United States air strikes, earlier on Friday ended in the death of two Middle East hawks: Iraq’s powerful Shiite Hashd Shaabi, militia deputy leader, Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, an Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the Commander of Iran’s Quds Force, a unit in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRCG).
Given the international implications of this development, there is global apprehension that this may result in World War III !
Those who are apprehensive have a historical reason. A death like this sparked off World War 1 through which millions ended in the graves. That is, the 28 June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and Franz Ferdinand’s wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg in Sarajevo. The assassin was Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six assassins (five Serbs and one Bosniak) who, according to historians, “coordinated by Danilo Ilic, a Bosnian Serb and a member of the Black Hand secret society.”
The political objective of the assassination was, as war historians put it, to break off Austria-Hungary’s South Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Yugoslavia. “The conspirators’ motives were consistent with the movement that later became known as Young Bosnia. The assassination led directly to World War I when Austria-Hungary subsequently issued an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia, which was partially rejected. Austria-Hungary then declared war on Serbia, triggering actions leading to war between most European states.”
Now, the death of the two has created more strained relationship between between the U.S. and Iran, coming after thousands of supporters of the Shiite militia broke into the U.S. embassy compound in central Baghdad on Tuesday. “The two days of protests were triggered by U.S. strikes in Iraq and Syria on Sunday that targeted the Kataib Hezbollah militia group. The U.S. airstrikes killed at least 25 militiamen. Kataib Hezbollah, a part of the Hashd Shaabi umbrella group, had been blamed for an attack last week that killed a US citizen.”
The U.S. killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a “defensive action,” the Pentagon said.
“At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qassem Soleimani,” the Pentagon statement says.
The Pentagon says Soleimani was “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that took place this week,” the statement continues.
The U.S. also held Soleimani and his Quds Force responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and said he “orchestrated” a rocket attack on Dec. 27, which killed an American.
Meanwhile,
Iran’s supreme leader named the deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations arm Esmail Qaani to replace its commander Friday after he was killed in a US strike in Baghdad.
“Following the martyrdom of the glorious general haj Qasem Soleimani, I name Brigadier General Esmail Qaani as the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement posted on his official website.
Qaani was described by Khamenei as one of the “most decorated commanders” of the Guards during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
“The orders for the (Quds) force remain exactly as they were during the leadership of martyr Soleimani,” said the supreme leader.
“I call on the members of the force to be present and cooperate with General Qaani and wish him divine prosperity, acceptance and guidance,” he added.