has gobbled up Iraq is a wrong claim by the enemies,” he told a gathering of army officers and government officials at a religious ceremony, according to Sepah News, which belongs to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Soleimani was dispatched to Iraq in 2014, where he successfully led Shiite militia groups against ISIS in Diyala and Tikrit and reclaimed both provinces for the Iraqi government.
His speech in Kerman is one of Soleimani’s rare appearances since November when Mojaeddin-e-Khalq (MEK) - an Iranian opposition group - reported that he had been injured in battle in the Syrian city of Aleppo with two of his companions.
The Iranian commander launched a verbal attack against Saudi Arabia and its policies in the region which he said Riyadh is carrying out through extremist groups.
“It is the Saudis who have done adventurism against us and Islam,” said Soleimani, who described Saudi Arabia as a family-run state.
“Takfir (extremism) is a fire in the house of the Sunni brothers,” he said, adding: “Our enemies have tried to bring the Islamic republic and Shiites to their knees through radical groups.”
US officials and Iranian opposition groups have claimed that thousands of Iranian soldiers have traveled to Syria to fight ISIS and other rebel groups alongside government forces.
A video clip released by the Lebanese Hezbollah group last December showed Soleimani addressing a group of Iranian and Hezbollah fighters in the city of Aleppo and congratulating them for their victories.
Tehran has admitted the death of two of its high-ranking commanders in Syria in the last several months. General Hossein Hamadani was killed in October, followed by Brigadier General Mohsen Qajarian in early February.
According to US Secretary of State John Kerry most Iranian fighters from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have left Syria in recent months on orders of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“The IRGC has actually pulled its troops back from Syria. Ayatollah Khamenei pulled a significant number of troops out. Their presence is actually reduced in Syria,” Kerry told US Congressmen in late February.
“Is Iran’s defense of the lives and properties of Muslims adventurism?” Soleimani asked rhetorically in a speech in the southern city of Kerman on Sunday.
“Extremist groups are buying and selling two thousand women and young girls among themselves and they are destroying mosques,” he said. “Is standing up to these crimes a shame?”
Soleimani has been seen as Iran’s top military man in both Iraq and Syria over the last two years, with photos and video footage showing him leading the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
“Saying Iran has gobbled up Iraq is a wrong claim by the enemies,” he told a gathering of army officers and government officials at a religious ceremony, according to Sepah News, which belongs to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Soleimani was dispatched to Iraq in 2014, where he successfully led Shiite militia groups against ISIS in Diyala and Tikrit and reclaimed both provinces for the Iraqi government.
His speech in Kerman is one of Soleimani’s rare appearances since November when Mojaeddin-e-Khalq (MEK) - an Iranian opposition group - reported that he had been injured in battle in the Syrian city of Aleppo with two of his companions.
The Iranian commander launched a verbal attack against Saudi Arabia and its policies in the region which he said Riyadh is carrying out through extremist groups.
“It is the Saudis who have done adventurism against us and Islam,” said Soleimani, who described Saudi Arabia as a family-run state.
“Takfir (extremism) is a fire in the house of the Sunni brothers,” he said, adding: “Our enemies have tried to bring the Islamic republic and Shiites to their knees through radical groups.”
US officials and Iranian opposition groups have claimed that thousands of Iranian soldiers have traveled to Syria to fight ISIS and other rebel groups alongside government forces.
A video clip released by the Lebanese Hezbollah group last December showed Soleimani addressing a group of Iranian and Hezbollah fighters in the city of Aleppo and congratulating them for their victories.
Tehran has admitted the death of two of its high-ranking commanders in Syria in the last several months. General Hossein Hamadani was killed in October, followed by Brigadier General Mohsen Qajarian in early February.
According to US Secretary of State John Kerry most Iranian fighters from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have left Syria in recent months on orders of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“The IRGC has actually pulled its troops back from Syria. Ayatollah Khamenei pulled a significant number of troops out. Their presence is actually reduced in Syria,” Kerry told US Congressmen in late February.