AP is reporting – Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, was killed in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport Friday, Iraqi television and three Iraqi officials said.
The strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, the officials said.
Their deaths are a potential turning point in the Middle East and are expected to draw severe retaliation from Iran and the forces it backs in the Middle East against Israel and American interests.
The PMF blamed the United States for an attack at Baghdad International Airport Friday.
Almost immediately after the media reported the death of Iran’s top general, President Trump simply tweeted an American flag:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1212924762827046918?s=20
OANN is reporting that Iraqi news agencies are claiming that three top Iranian officials have been taken out by U.S airstrikes:
BREAKING: Iraqi news agencies say the following have been killed in a U.S. air strike near Baghdad:
Qassem Soleimani (Iranian Major general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps)
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (head of Kata'ib Hezbollah)
Mohammed Ridha (PMF head of protocol).
— Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) January 3, 2020
Liz Wheeler of OANN reminds everyone that President Trump warned Iran after their attack on our U.S. Embassy in Iraq not to mess with the U.S., saying it was not a warning, but instead, a threat.
Holy cow. (Probably) U.S. airstrikes on Baghdad airport kills Iran Gen. Qassim Soleimani, head of Quds Force of the IGRC.
Man, you gotta love when @realDonaldTrump tweets “this is not a warning, it’s a threat” to Iran & two days later… Soleimani is dead.
Don’t. Mess. With. 🇺🇸
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) January 3, 2020
This afternoon, McClatchy reported about a warning by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, saying
“The game has changed” and warning Iran backed militias that US will conduct preemptive strikes to defend US personnel, facilities in Iraq, and that any attacks by Iranian backed militias will be met with a “buzzsaw”
Esper and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to reporters at the Pentagon Thursday in the wake of multi-day protests at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad where members of Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia that operates in Iraq, led a violent demonstration that breached the embassy walls and badly damaged some of the buildings during a massive protest against the U.S. presence in Iraq.
The protests were in response to U.S. airstrikes against militia sites, that came after rocket attacks on U.S. facilities in Iraq killed a U.S. contractor. As of Thursday, the protests had subsided, but the United States anticipates further attacks, Esper said.
The U.S. military deployed more than 700 members of a quick reaction force from the 82nd Airborne Division based in Fort Bragg, N.C., and approximately 100 additional Marines. The Marines were deployed to the embassy compound to assist U.S. forces already on the ground. The 82nd was sent to Kuwait, where it will be able to quickly launch into Baghdad if necessary, Milley said.
Over the last three months, attacks on U.S. facilities in Iraq have increased, Esper said, adding that he expects there will be additional attacks.
Esper said he spoke to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Thursday morning. Pompeo told him he felt confident about the embassy’s security at the moment, but “we both agree as events unfold on the ground we’ll make adjustments,” Esper said.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post called the now deceased Quds leader, General Soleimani, who is responsible for the deaths of many American troops, Iran’s “most revered” military leader.
Really Washington Post?
"Most revered"
WaPo headline: "Airstrike at Baghdad airport kills Iran’s most revered military leader, Qassem Soleimani, Iraqi state television reports"
Soleimani was responsible for many of the bombs that killed US soldiers. pic.twitter.com/i5sbkdbtge
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 3, 2020
Perhaps now is a good time to remind everyone about the pallets of cash that were secretly shipped to Iran, by Barack Obama and his regime, and that the money sent to them was used to support terrorism.
Iran, the world’s #1 sponsor of terror, no longer has an ally in the White House.