Qassem Soleimani: ISIS was formed to strike Iran, not Syria

Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, stated on Wednesday that the main reason for Iran's defense of Bashar al-Assad's government in the Syrian civil war was Damascus's support for Tehran during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. He claimed that the Islamic State group, ISIS, was formed not to target Syria but to strike Iran. According to ISNA, Soleimani, speaking at the first anniversary of the death of Hossein Hamadani at the Prophet Muhammad Mosque in the Mahallati neighborhood, said: "The main reason for our defense of Syria is that during the war, when all Arab countries were against us, Syria supported us. We are defending Syria today not just for this country but for the entire Islamic world and the Islamic Republic itself." Hossein Hamadani was a senior commander of the IRGC who was killed in Syria on October 8 last year. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Iran has defended Bashar al-Assad's government against opposition forces. International organizations report that hundreds of thousands have been killed and millions displaced during the Syrian civil war. In his speech, Soleimani continued: "If the Islamic Republic has stood firm and sacrificed many precious martyrs, many of whom belong to this Mahallati neighborhood, it is because if this resistance had not occurred, and the Islamic Republic had not resisted in Syria, ISIS and al-Nusra Front would have established a government in Syria, and their bloodthirsty and arrogant armies would have dominated the region; God knows what catastrophe would have occurred in the Islamic world." Soleimani mentioned that Arab countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan, have tried to sever Syria's relationship with Iran. He emphasized that "the problem for the enemies is Syria's centrality in the resistance front and its connection with the Islamic Republic," stating: "The defenders of the shrine in Syria do not only defend this country but also defend Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran because ISIS and Takfiri groups were not established to fight Syria; they were formed to strike the Islamic Republic of Iran." While Soleimani claims that groups like ISIS were formed to strike Iran, political activist Mehdi Khazali has sharply criticized his and the Quds Force's actions in the region, stating that the emergence of ISIS is due to Soleimani's mismanagement. In a video released, Khazali discussed the developments following the Arab Spring in 2011, saying: "If the Quds Force had not been greedy, ultimately Bashar al-Assad, a dictatorial Ba'athist regime, would have fallen, and we could have established good relations with those who sought democracy; in that case, none of Iran's interests in Syria would have been compromised." Khazali asserted: "If Qassem Soleimani had not existed, there would be no ISIS in Syria today." He also mentioned: "We had been giving Syria free oil for thirty years; it is clear that whoever receives free oil will become your friend." In his speech, Soleimani referred to the "resistances in the Syrian front," saying: "If these resistances had not occurred, some would have had the illusion that they would pray their Eid al-Fitr prayers in the Umayyad Mosque and establish their empire there." The Quds Force commander emphasized that "the Islamic Republic has proudly stood against them," adding: "The Syrian regime, with Iran's help, has been able to reach a point after five years of pressure and siege that the world acknowledges groups like ISIS and al-Nusra Front as terrorists, while we have not sent fighters to Syria but have helped them, and if there had not been resistance against these groups in Syria, today the entire region would be engaged in war with ISIS." Soleimani's remarks come as Ali Alfoneh, a senior member of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, published an article stating that the number of IRGC casualties from January 2013 to August 2015 was 113. With the increasing number of Iranian casualties in Syria, the deputy commander of the IRGC, Hossein Salami, stated on October 27, 2015, that the security of Iran and Syria is intertwined. Iranian officials always refer to their military personnel in Syria as "advisors." Last spring, several Iranian commandos were also killed in Syria. In addition to IRGC forces, Basij, and the Islamic Republic Army involved in the Syrian conflict, Pakistani forces in the form of the "Zainabiyoun Brigade" and Afghan forces in the form of the "Fatimiyoun Brigade" are also fighting alongside Bashar al-Assad's forces and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Soleimani further stated: "Takfiris are currently defeated or are in the process of being defeated on all fronts, and I believe that the Syrian people, with their support for their government, are invincible. However, today Europe is bearing a heavy cost in terms of security, which is due to its support for terrorists, and they have not learned from this support." The United States, in its recent report, identified Iran as "the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world" and cited the continued use of the Quds Force to "implement the Islamic Republic's foreign policy" as a reason for Iran's top position on this list, which "causes instability throughout the Middle East."