Investigative report reveals new secrets about Soleimani assassination

Ali Ragab

Yahoo News revealed in an investigative report, citing various sources, new details about how the administration of former US President Donald Trump planned and implemented the assassination of former Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani on January 3, 2020.

The aforementioned report charts how the careful planning and implementation of the US Army Special Forces following orders from Trump to get rid of Soleimani.

The report indicated that during the targeting of Soleimani at Baghdad Airport, three Delta Force teams were present at the site. Some soldiers wore costumes, including airport workers’ uniforms, and took their positions in old buildings or cars parked on the side of the road.

The three sniper teams were stationed in a way that formed a triangle at a distance of 500-900 meters from the kill zone when Soleimani left the airport.

The report added that the Iraqi government was informed of the closure of the southeastern part of Baghdad airport due to military exercises.

Then the Special Forces Command and Support Forces went to the US embassy in Baghdad that night and watched the events live through the camera of a sniper.

The report emphasized that Iraqi Kurdistan’s Counter Terrorism Group (CTG) also assisted US forces in providing local information as well as closely identifying Soleimani.

The plane carrying Soleimani from the Syrian capital, Damascus, landed at Baghdad airport several hours late.

In addition to the teams stationed on the ground, three American drones flew over the region, two of them armed with Hellfire missiles.

Yahoo News also quoted a US military official as saying that Soleimani changed his mobile phone three times in the six hours preceding his departure from Damascus airport.

However, according to Yahoo News, US forces and their Israeli counterparts were stationed in Tel Aviv to track Soleimani’s cell phones, and then the Israelis, who were able to access Soleimani’s phone numbers, handed them over to the American forces.

Yahoo News added that the Israeli embassy in Washington did not respond to questions in this regard.

Regarding the moment that Soleimani was targeted, the report confirmed that when two cars carrying Soleimani and his comrades entered the designated area outside Baghdad airport, one of the drones fired two missiles at Soleimani’s car.

After the driver of the second car, who was trying to escape, had traveled about 100 meters, Delta Forces opened fire on the car and another missile was fired at the second car via a drone as well.

Yahoo News based its report on interviews with 15 current and former US officials, and the site also confirmed that the Trump administration had studied the killing of Soleimani for a long time.

The report confirmed that the assassination of Soleimani was one of the most important foreign policy decisions of the Trump administration, the effects of which will continue for years, and it may have shaped the strategic atmosphere that President Joe Biden is currently facing in the region.

No comments have yet been received by officials from the Trump administration, nor from officials in the current administration. However, many Trump administration officials have appeared in a video clip published by the site from this report, including, former Deputy National Security Advisor for Middle East and African Affairs Victoria Coates.

That night, Coates said that she and her colleagues were watching the assassination in the White House Operation’s Room. She added that then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in the Pentagon that night, while Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.