Major General Qasem Soleimani, pictured here on the May 2014 cover of Newsweek. Photo: Screenshot.

Wall Street Journal – Not long ago, Qasem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite troops known as the Quds Force, was one of the spy world’s most covert operators.

Now, his smiling face is everywhere: arm-in-arm with Iraqi officials on TV, rubbing shoulders with the militiamen fighting Islamic State across social media, and in public meetings with Iraqi families liberated by Iran’s allies.

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