Major General Qasem Soleimani said the self-styled Islamic State and other takfiri terrorist groups have been created to weaken Iran. A takfiri is a hardliner that accuses any Muslim that does not follow their extremist interpretation of Islam of apostasy punishable by death. The commander of the Qods Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps made the statement in Tehran on Wednesday during a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the killing of Lieutenant General Hossein Hamedani by terrorists in Syria, Press TV reported. The senior IRGC commander was killed by IS last year during an advisory mission on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Aleppo. “Daesh [another acronym for IS] and takfiri terrorist groups were not created for war with Syria; they were established to target the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said. Soleimani stressed that Iran’s advisory forces in Syria are not only defending the Arab country, but also Iran and the whole Muslim world.
