Iran’s Soleimani makes public appearance
Albin Szakola/Now Lebanon/January 22/16
BEIRUT – Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani reportedly delivered a speech at a ceremony Thursday, his first public appearance since rumors began circulating two months that he had been wounded in Syria.
Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported Friday morning that Soleimani attended the memorial in Sirjan to commemorate the anniversary of Mohammad Ali Allahdadi’s death, a Quds Force general killed in Israel’s January 18, 2015 airstrike in Syria’s Quneitra.
Fars quoted one-line from Soleimani’s speech in which he honored “thousands upon thousands of defenders of the Shrine of Sayyeda Zeinab” in southern Damascus, a reference to Shiites killed fighting in Syria. Other outlets also covered Soleimani’s appearance, providing longer texts of his speech in honor of the late IRGC officer. Meanwhile, the local Sirjan News Agency published a photo report on the occasion which included a number of pictures purportedly showing Soleimani attending the ceremony.
The IRGC Quds Force commander has not appeared in a confirmable video or photo since mid-November 2015, amid reports he had been injured in southern Aleppo. Soleimani had previously failed to make a scheduled public appearance at a Student Day ceremony in Tehran’s prestigious Shahid Beheshti University on December 7, 2015.
Rumors have swirled that Soleimani was injured November while touring the battlefront in southern Aleppo, where IRGC forces and Iraqi militiamen are engaged in fierce battles with rebel fighters. Iranian authorities, for their part, had strenuously denied rumors Soleimani was hurt, but prior to Thursday’s ceremony in Sirjan, the elusive military chief had not made any confirmed public appearances.
AFP on November 25 reported that the Quds Force commander had been injured in the ongoing fighting in Syria. A Syrian security source told the news agency he had been injured in southwest Aleppo, while Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman claimed Soleimani had been “lightly injured three days ago in the Al-Eis area in the south of Aleppo province.”
Meanwhile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran—which vociferously opposes the clerical government in Tehran—said on November 29 that Soleimani “has suffered severe shrapnel wounds, including in the head, while at Aleppo’s southern front two weeks ago.”“Qassem Soleimani’s vehicle that was there for him to oversee an operation by the revolutionary guards and a number of hired forces was targeted by the Free Syrian Army severely injuring Soleimani.”The NRC-I added that Soleimani had been rushed to Damascus for an initial round of treatment, before being transported to Tehran, where he is now in an intensive care unit.
**Ullin Hope translated the Arabic-language source material.
Syrian president’s cousin sentenced for killing officer: pro-regime media
Albin Szakola & Ullin Hope/Now Lebanon/January 22/16
BEIRUT – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s second cousin has been sentenced to prison for the killing of a colonel during a road rage incident in the coastal city of Latakia, according to pro-regime media.
Mulhak news reported Thursday evening that Syria’s judiciary passed down a 20-year prison sentence to Suleiman Assad, the son of Hilal al-Assad, a prominent National Defense Force commander who died in fighting in March 2014. Although Syrian state media has yet to cover the sentence, the news spread quickly across pro-regime social media, with some commenters saying he had been found guilty of manslaughter, and not murder. Popular pro-Syrian regime Facebook pages based in Latakia hailed the verdict, although some readers questioned whether justice had been properly meted out for Assad’s killing of Air Force colonel Hassan al-Sheikh on August 6.
“The case of the martyr and engineer Colonel Hassan al-Sheikh ended today, January 21, with a ruling against the criminal Suleiman Hilal al-Assad for a twenty-year prison sentence,” the Syrian Coast News Network Facebook page reported. “Which hotel will he pass his sentence in?” one commentator, Zuheir Ajam, asked sarcastically. The brazen nature of Suleiman al-Assad’s crime sparked popular anger in Latakia—which is a redoubt of support for the Assad family—with over 1000 residents holding a vigil on August 8 for the murdered officer and calling for Suleiman al-Assad’s execution.
Days later, the Syrian regime announced it had arrested Suleiman al-Assad amid mounting anger over his crimes. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in turn, also reported that the wanted man had been caught on a road between the Assad family’s hometown of Qardaha and Latakia. Since his arrest, numerous unconfirmed reports have emerged that Suleiman al-Assad was released, and potentially was involved in the killing of two other people, one a journalist and the other an engineer who led the Latakia protest against him.
