U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Asks Citizens to Depart Iraq

U.S. embassy in Baghdad called on its citizens, on Friday, to depart Iraq immediately, after Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, the head of the elite Quds Force was killed in a U.S. air strike.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared, on Friday, a three-day mourning period after the killing of Soleimani, in a US attack targeting him near Baghdad International Airport.

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.

Earlier Friday, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced, in a statement, that Soleimani, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces were killed.

On the other hand, the Pentagon confirmed that Soleimani was killed, explaining: “the strike that killed him  aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.

The Pentagon added 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 was 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 the 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.