The shadowy Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani was the man charged by Tehran with creating a web of malign influence across the Middle East. He was more than a general: he bankrolled the Syrian regime, advised on how to strangle resistance in Aleppo, propped up governments in Iraq and Lebanon, tutored the Houthis in Yemen on how to attack Saudi oil installations and rarely lost sight of Tehran’s declared aim of wiping out the state of Israel. It is difficult to mourn his death in a US air strike. Yet it is unclear how Donald Trump intends to follow up what he freely admits to being a targeted killing. This lack of strategic clarity looks as if it might soon turn a conflict fought by proxies…

Source: The Times January 03, 2020 12:00 UTC