Soleimani, Qasem

Soleimani, Qasem,

1957–, Iranian general. He joined the Revolutionary GuardsRevolutionary Guards,
officially the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) or Pasdaran, Iranian military group formed in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution by young Islamic activists loyal to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
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 following the 1979 revolution and was considered a hero of the Iran-Iraq WarIran-Iraq War,
1980–88, protracted military conflict between Iran and Iraq. It officially began on Sept. 22, 1980, with an Iraqi land and air invasion of western Iran, although Iraqi spokespersons maintained that Iran had been engaging in artillery attacks on Iraqi towns
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. In 1998 he became head of the Quds [Jerusalem] force, a special forces unit responsible for foreign operations; it has been especially active in Iraq, training and equipping the Shiite forces that came to power after the fall (2003) of Saddam HusseinHussein, Saddam
, 1937–2006, Iraqi political leader. A member of the Ba'ath party, he fled Iraq after participating (1959) in an assassination attempt on the country's prime minister; in Egypt he attended law school.
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. The force subsequently also was important in suppressing the Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-AssadAssad, Bashar al-
, 1965–, Syrian political leader, son of Hafez al-Assad. A medical doctor, he left Syria (1992) for an ophthamology residency in London when his elder brother, Basil, his father's designated heir, was killed (1994) in an automobile accident.
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 that began in 2011. Soleimani was promoted to major general in 2011.