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Iraqi force says ‘US strike’ killed top Iran, Iraq commanders at Baghdad
airport
BAGHDAD, Jan 3, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani was
killed in a US strike on Baghdad’s international airport on Friday, Iraq’s
powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force has said, in a dramatic
escalation of tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The Hashed’s deputy chief was also killed in the attack, the force added,
which comes after a pro-Iran mob this week laid siege to the US embassy
following deadly American air strikes on a hardline Hashed faction.
“The deputy head of the Hashed, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and head of the Quds
Force, Qasem Soleimani, were killed in a US strike that targeted their car on
the Baghdad International Airport road,” the Hashed said in a statement early
Friday.
The airport was hit in a volley of missiles just after midnight, Iraq’s
military had announced.
Security sources told AFP the bombardment hit a Hashed convoy and killed
eight people, including “important figures.”
The Hashed is a network of mostly-Shiite armed units, many of whom have
very close ties to Tehran but which have been officially incorporated into
Iraq’s state security forces.
The units joined forces to fight the Islamic State group in 2014 but many
of them had built up years of fighting experience during Iraq’s war years,
including against the US.
Muhandis is the Hashed’s deputy chief but widely recognised as the real
shot-caller within the group.
Soleimani heads the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force and also
serves as Iran’s pointman on Iraq, visiting the country in times of turmoil.
Both have been sanctioned by the United States.
– ‘They will pay’ –
There was no immediate comment from the US on the developments, which come
after an unprecedented attack on its mission in Baghdad.
A mob of Hashed supporters surrounded the US embassy on Tuesday in outrage
over American air strikes that killed 25 fighters from the network’s hardline
Kataeb Hezbollah faction, which is backed by Iran.
The US had acted in response to a rocket attack days earlier that had
killed an American contractor working in Iraq.
US President Donald Trump blamed Iran for rocket attacks targeting US
forces as well as the siege at the embassy, saying: “They will pay a very BIG
PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat.”
On Thursday, US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper told reporters there could
be more attacks from Iran-backed groups but vowed American forces would
respond.
“We are prepared to exercise self-defense, and we are prepared to deter
further bad behavior from these groups, all of which are sponsored, directed
and resourced by Iran,” he said.
The attack on the embassy highlighted new strains in the US-Iraqi
relationship, which officials from both countries have described to AFP as
the “coldest” in years.
The United States led the 2003 invasion against then-dictator Saddam
Hussein and has worked closely with Iraqi officials since.
But its influence has waned compared with that of Tehran, which has
carefully crafted personal ties with Iraqi politicians and armed factions,
even during Saddam’s reign.
Both Washington and Tehran backed Iraqi security forces fighting the
Islamic State group, but the two have been at loggerheads since the United
States pulled out of the landmark nuclear deal with Iran in 2018.
Iraqi officials have feared that their country could be used as an arena
for score-settling between Iran an the US.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0858 hrs