IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis along with 10 other people were killed in an attack by US forces in Baghdad on Friday morning, according to Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Iraj Masjedi, Iran International news has reported.
The Pentagon confirmed Thursday night that the US had killed Soleimani in an airstrike inside Baghdad International Airport, along with al-Muhandis. The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces spokesperson claimed that Israel and the US are behind the attack.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Friday that a harsh revenge awaits the “criminals” who killed Soleimani and that the attack will double the motivation of the resistance against the US and Israel.
Khamenei called for three days of mourning in Iran for Soleimani.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday the assassination was, “an extremely dangerous and foolish escalation.”
“The U.S. bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism,” he said in a post on Twitter.
Zarif later said that the killing of Soleimani will only strengthen the resistance in the region, according to Iranian State TV.
Reports that Lebanese Hezbollah deputy leader Naem Qasm was among those killed were unconfirmed Friday morning. His death was denied by a media outlet affiliated to the group, but an Iranian official told Al Jazeera that Syrian and Lebanese citizens had also been killed in the attack.
https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Four-rockets-land-on-Baghdad-airport-report-612947
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a veteran Iraqi terrorist who was closely allied with Iran and rose to be a senior terrorist commander during the war against the Islamic State group, was killed overnight Friday in a U.S. strike that also felled Iran’s top general.
Al-Muhandis was the deputy commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitaries. He was also the founder of the Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades. The U.S. blamed the group, which is separate from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, for a rocket attack in northern Iraq last week that killed a U.S. contractor.
The militias, many of which are backed by Iran and trace their roots back to the Shiite insurgency against U.S. forces following the 2003 invasion, mobilized in 2014 when the Islamic State group swept across northern and western Iraq.
https://worldisraelnews.com/iraqi-militant-killed-alongside-soleimani-worked-with-iran-for-decades/