Soleimani had been a key backer of Bashar al-Assad and helped him save his position after an uprising that began in 2011 threatened to topple his regime.
He was Iran's pointman in organising Iranian forces and their Shiite-dominated foreign proxies on the Syrian battlefield and a frequent visitor to Damascus.
Thanks to the support of Iran and its proxies as well as to the decisive 2015 military intervention of Russia, Assad has clawed back most of the territory he lost in the early stages of the war.
In the few areas still that still escape the regime's control, some Syrians celebrated the death of a man they hold responsible for thousands of civilians deaths.
During a weekly Friday protest in the northwestern city of Idlib, one demonstrator held a placard that read: "We rejoice in the death of the terrorist Qasem Soleimani. Thank you Trump."
"This piece of good news will encourage us to keep advancing, God willing, the revolution will continue and the revolution will triumph," said another protester, who gave his name as Mohamed Shkeib.
Others handed out sweets to celebrate Soleimani's death.
In the few areas still that still escape the regime's control, some Syrians celebrated the death of a man they hold responsible for thousands of civilians deaths.
During a weekly Friday protest in the northwestern city of Idlib, one demonstrator held a placard that read: "We rejoice in the death of the terrorist Qasem Soleimani. Thank you Trump."
"This piece of good news will encourage us to keep advancing, God willing, the revolution will continue and the revolution will triumph," said another protester, who gave his name as Mohamed Shkeib.
Others handed out sweets to celebrate Soleimani's death.
Leaders of Syrian opposition groups for their part hailed the death of a man they blame for thousands for thousands of deaths in the nearly nine-year-old civil war.
"The murder of Qasem Soleimani, the number one perpetrator of Revolutionary Guards' crimes against the people of Syria and Iraq, is a blow that confirms that the world is able to stop Iran and protect Syrian civilians if it wants to," Nasr Hariri, a senior political opposition leader, said.
Ahmed Ramadan, another senior opposition figure, also praised the US strike.
"The killer of Syria's children has been killed, the killer of Iraq's free people has been killed," he said in a post on social media.'
"The murder of Qasem Soleimani, the number one perpetrator of Revolutionary Guards' crimes against the people of Syria and Iraq, is a blow that confirms that the world is able to stop Iran and protect Syrian civilians if it wants to," Nasr Hariri, a senior political opposition leader, said.
Ahmed Ramadan, another senior opposition figure, also praised the US strike.
"The killer of Syria's children has been killed, the killer of Iraq's free people has been killed," he said in a post on social media.'
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