Backfiring Policy: Gen. Soleimani Assassination Broke US, not Resistance Camp

US costs in West Asia a few decades ago were a small amount and did not put pressure on the administrations, but the power gain of the Axis of Resistance in the region from Iran to Lebanon and Syria increased Washington’s costs dramatically, to the extent that then President Donald Trump admitted many times that they had spent $7 trillion for the security and protection of their interests in West Asia, and these staggering costs were imposed on them due to the existence of resistance groups that had restricted the foothold of the Americans in the region. Seeking a deterrence, the US launched the project of destabilizing the Axis of Resistance’s member states. 

The US. Israel, and their pawns in the region during ISIS seizure of parts of Iraq and Syria made a lot of efforts to remove these countries from the Resistance camp and isolate Iran as the head of the anti-imperialist camp. To this end, they provided a lot of weapons and funding to this terrorist group, and even when ISIS commanders were trapped in the battlefield, American forces rescued them from the battle with helicopters. However, despite spending hugely to overthrow the governments in Damascus and Baghdad, brave men like General Soleimani blocked the way of ISIS and its supporters’ progress and foiled the evil Israeli-Western-Arab plans by pushing them back. The Resistance victory came costly to the White House. As a result, the Americans decided to eliminate the anti-terror general, hoping they could get their foiled plans back on the track. 

One example of this agenda was invasion of Yemen to neutralize Ansarullah Movement, a fresh branch of Axis of Resistance camp in a bid to entrench the Israeli regime in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea as the arteries of maritime trade. To this aim, they starved millions of Yemenis in a Saudi-waged war to remove Ansarullah, but they met their failure as ever. 

General Soleimani’s assassination came as part of this agenda as the perpetrators thought that in his absence the camp’s organization will collapse. 

American policies fail 

By striking the commanders of Resistance camp, the US and Israel actually sowed wind and now after four years, they are reaping storm. Four years after that assassination, not only are the resistance groups weak, but also they are powerfully bringing Washington and Tel Aviv to their knees and challenge their illegitimate interests in the region. 

The ongoing attacks of the Iraqi resistance groups on the US bases in Syria and Iraq over the past three months in order to support the oppressed people of Gaza and demonstration of a determination to expel the occupiers from Iraq showed that the Americans have missed their targets and Resistance camp is not weakened at all. The fact that the Washington officials have repeatedly in recent days reached out to the Iraqi government to convince the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) to stop attacking their bases signals the acceleration of the process of Washington impairment in the region while it was once the hegemony in the region and imposed its policies on regional states. 

Yemen’s Ansarullah, on the other hand, which was once exposed to a Western destruction project to undermine the Resistance camp, these days is a nightmare to Tel Aviv and Washington leaders. Ansarullah achievement of missile and drone capabilities to strike Israeli ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with Gaza has proven that the Yemenis have the upper hand and even grabbed the initiative from such a hegemonic power as the US and its allies. As Western media admit, Biden administration is uncertain about deterring Ansarullah’s sea threats and seems has no plans to do so despite forming a maritime alliance the White House bragged about much. 

The Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on October 7 by Hamas that killed hundreds of Israelis and injured more proved that Israeli security is on shaky foundations even in the absence of General Soleimani. Now Israel is more than ever stuck in a security barricade and cannot wipe away shadow of threats from the occupied territories. The back-to-back attacks by Palestinian groups and Hezbollah have forced thousands of Israeli settlers away from their homes, with many saying they will not return. 

Hamas operation was not simply an attack, it was a game-changing step as a fruit of the endeavors of General Soleimani who worked to nurture the fledgling resistance in the occupied territories. Actually, now the resistance fighters recognize themselves as the walkers of his path. That this year ‘martyr of Al-Quds’ slogan was picked for his anniversary is because in addition to defending the ideals of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, he was a defender of Palestine and its liberation agenda. As Palestinian resistance leaders acknowledge, the general provided precious services to the Palestinians in their struggle to liberate their lands. 

Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ziad al-Nakhalah earlier lauded General Soleimani’s supports to Palestine and said that the general himself was the one to raise the idea of training Palestinians to arms and now the Palestinian resistance itself makes arms. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have now reached a degree of deterrence that Israeli officials admit they are incapable of destroying them as Hamas pro-liberation thoughts have run deep among the Palestinians and are not easy to uproot. 

The assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, a senior member of Hamas, in Beirut on the anniversary of two victory commanders, as General Soleimani and Iraq’s Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis are labeled across the region, and before that the assassination of the Seyed Razi Mousavi, the commander of Iran’s advisory council in Syria and responsible for supporting the resistance groups, lay bare the weakness and desperation of the Americans and the Israelis that have failed to make gains on the battleground and resorted to criminal acts. The assassination of al-Arouri, as the military mastermind of Hamas, was driven by the thought that if they assassinate the commanders of Hamas, they can also destroy this movement in Gaza, but this scenario that has been played out in the past few decades has proven that all the members of the Palestinian resistance groups are potential commanders who, in the absence of the head can present even a better alternative and fight the occupation even stronger than before. 

The US that left Afghanistan scandalously after twenty years of occupation has tried to strengthen ISIS cells in Afghanistan and on Iran’s eastern borders to reverse part of its failures. Using ISIS to attack religious sites in Iran like Shah Cheragh shrine in the southern city of Shiraz or the recent attack on a congregation commemorating General Soleimani on his fourth anniversary in southeastern city of Kerman that killed and injured hundreds of innocent people revealed the depth of Israeli and American vendetta against General Soleimani’s legacy that keeps to grab the calm from them. 

Commemoration of the anti-terror general in the region and presence of thousands of people on his tomb showed that resistance is growing like a robust tree and the school General Soleimani established will continue to produce fruits powerfully. By killing the civilians in Kerman, the US and Israel indirectly admitted that they are even afraid of his pilgrims and that their agenda is hitting a snag.