Woman rejoicing at Soleimani assassination works for Libya’s Saudi-backed militia: Report

An Iranian-American woman who rejoiced at the assassination of Iran's General Qassem Soleimani by US terrorists in Baghdad works for the Saudi-backed Libyan militia led by Khalifa Haftar, who is known to have worked for the CIA spy agency for many years, says a report.

News ID: 448535

Date: 20 January 2020 - 10:47

RNA - According to the report published by BuzzFeed, Saghar Erica Kasraie posted a viral video on YouTube recently in which she falsely claimed that after the assassination of Lt. Gen. Soleimani and his companions in Iraq, the Iranian nation was happy and celebrated his death.

On January 3, Lt. Gen. Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and a group of their companions were martyred in Baghdad. The cowardly, sinister operation was conducted under the direct order of US President Donald Trump. The US Department of Defense took responsibility for the assassination.

Both commanders enjoyed deep reverence among Muslim nations over their endeavors in eliminating the US-sponsored Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

According to the report, Kasraie, who describes herself as an Iranian activist in the video, claimed that Iranians across the country were celebrating the assassination, thanking Trump and giving out cakes in public to express their joy.

“I feel like we’re living in the Twilight Zone, guys. I’m completely outraged at this notion that the propaganda machine that is the media is glorifying Qassem Soleimani,” she says in the video.

The video titled “Truth From an Iranian,” amassed more than 10 million views across Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The YouTube version of Kasraie’s video has been viewed 5.5 million times, going viral as a link on Facebook after it was posted to a right-leaning lifestyle page called Bakersfield Tuff and a slew of pro-Trump sites and pages. Another copy of the video, shared on Kasraie’s Facebook page, has been viewed another 3.7 million times.

The video was also boosted by large right-leaning Facebook pages, like the American Preppers Network and Chicks on the Right.

In the first six days following the martyrdom of Soleimani, the video was the single most popular piece of content about Iran on Facebook, aside from posts from Trump’s own page.

At no point during the five-minute video did Kasraie mention that she had worked in 2019 for Linden Government Solutions, which is a Texas-based lobbying firm hired to represent the so-called Libyan National Army (LNA) — a rebel group of militias commanded by renegade General Haftar.

When asked if the Libyan National Army was the firm’s only client, a representative for Linden Government Solutions told BuzzFeed News, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’d say no and I’d prefer not to continue.”

Haftar, himself, was an officer in the government of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi and has spent much of the last two decades living in the US state of Virginia and working with the CIA.

Moreover, Kasraie did not list her time with Linden on her LinkedIn profile and claimed that her work for the firm in Washington DC was strictly logistical.

"I worked directly for Linden and helped with logistics for meetings in Washington," Kasraie admits, adding, “Just facilitated and coordinated meetings for Linden. It was a short project as a consultant.”

However, public documents filed through the Foreign Agent Registration Act in the United States showed that she worked as a part-time lobbyist last year.

According to her registration, Kasraie’s job entailed “Planning, coordinating meetings with Government, Business representatives, and think tanks, and other government relations services in support of Client's diplomatic goals” on behalf of the “Decision Support Center of Libya (on behalf of the Libyan National Army).”

Her lobbying activity had previously been reported on by Al-Monitor.

Kasraei has also been an adviser to the National Iranian Congress, a dissident group with a headquarters in Washington, DC.

Since 2014, Libya has been divided between two rival camps: the government in Tripoli, and a camp based in the eastern city of Tobruk.

According to Press TV, Haftar, who is backed mainly by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both known for their hostile policies toward Iran, is the self-proclaimed commander of an array of militia groups apparently supporting the eastern camp. He launched an offensive to capture Tripoli and oust the government in April.

His forces have been bogged down near the capital; yet, he has pledged to continue the offensive.

After months of combat, which has killed more than 2,000 people, a ceasefire was agreed to take effect on January 12 but was soon ignored and also, on Tuesday, Haftar walked away from peace talks in the Russian capital of Moscow.

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