Russia sent Marshal Ustinov missile ship to Syria amid fears of a confrontation between the U.S. and Iran in the wake of the killing of Iranian military top commander Qassem Soleimani in a US air strike in Baghdad.
The missile ship transited Bosphorus Strait and entered the Mediterranean on its way to Syria, Sputnik reported.
Earlier this month, the United States carried out strikes on military vehicles inside Baghdad International Airport, in which Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force and and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces were killed.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stressed that that “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the US, adding that Soleimani’s killing will double the motivation of the resistance against the United States and Israel.
The Pentagon said that US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Soleimani to protect US personnel abroad.
The Pentagon stated that Soleimani and the elite Quds Force are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.
Noteworthy, Soleimani was born in 11 March 1957, in his youth, he moved to the city of Kerman and worked as a construction worker to help repay a debt his father owed. In 1975, he began working as a contractor for the Kerman Water Organization. When not at work, he spent his time lifting weights in local gyms and attending sermons of a traveling preacher, Hojjat Kamyab, a protege of Ayatollah Khomeini.
Soleimani, Iranian Major General in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was considered one of the most influential military operators in the Middle East.
The 62-year-old, who was killed hours ago in a strike by US army in Iraq, shouldered responsibility for Iran’s selective operations abroad, such as those in Syria and Iraq.
