Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has recently said that the Iranian regime has been in conflict with the international community for all of its 40 years. Ever since the rise of this regime, we have witnessed war and death in the Middle East.

At first, the Iran-Iraq war left nearly one million dead on each side. The former Supreme Leader of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, said that we would fight for the last remaining brick of our houses in Tehran.  Yet even after the eight-year war of Iran and Iraq, countries like Iraq, Syria, and others in the region are still at war.

Since the emergence of this regime, we have also witnessed the emergence of militant groups in the Middle East that have slaughtered people in Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The assassinations and explosions have become something normal. All of these incidents are Qassem Soleimani's achievements.

The mid-November uprising in Iran and Iraq got bloody. At least 1,500 people were killed in Iran and at least 400 in Iraq. Under the shadow of this same regime, many people are being sacrificed every day. 

When the United States occupied Iraq and dismantled its army and all of its defense structures, it actually presented Iraq to the Iranian regime on a silver platter. Qassem Soleimani killed many Sunnis in Iraq by creating militias like Hashd al-shaa’bi and others. He kidnapped or assassinated Sunni figures who did not want to fall under the control of the regime. He forced the Sunnis of Dayali, Kirkuk, Baghdad, and other areas to flee their hometowns. He drove the Palestinians out of Iraq. Thousands of assassinations and explosions in Iraq have been the result of the existence of such militias there. 

The Quds terrorist force mistreated the entire Iraqi political and religious class -- by bribery, murder or intimidation -- in the service of the Iranian regime. Iraq was practically occupied by Soleimani-led militias. This rich and cultural land that has thrived for thousands of years, then turned into a poor and corrupted country.

When Soleimani arrived in Syria, he eradicated the liberation movement of the people by mass murder. As mentioned earlier, Khamenei had said that if they had not fought in Syria, they would have fought in Tehran. The killing of tens of thousands of children in the Syrian cities of Halab and Edlib and beyond are undoubtedly one of Soleimani's deliverables. He was the person who paved the way for Russian airstrikes populated areas, killing innocent children. The faces of children in the chemical bombings are still remembered. In Iranian assemblies, he is referred to as a child killer. He was the only person who showed such cruelty.

The Iranian regime, which was derived from medieval religious dogmas had entered the life of the Iranian people in a historic event. Yet it has been a government that has failed to meet the cultural, economic and political demands of its people, seeking war outside of the country and repression inside. These two strategies are their two main pillars of survival.

Soleimani was one of these two pillars. At a staggering cost, he created all kinds of militias in the Middle East. He led Iranians to poverty and misery. In a country full of rich resources and vast mines of oil and gas, two thirds of the people are living below the poverty line.

It has been constant war in the Middle East with millions of people wounded or dead. Therefore, with the demise of Soleimani, who was one of the founders of this war, it is now possible that the Iranian regime's war machine and its terrorism are going to stop. This is the main reason that people in Iraq, Iran, and Syria took to the streets to celebrate their happiness at Soleimani's death as they heard the news.

Therefore; one could say that those who are happy about this assassination are on the side of the people of the region, and those who are sad are among the warmongers and enemies of the people.

Photo illustration by Monica Showalter with use of CNN screen shot via shareable YouTube and public domain images