Top Iranian Commander Qassem Soleimani Killed in Iraq Airstrike
Iraqi TV and three Iraqi officials said Friday that Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, has been killed in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport.
The officials said the strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.
An official with the Iran-backed paramilitary force earlier said that seven people were killed in the strike, blaming the United States.
The official said the dead included the force's airport protocol officer, identifying him as Mohammed Reda.
A security official confirmed that seven people were killed in the attack on the airport, describing it as an airstrike. Earlier, Iraq’s Security Media Cell, which releases information regarding Iraqi security, said Katyusha rockets landed near the airport's cargo hall, killing several people and setting two cars on fire.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S.
The security official said the bodies of those killed in the attack were burned and difficult to identify. The official added that Reda may have been at the airport to pick up a group of “high-level” visitors who had arrived from a neighboring country. He declined to provide more information.
The attack came amid tensions with the United States after a New Year's Eve attack by Iran-backed militias on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. The two-day embassy attack which ended Wednesday prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to order about 750 U.S. soldiers deployed to the Middle East.
The breach at the embassy followed U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah. The U.S. military said the strikes were in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that the U.S. blamed on the militia.
U.S. officials have suggested they were prepared to engage in further retaliatory attacks in Iraq.
“The game has changed,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday, telling reporters that violent acts by Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq — including the rocket attack on Dec. 27 that killed one American — will be met with U.S. military force.
He said the Iraqi government has fallen short of its obligation to defend its American partner in the attack on the U.S. embassy.
03 January 2020, 03:38
09
How Sad..... I am all verklempt. Qassem Suleimani was someone I looked up to. Tears of joy are rolling down my face and I cannot stop myself from crying.....
03 January 2020, 03:42
09
May he rot in hell for all the evil and massacres he committed against women, children and innocent civilians.
03 January 2020, 03:51
09
Proof of Lebanon's dissociation Policy:
أنباء شبه مؤكدة عن مقتل محمد الكوثراني القيادي في حزب الله اللبناني ومسؤول ملف العراق
03 January 2020, 03:58
07
The security official said the bodies of those killed in the attack were burned and difficult to identify.
lol
03 January 2020, 04:14
05
Great start to 2020! Happy New Year and may 2020 be filled with the ugly deaths of more shia terrorists.
03 January 2020, 04:16
05
الجابري قتل مع قيادات رفيعة يعتقد أنها من حزب الله والحرس الثوري الإيراني اثناء استقباله لهم
03 January 2020, 04:31
04
Where is Mystic, add that to your avatar bootlicking slave, happy new year all , another sent to meet zeinab.
03 January 2020, 05:19
04
The next wave will be even worth, watch out the wrath of America, better keep hiding in your sewer Hasan or your next
03 January 2020, 05:46
04
لكل طاغية ومستبد نهاية....
إن للباطل جولة...
عليك لعنة آلاف الضحايا الابرياء...إلى جهنم انت وسيدك
وسيتم دفنه في مزبلة التاريخ
03 January 2020, 07:23
03
Pretty bold and awesome. Good riddance. Shall there be dancing in the street and the handing out of sweets?
03 January 2020, 07:37
04
Making the World a Batter Place
One dead Soleimani at a Time
May Nassrallah follows.
03 January 2020, 07:40
06
Don't get Allah involved. He and your Hussain are with me right now having a chat discussing the new government in Lebanon.
03 January 2020, 08:03
05
Hallelujah! It's about time that we start to destroy Iran's infrastructure.Those bastards have no place other than in their own wretched country Iran. I look forward to the entitr Iranian country to be destroyed.
03 January 2020, 08:16
05
To Mystic the Iranian stooge- you belong in Iran at the feet of your masters in Tehran and Qom. Hallelujah, Lord be praised that this odious man has been destroyed and may the rest of the mullahs and ayatollahs be next. I hope Tehran is annihilated and erased off the face of this planet.
03 January 2020, 08:57
04
Trump needs to score points- and he is! I am elated that this cancerous creep has been destroyed- I hope we see a lot more after this. The only language that those odious Iranians understand is that of force.
03 January 2020, 08:57
04
Suleimani was in dahieh for 10 days meeting with nasrallah, etc. He left Beirut accompanied by top hizbullah terrorists only to meet their ugly fate upon arrival. Good riddance!
03 January 2020, 09:16
04
Daddy says " You can run; but you can't hide'
God Bless the USA! Be careful Mystic; we know where you are.
03 January 2020, 09:18
02
Iraqis — Iraqis — dancing in the street for freedom; thankful that General Soleimani is no more.
https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1212955403077767168/video/1
03 January 2020, 10:35
02
Kataib Hezbollah ABU MEHDI MUHANDIS also killed
التلفزيون العراقي الرسمي يعلن مقتل أبو مهدي المهندس و قاسم سليماني #العربية_عاجل
03 January 2020, 11:34
01
You guys! This is grave news! Lebanon is now officially going to enter a baqlawa shortage with this development...
03 January 2020, 11:42
01
Mystic, 7abibi, ayya "honor and dignity"? Slaymeni ken zilit el Shi3a, and as far from God as Heaven is wide. Fa what honor and dignity? He never hesitated killing Shi3a Muslims if their politics didn't align with his own, so don't friggin' tell me about honor and dignity buddy.
03 January 2020, 12:33
01
Hey Mystic, I would offer free consultation on how to add these evil terrorists to your avatar, we just need to make room for the big fish Nassrallah, he is next, my work supporting you is free I gladly do it for no money, before you know it you will be praising America and it's way of life, but if insist on meeting zeinab that cout be arranged..
03 January 2020, 15:34
01
Would be interesting to see how the Iranian regime will avenge this so honorable martyr. If no action taking you will know the Iranian regime wanted him out of the picture.
