The targeted killing of Major General Qassam Soleimani, who led the elite Al-Quds force in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, was ordered by US President Trump. An American air strike hit his convoy, near the airport in Baghdad. The assassination marks a dangerous escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned there would be ‘harsh revenge.’ A senior Iraqi official also died in the attack, and all Americans have now been advised to leave Iraq, because of the threat of reprisal attacks.