Article snippet: Qassem Soleimani was identified in death by a silver ring with a massive red stone on the finger of his severed hand. That’s what was left of Soleimani, Iran’s top military general, after his remains were pulled from the fiery wreckage of the vehicle hit by an American missile strike outside Baghdad’s international airport on Friday morning. His death signals the vulnerability of Iran’s most senior officials and the lengths MORE is willing to go to exert force against them. It also creates an uncertain situation in the Middle East, where experts were predicting Iranian retaliation. A cult-like figure, Soleimani was the top general of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Qud’s Force, an elite special forces unit he helped shape and that was born out of the military forces established following the 1979 Islamic revolution and Iran’s theocratic regime. The reach of the IRGC, which is the first government military designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, is largely attributed to Soleimani’s position at the top and his vision of supporting and emboldening proxy Shi’a forces across the Middle East. “Qassem Soleimani played a major and critical role in supporting Palestinian resistance at all levels,” the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip said in a release mourning his death. The 62-year-old Soleimani operated with a direct mandate from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a relationship described as powerful as a father and son. Khamenei anno... Link to the full article to read more