Israel intelligence helped US kill Soleimani

People gather to protest the US air strike in Iraq that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani (Mohammed Hamoud - Anadolu Agency)

Middle East Monitor  /  January 13, 2020

American reports have revealed that intelligence from Israel helped confirm information that led to the killing of the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, NBC News revealed on Friday [NBC News: ‘Intelligence from Israel helped confirm the details’ (January 10)].

NBC reported that the Syrian Cham Wings Airlines Airbus A320 landed in Baghdad, stating that the American intelligence services, which are based in the airport, identified the exact time and place of the Iranian general.

Israeli intelligence helped confirm the information.

The US did not warn any of its allies in the West or the Middle East about what was going to take place and only informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to The Times of Israel, this what led Netanyahu to say that there were “very, very dramatic things” happening in the region before he was heading to Greece.

“We know that our region is stormy; very, very dramatic things are happening in it,” he told reporters at Ben Gurion Airport.

“We are alert and are monitoring the situation. We are in continuous contact with our great friend the US, including my conversation yesterday afternoon,” he said.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post revealed on Friday that the US failed to assassinate another senior Iranian military official on the same day.

“On the day the US military killed a top Iranian commander in Baghdad, US forces carried out another top-secret mission against a senior Iranian military official in Yemen,” The Washington Post reported US officials saying.

According to the Post, the strike targeting Abdul Reza Shahlai, a financier and key commander in Iran’s elite Quds Force who has been active in Yemen, did not result in his death.