Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
The Popular Resistance Committees: We call on all international institutions to take urgent action and uphold their responsibilities by restoring and immediately enforcing effective mechanisms for the distribution of humanitarian aid.
The Popular Resistance Committees: The latest Zio-American crime against Gaza’s starving civilians constitutes a war crime, for which the US administration bears full and direct responsibility.
Gaza Media Office: Bloody spectacle shows that these zones have become collective death traps rather than aid distribution zones.
Gaza Media Office: Dozens of citizens are still surrounded under constant fire in the vicinity of the "aid station."
Gaza Media Office: As soon as citizens arrived, occupation and Americans opened direct fire on them.
Gaza Media Office: Occupation, in complicity with the US company, called on citizens to move toward Wadi Gaza Bridge, claiming that aid would be distributed.
Gaza Government Media Office: Occupation set a bloody trap at bridge of Wadi Gaza, luring thousands of starved civilians, and opened fire on them.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in South Lebanon: Israeli drone drops sonic grenade in town of Ramiyah.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in South Lebanon: Israeli drone strike targets vehicle in town of Beit Lif.
The Government Media Office in Gaza: The occupation’s latest crime is further evidence of its ongoing implementation of genocide through starvation.

Ho Chi Minh, Allende, Castro, Che Guevara, Chavez, can you guess whose name is missing?

  • Fra Hughes Fra Hughes
  • Source: Al Mayadeen English
  • 24 Jan 2023 14:26
  • 2 Shares
5 Min Read

Like many of the well-known imperialists of our modern times, this man was such an important figure that he helped bring together disparate groups in order to fight Western hegemony in his entire region.

  • x
  • From Sanaa to Beirut, Gaza to Damascus, Baghdad to Basra, he was a pivotal, influential, charismatic figure who united many disparate groups who at times might have not seen eye to eye.
    From Sanaa to Beirut, Gaza to Damascus, Baghdad to Basra, he was a pivotal, influential, charismatic figure who united many disparate groups who at times might have not seen eye to eye.

When people in the West look for inspirational figures who fought imperialism, they often turn to Ho Chi Minh who fought the American military-industrial complex in Vietnam.

They often turn to Allende another great resistance fighter, assassinated for his attempts to defy Western hegemony in Chile.

Castro and Guevara are revered in Cuba for taking back the nation from those who had abused it for the benefit of profiteering American gangsters. 

Hugo Chavez was another socialist determined to fight the Yankee corporate war machine, to bring literacy, homes, healthcare, and employment to the masses.

There is another man, a leader and revolutionary who demanded that the wealth of his nation belonged to the people of that nation without exception, and that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. Another visionary leader, a man of immense intellect, military brilliance, and diplomatic ingenuity.

A man who defended his country from internal, as well external, enemies; a true internationalist, whose exploits and endeavours should earn him a place alongside the greatest of all anti-imperialists of the 20/21st centuries. 

Can u guess who he is yet?

I give you Lt. General Qassem Soleimani. 

Or as I prefer to address him Commandante Soleimani. 

Even a brief cursory glance of his life gives us a glimpse into a world of courage, moral values, integrity, compassion, love, and endurance.

A man like Guevara, he was murdered as he brought the war to the enemy.

A man like Allende, he is an iconic figure who continues to inspire a culture of fearless resistance.

Like Ho Chi Minh he was a fearless fighter and a military giant.

Related News

The lieutenant of the oppressed West Asian

Has "Israel" Crossed A Red Line With Iran?

Like Hugo Chavez he was an internationalist who saw a common cause and a common enemy, while Chavez tried to unite Latin America and the Caribbean against American hegemonic interference in the region, Commandante Soleimani did the same in West Asia, uniting Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and increasingly Russia in aid of the Axis of Resistance.

A man who moved freely within the region, was admired, respected, and loved by those who knew him best, he overcame the sectarian divide between Persian and Arab, Sunni, Alawite, and Shia to build a cross-cultural, transnational bipartisan network of resistance groups, resistance fighters and resistance leaders.

He helped to train, arm, and direct this fledgling coalition which he inspired to stand as one, to stand together, to stand unflinching in the face of superior firepower, superior technology, superior security,  and win.

A man of the people who from humble beginnings put duty, family, and community first.

A simple search of the internet reveals a man who, as a young boy, left home at the tender age of 13 to earn money as a labourer to help alleviate the hardships endured by his family, when the Shah placed exorbitant taxes on his father and all the families in the region.

Born into a tribal community, he lived near the Afghan-Iran border.

After the cultural revolution in 1979, Western governments encouraged Saddam Hussein, the then-leader of Iraq, to attack the new Islamic Republic. Solemaini fought to defend his home, his family, and his country.

He faced exposure to several chemical weapon attacks, chemical weapons supplied to the Iraqi forces by Western intelligence services, and while over 800,000 died on both sides of the conflict, Iran remained intact and Soleimani became a natural leader through his exploits and conduct, both on and off the field of battle.

It is reported that on one occasion, while behind enemy lines, he adorned the uniform of a dead Iraqi soldier, attended the Iraqi army mess, had dinner, and then liberated an Iraqi Toyota van and drove back to the Iranian frontlines, earning him the monocle of the 'Toyota Thief'.

Such is the mark of the man with the character of a fearless warrior who led by example.

Soleimani played a huge role in creating the Axis of Resistance. From Sanaa to Beirut, Gaza to Damascus, Baghdad to Basra, he was a pivotal, influential, charismatic figure who united many disparate groups who at times might have not seen eye to eye, to concentrate their forces on the real enemy of peace, justice, and security in the region, the real enemy of all in West Asia, as he saw it, the western imperialist proxy state of "Israel".

He was so influential within the resistance movements of west Asia that eventually, after being lured to Baghdad, he was assassinated alongside his Iraqi counterpart, when targeted by an American drone.

Trump gave the kill order, probably in the interest of Israeli as well as American security concerns.

Soleimani may have left us, but his enduring legacy will finally see that peace, prosperity, and security will return to West Asia, that Palestinian self-determination will be achieved, the apartheid regime in "Tel Aviv" will fall and equilibrium restored. 

When we remember the great anti-imperialist heroes of modern history, let us cry out the name, Commandante Soleimani. 

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • Qassem Soleimani
  • Anti-Imperialism
  • Resistance Axis
  • Resistance
  • Axis of Resistance
  • Iran
Fra Hughes

Fra Hughes

Journalist, author, and activist.

Most Read

All
Although the background information does not indicate direct US involvement, considering the broader geopolitical context, it is plausible that the US would have an indirect impact. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

Did 'Israel', US fight a proxy war with China in South Asia during the India-Pakistan escalation?

  • Feature
  • 19 May 2025
The two countries need to sit down and resolve the crisis with maturity, to consider carefully that they could be being manipulated to be easily dominated. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

Algeria and Mali, divided and almost conquered

  • Opinion
  • 25 May 2025
It may well be due to the longstanding relationship between MI6 and HTS, via Inter Mediate, that Britain was the first Western country to recognise their assumption of government in Syria. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

How MI6 helped HTS seize Syria

  • Opinion
  • 31 May 2025
Trump and Biden both pretended to be fighting Netanyahu

Trump and Biden both pretended to be fighting Netanyahu

  • Analysis
  • 28 May 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

More from this writer

All
Star power or superpower? When politics becomes a reality show

Star power or superpower? When politics becomes a reality show

Even if America really did reduce its military budget by half, it would still dwarf monies spent by its own “perceived adversaries”. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

The Russian Trap: Putin to demilitarise while Europe rearms?

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the revolutionary who fought for the oppressed

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the revolutionary who fought for the oppressed

2024 a year in review from Gaza to Lebanon, from Syria to Yemen, from Iraq to Iran

2024 a year in review from Gaza to Lebanon, from Syria to Yemen, from Iraq to Iran

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS