The US reportedly relied on Israeli intelligence in the assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, was killed in a US airstrike as he left Baghdad International Airport after flying in from Damascus on January 3rd.
Informants in Damascus tipped the CIA off about which flight Soleimani would be on and Israeli intelligence verified and confirmed that information, NBC News and Reuters reported Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to be the only foreign leader who knew of the planned assassination, having spoken to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo beforehand, according to the New York Times.
New reports claim Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) was the only foreign leader who knew of the United States’ plans to assassinate top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, and that Israeli intelligence helped carry out the strike
Soleimani (pictured), the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, was killed in a US airstrike as he left Baghdad International Airport after flying in from Damascus on January 3rd
An unnamed official told Reuters that Iraqi investigators believe the US was aided by two security officials at the Baghdad airport and two employees for Cham Wings – the airline Soleimani used to fly to Iraq.
One of the Cham Wings employees was a spy at the Damascus airport and another was working on board the plane, the Reuters source said.
The source said Iraqi investigators believe the four suspected informants – who have not been arrested – were working with a larger group of people feeding information to the US military.
Two sources ‘directly familiar’ with the operation and other American officials briefed on it described the events to NBC News.
Various US military officials stationed around the world watched the strike on livestreamed black and white infrared video.
CIA Director Gina Haspel reportedly watched from agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper watched from another undisclosed location and other officials watched from the White House. It is unclear whether President Donald Trump tuned in to the broadcast as he was at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida at the time.
The video reportedly showed Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of an Iraqi anti-American militia who greeted the Iranian leader when he got off the plane, getting into a sedan to leave the airport while the rest of their security detail followed in a minivan.
Meanwhile, three US drones each armed with four Hellfire missiles tracked the vehicles while intelligence specialists running the mission from US Central Command in Qatar used cellphone data to confirm who was in them.
As soon as the passengers were confirmed, the drones launched four missiles that could be seen in the broadcast streaking across the sky before striking the vehicles, killing everyone inside.
While the strike was successful, sources said it received a somber reaction from officials who worried about what the wider response would be.
Video appeared to show the moment a US missile struck a convoy of cars carrying Soleimani, with two Islamic Revolutionary Guards generals, a colonel and a captain – killing all five
The twisted remains of one of the vehicle’s Soleimani’s entourage was traveling in
Four precision missiles fired from a US drone struck the two cars carrying Soleimani and his entourage, according to U.S. officials. The cars were struck on an access road near the Baghdad airport in the early hours of Friday. Soleimani had reportedly just arrived to Baghdad on a flight from Syria. Airport logs show a Cham Wings flight arriving from Damascus at 12.34am Friday Baghdad time, but it’s unclear whether Soleimani was on that commercial flight or a private charter
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu issued a statement about the attack the following day, saying that the US had the right to defend itself by killing Soleimani.
‘Just as Israel has the right of self-defense, the United States has exactly the same right,’ he said.
‘Qassem Soleimani is responsible for the death of American citizens and many other innocent people. He was planning more such attacks.
Netanyahu expanded on his comments when he spoke to reporters before boarding a flight back to Israel from Greece.
‘President Trump deserves all the credit for acting swiftly, forcefully and decisively. Israel stands with the United States in its just struggle for peace, security and self-defense,’ he said.
Netanyahu reportedly spoke to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pictured) before the Soleimani assassination was carried out
In an in-depth retelling of the strike published Saturday, the Times reported that Netanyahu was made aware of the plans beforehand.
Avigdor Liberman, the head of Israel’s secular nationalist political party Yisrael Beytenu, questioned the Times report because he said it was poor judgment to rely on Israeli sources.
‘I suggest you check who they are,’ Liberman, a former defense minister, said of the sources in a radio interview Sunday.
‘We need to distance ourselves from it,’ he added in reference to the Times report. ‘Ambiguity and silence are the best thing for us.’
US Secretary of State Pompeo confirmed that he had spoken with Netanyahu about Iran, Israel’s arch enemy, after the Soleimani strike in a tweet on January 4.
‘@IsraeliPM @Netanyahu I just spoke and underscored the importance of countering Iran’s malign influence and threats to the region,’ Pompeo wrote. ‘I am always grateful for Israel’s steadfast support in defeating terrorism. The bond between Israel and the United States is unbreakable.’
Israeli officials sought to distance themselves from the conflict between the US and Iran days later amid concern over Iranian retaliation for the Soleimani assassination.
‘There is tension between Iran and the United States and we’re not involved, so I don’t want to relate to it,’ Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, one of Netanyahu’s closest lieutenants and a member of the security cabinet, said on January 7.
‘We’re standing on the sidelines and observing events,’ he added.
Pompeo confirmed on Twitter that he discussed the assassination with Netanyahu afterward
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported that Israel and the West had launched a failed assassination attempt on Soleimani in September.
In an October television interview, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps head Hossein Ta’eb claimed that three suspects had been arrested in an alleged plot to kill Soleimani at a memorial service during the Muslim month of Muharram.
If Ta-eb’s claims are true, they could indicate that the successful Soleimani assassination was part of a years-long campaign by Israel and the West to kill the leader.
The Trump administration has insisted that the Soleimani strike was prompted by an ‘imminent threat’ against four US embassies, but refused to provide any evidence.
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday said he did not see specific evidence from intelligence officials that Iran was planning to attack the embassies.
Iran vowed to seek revenge for Soleimani’s death and promptly abandoned the 2015 Obama-era agreement that muzzled its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
On January, Iran launched missile strikes on US military bases in Iraq that failed to kill any US troops. Iranian officials said they would not retaliate any further and President Trump declared the crisis over.
However, US officials told NBC News that they do not believe that’s the case.
‘If I were a US ambassador, I wouldn’t be starting my own car for the foreseeable future,’ one official said.
President Donald Trump (pictured) has claimed that the Soleimani strike was prompted by an ‘imminent threat’ against four US embassies, but refused to provide any evidence