Gen. Soleimani assassination motivates Axis of Resistance to continue his path - US academic

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): University of California professor David Yaghoubian said that the assassination of Lieutenant General Qasem Soleimani will motivate the Axis of Resistance to continue his path.

Speaking in an interview with Islamic Republic News Agency, Yaghoubian said, "Thus, while one could humor the argument that the craven murder of General Qassem Soleimani, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and their colleagues made warmongering imperialists and Zionist colonialists safer for a few days, the monumental slap in the face of imperial hubris delivered by the IRGC to the American occupiers at Ayn al-Assad airbase on January 8, 2020 made it resoundingly clear that the only thing they accomplished was to further energize and motivate the Axis of Resistance to continue to follow the heroic path of Soleimani and Muhandes by once and for all ejecting them from West Asia."

"Sociopathic US officials routinely parrot the absurd claim that the cowardly assassination of those who lead the fight against American imperialism and Zionist colonialism “makes the world safer,” yet it is clear to any sentient observer that such heinous, illegal acts are perpetrated solely to maintain American global hegemony and to support the colonial settlement and ethnic cleansing activities of the Zionists in Palestine," he added.

"In fact, rogue nations such as the United States and Israel, regularly operating outside of the norms of international law by engaging in illegal assassinations, terrorism, and sabotage to serve their own hegemonic interests make the world infinitely more dangerous and unstable, and ultimately undermine their own security," he noted.

"The mysterious yet timely downing of CIA Iran operations chief Michael D’Andrea’s E-11A combat command jet over Ghazni, Afghanistan on January 27, 2020 auspiciously suggested that the spineless drone strike of January 3 certainly did not make the world safer for those involved in plotting this diabolical crime," the academic said.

In response to a question about the countries which were involved in assassinating General Soleimani, he said that the primary responsibility for the assassination rests with the governments of the United States and the apartheid regime of Israel.

"American officials planned and ordered the assassination, the Zionists provided intelligence to support the strike, and the American military once again followed orders to violate international law and engage in cold-blooded murder," he added.

"While shamefully there is no accountability whatsoever in the United States or Israel for those who order the slaughter of fellow human beings in gross violation of international law, or for those who follow such orders (evidenced most recently by the nauseating announcement that there would be no accountability for the August 29, 2021 murder of an Afghani aid worker and 9 members of his family including seven children) it is significant that on July 6, 2020 the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnes Callamard submitted a report that determined the drone strike against Soleimani and Muhandis constituted a violation of international law," he stated

"The rapid and progressive decline of US global (hard and soft) power—one demonstrable product of its continual penchant for war and war crimes—holds out the promise that one day justice will be served in the International Criminal Court to those responsible for plotting and carrying out this crime."

Elaborating on the main reason behind assassinating General Soleimani, he said, "American and Zionist officials incorrectly expected that their cowardly drone attack against unarmed heroes in a civilian car would somehow lower morale within the Axis of Resistance and thereby bolster their hegemonic agenda."

"The millions of mourners who took to the streets in Iran and Iraq to honor the accomplishments and sacrifices of Soleimani, Muhandis, and their colleagues illustrated that in fact their assassination primarily served to further galvanize the resistance in its determination to eject the imperialists and colonialists from the region," Yaghoubian said.

"Having utterly failed to bring the Islamic Republic of Iran to its knees via the so-called 'maximum pressure' campaign of sanctions and medical terrorism, the assassination of General Soleimani was a pathetic and self-defeating act of desperation that failed to achieve any military or diplomatic advantage, while exposing once again the amoral and wicked nature of American imperialists and their Zionist pied pipers," he stated.



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