Translated Content:
Sardar Jafari's daughter's account of the martyrdom of her parents/At first they said the missile did not hit your house/How was the name of the Khyber-Shakan missile chosen?
"Mountain of experience." This concise and useful phrase was used by Martyr General Hajizadeh when introducing Martyr General Mohammad Jafari; the same child warrior who never left the battlefield for a moment from the age of 15, when he was the commander of an anti-tank battalion during the Sacred Defense era, to the age of 59, when he became one of the determining commanders of the IRGC's aerospace force.
According to the Khabar Online news agency, "The roles have changed and the story has been turned upside down. This time, I may not be able to direct the scene." This repeated whisper had become my constant companion in the moments before that meeting... I had become accustomed to sitting knee-to-knee with the families of the martyrs, in conversations with the men and women of Mospid who, years after the incident, wanted to tell me about the fruits of their lives; from the young man who, smiling, had passed by the sweets and beauties of life and voluntarily became a buyer of "Ahli min al-Asal." From the child of Noor Cheshmi who, by sacrificing himself in the way of God, had brought honor and dignity to his parents. This time, however, the roles had changed. Two young girls were sitting in front of me, who were supposed to raise the banner of the story of their martyred parents; and that too just a month after the incident! And indeed, the daughters of their father and mother left no stone unturned...
According to Fars, sentence by sentence of "Fahimah and Haniya" from that passionate day, line by line of their memories of that life full of love and struggle, and moment by moment of their reserved glances and dignified smiles, was the modern interpretation of "There is no opinion except Jamila." It was as if a hand came from Karbala and placed peace and tranquility in the hearts of the beloved daughters of the Jafari family, which have responded to resentment, tears, and restlessness, and in return, firmness, smiles, and "Praise be to God" have become the seasoning of their behavior and words. Now, the daughters of the general have become the successors of the heroic father whom the cowardly enemy had failed to defeat and had been plotting to assassinate him for years.
One month after the martyrdom of General Mohammad Agha Jafari , one of the proud commanders of the IRGC Aerospace Force, and his wife, martyred Fatemeh Akbari, in the criminal attacks of the Zionist regime, we were guests of Fahmia and Hania Jafari and their tender story of their heavenly parents...
The "Mountain of Experience" that was the scepter in the hand of Sardar Hajizadeh
"Mountain of experience." This concise and useful phrase was used by Martyr General Hajizadeh when introducing Martyr General Mohammad Jafari; the same child warrior who never left the battlefield for a moment from the age of 15, when he was the commander of an anti-tank battalion during the Sacred Defense era, to the age of 59, when he became one of the determining commanders of the IRGC's aerospace force.
From that golden quote that I remember, the ice of the parliament melts automatically and the mention of the martyrs' good deeds makes "Fahimeh", the youngest daughter of the family, excited to leaf through her father's diary: "When the Iraq War against Iran began, unlike some of his peers, my father had no problem at home going to the front because my grandfather was an active revolutionary himself and had been wounded and a veteran in the struggles against the Pahlavi regime. My little uncle was also a veteran of the revolution. My father used to tell me that during the time when he was constantly at the fronts, the IRGC had taken a motorcycle for my grandfather, but he had sent it back and said: I did not send my son to the front for these things.
Despite all these circumstances, sending Mohammad to the front was not that easy for the young man. My father, born and raised in Mashhad, Ardehal was in Kashan. He registered for the front from there, but due to his young age, his deployment was not approved. However, he did not despair and went through the army from the cities of Mahallat and Delijan to Khomein until he was finally able to obtain a deployment permit. From that moment on, from the time he entered the front in 1987 until his martyrdom, he did not take off his combat uniform.
The story of the long list that was revealed on the day of the proposal
Four years later, God provided Mohammad Agha with a companion for that long and difficult journey; a patient companion who fought alongside the tireless warrior of our story for 40 years: "My parents' life together began in 1964, in the midst of the war. When they got married, my father was 19 years old and my mother was 17 years old, and a distant relative brought them together. Mom always remembered the day of the proposal with a laugh and said: When we sat down for that famous two-person conversation, your father made a long list and began to state one by one his conditions and criteria for marriage and asked my opinion! First of all, he emphasized: My wish is to be a martyr in the way of God. I expect my wife to enter life with me with this outlook... Mom, who had a pious spirit and had memorized several parts of the Quran and participated in Quran interpretation sessions, was no stranger to these spaces, and that's how they liked each other.
"Mom would joke about that memory, but she really liked Dad's work. She always admired Dad's spirit of having a purpose and plan for his life, and she advised us children to be like him."
A commander who was the chef at home!
"Dad helped a lot with the housework. In fact, when he was home, he never sat down at all. He was either in the kitchen washing dishes or entertaining himself with cooking." The smile of Sardar Jafari's little daughter still reveals a lot about his father's good manners: "On Thursdays and Fridays, when my sister and I would visit them, Dad would take charge of preparing the food. He always challenged himself. He liked to diversify and make us a new dish every time, with top-notch spices. In other words, he wasn't just interested in cooking, he was also skilled at it, and in addition to all Iranian dishes, he was also good at new innovative dishes. It's interesting to know that he learned everything from my mother and these cooking channels on the internet! Every week, he would poll us on how the food was. Was this better or the previous dish? "He really wanted to make the best food for us and for us to love his cooking. He didn't know that even if he made a simple half-moon, it would be the most delicious food in the world for us..."
A general who was on the assassination list but no one was worried about his martyrdom!
Hanieh and Fahimeh's heartfelt words about their wishes for the bodies of their parents are the introduction that I had hoped would be provided. Now that the girls have fled to Karbala on June 13, 1404, I dare myself to ask about that morning that marked the beautiful memories of the Jafari family. Once again, it is Fahimeh who takes the field and takes us to the heart of the incident with her narration: "On that strange morning, like most people in Tehran, we woke up to the sound of rocket explosions. The first thing we did was turn on the TV and our phones to see what the source of those sounds was. Of course, this situation was not new to our family. After the Zionist regime invaded the Chitgar region after Operation Sadeq Promise 2, I had become accustomed to constantly checking whether Chitgar had been hit by any sound. This constant concern was because Baba had been on the Israeli and American assassination and sanctions list for years due to his numerous trips to countries aligned with the resistance and the enemy's monitoring of his activities.
This time, however, was different from the entire past year, because in the very first follow-up, I found out that Chitgar had been hit. However, I was not at all excited. This spirit was the result of Baba's constant advice, who, considering that he had always been on the battlefield and in danger for the past 40 years, had taught us to be resilient and think positively so that we would not be bothered. In this way, he wanted us not to live in constant anxiety that "Oh my God, Baba has been martyred." With this positive thinking, even that morning, even though I read on the news that Chitgar had been hit, I still told myself that military centers must have been targeted. To be sure, I called my mom, dad, and brother at 4 a.m., but even though none of them answered, I still didn't worry and went to sleep. But the story started when I woke up a few hours later and saw that no one had called me in response to those unsuccessful calls..."
Safe from the news that kills hope...
"We set off towards my father's house without delay. When we arrived, we were shocked for the first time. They said: Don't worry. The missile didn't hit your house. Only the blast wave caused minor injuries to your mother and brother, who were also taken to the hospital. But our worried gaze was also looking for someone else; where is Dad? Our answers were contradictory. Some said: Sardar Jafari is in the war room. Others said he is in the field. But it only took a few hours for it to become clear that none of that information was true."... It is difficult to describe the hope that was disappointed for a young girl who has seen her back burned, but Fahimeh is still patient and does not give up the banner of the martyrdom of the martyrs of authority: "We found my brother in the hospital with a leg injury, but there was no news of Mom. We gradually began to doubt that he would no longer let us rest. This time, my sister-in-law returned to Chitgar alone and made her way to the affected area, where she barely managed to enter Baba's house. It was from there that she gave us the devastating news one after the other. First, she said, "Your house was hit." On the next call, she said, "I found Baba's body." When the phone rang again, she said, "I found Mom's body." All of this happened within half an hour, and only God knows what happened to us in that hour and a half..."
Don't say "Khyber", say "Khybershakan"!
I ask: Did you follow the news of the war after that serious incident? The eyes of the daughter of martyr Sardar Jafari sparkle and she says in a special tone: "Yes, moment by moment. This war was actually the record of a lifetime of struggle and effort of our father and other heroes of the IRGC Aerospace Force. It was very interesting for us to see which missiles would be fired towards Tel Aviv tonight. After all, we witnessed Dad's enthusiasm for each of those missiles. Occasionally, when we would get together, he would show us short videos of missile launch tests. And you don't know with what love he talked about them. We could completely feel that he loved those missiles like his own children."
Fahimeh, smiling, continues: "The night the Khyber-Shakan missiles were fired at Israel was an unforgettable night for us. That night, the memory of Baba came alive for us in a different way. I can't erase his enthusiasm for this missile from my mind. He would say, 'They had named it "Khyber," but I said that the missile that is supposed to destroy the Zionist positions should be called "Khyber-Shakan"... and this beautiful name remained in Baba's memory."