ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike at Baghdad's international airport early Friday morning.
The airstrike also killed Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi (PMF) deputy Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and several other individuals.
Iraq's Security Media Cell initially reported that three Katyusha missiles were fired near the airport's cargo hall, but it was later confirmed that the explosions heard at Baghdad International Airport were caused by a US drone strike targeting a PMF convoy of two SUVs.
Major General Qasem Soleimani, who was born in Iran's central Kerman province and first rose to prominence in the IRGC as a young man serving in the Iran-Iraq war, was broadly considered to be the second most powerful figure in Iran after Ayatollah Khamenei. He became the head of the IRGC al-Quds Force in 1998 and had survived several previous assassination attempts.
Early speculation and reporting posited that the explosions at Baghdad's airport were rockets fired by Iraqi PMF unit Kataib Hezbollah in retaliation for US airstrikes earlier in the week. Only days earlier, Kataib Hezbollah members and supporters had stormed the US Embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, breaching the reception area and setting parts of the compound on fire.
The US Department of Defense released a statement on Friday taking responsibility for the attack.
"At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization," it read.
The statement went on to say, “General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region” and that the strike was “aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.”
The strike was carried out without congressional approval, according to the New York Times, and it is not clear whether the Iraqi government was consulted or notified beforehand.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that a "harsh retaliation" awaits the US following the killings, which have prompted three days of national mourning in Iran.
Khameini labeled Soleimani "the international face of resistance" in a statement aired on Iranian State TV, AP reported.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani also condemned the attack, saying, "revenge will be inflicted upon criminal America."
IRGC-affiliated Farsnews reported that Iran's National Security Council convened a meeting to discuss the "criminal action" which led to the killing of Soleimani, and New York Times correspondent Farnaz Fassihi tweeted, "Hezbollah & regional pro-Iran militia ordered on highest alert. Iranian officials across factions warn of major escalation."
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