The United States may have been informed by Israel of Qasem Soleimani's movements, ahead of Friday's drone attack in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad that killed the head of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) elite Quds Force, ex-IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaee said on Saturday
TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th January, 2020) The United States may have been informed by Israel of Qasem Soleimani's movements, ahead of Friday's drone attack in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad that killed the head of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) elite Quds Force, ex-IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaee said on Saturday.
Rezaee, who now serves as secretary of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council, made the comments during an appearance on Iran's IRIB TV2 broadcaster.
"There is a high probability that Israel, via Syria, received information about the flight of Gen. Soleimani and passed this information to the United States," Rezaee stated, adding that he considers the commander's murder to be a planned action by both the US and Israel.
He qualified his claim by stating that on the eve of his death, Soleimani, who was responsible for Iran's military operations abroad, was in Syria before traveling to Iraq. Once he arrived in Baghdad, the car he was traveling in was attacked by a US drone, Rezaee added.
In the early hours of Friday, Soleimani and 11 others, including the deputy commander of an Iraqi Shia militia group, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were killed by a US drone attack near Baghdad International Airport. Soleimani and al-Muhandis were blamed by Washington for organizing demonstrations at the US Embassy in Baghdad on December 31.
US President Donald Trump said the recent strikes were a preemptive, defensive move to prevent war. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has warned that Tehran will take revenge for what it views to be a heinous crime.
In the aftermath of Soleimani's death, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short a visit to Greece, while Israeli embassies and consulates around the world have been placed on high alert.
