Five years have passed since the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Quds Force, in a US strike – a good time for a brief analysis of the consequences of the assassination, which are still shocking the Middle East:
1. In short, it can be said that the roots of the collapse of the resistance axis that we have experienced in the past year can be seen in the assassination of Soleimani, and we can assess how significant the assassination was by looking at the state of the axis today.
2. When looking at Israel's assassination policy in the Middle East, it is often claimed (rightly) that for every assassinated person there is a replacement, and few assassinations are significant for a long period of time. Today it is clear that the assassination of Soleimani is definitely of the second type, and the decision made by President Trump changed the Middle East in general and Iran's influence in this region in particular.
3. One thing is clear - no one can step into Soleimani's shoes. His successor, Qaani, not only failed to fill his place, but mainly failed in his central role - to allow Iran to control and direct its proxies in the Middle East. Qaani's weakness forced Nasrallah to take a more significant role in directing the proxies, in a way that may have also harmed Hezbollah itself.