On 3 January 2020, amid rising tensions between the United States and Iran, the U.S. launched a drone strike against a convoy traveling near Baghdad International Airport that was carrying several passengers, including Iranian Major General and IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The attack came after the U.S withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and after the 2019-2020 Persian Gulf crisis. In the week before the attack, an Iraqi airbase was attacked, killing a U.S. contractor. Days later, the U.S. embassy in Iraq was vandalized during protests. The U.S. blamed Iran for these incidents.
The attack sharply escalated tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Iranian leaders vowed to take revenge on the U.S. and U.S. officials said that they would preemptively attack any Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraw that they perceived as a threat. Republicans in the U.S. largely supported the attacks, as did Israeli prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu. Democrats in the U.S. acknowledged Soleimani's culpability in the killing of Americans, but questioned the wisdom of such a provocative attack that would raise tensions in the Middle East. Syrian and Russian officials condemned the attack and representatives from China, India, Pakistan, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom urged restraint and diplomacy.
The United States intervened in Iraq in 2014 as a part of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the United States–led mission to degrade and combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terror organization, and have been training and operating alongside Iraqi forces as a part of the anti-ISIL coalition. ISIL was largely beaten back from Iraq in 2017 during the Iraqi Civil War, with the help of primarily Iran-backed Shia militias—Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), reporting to the Iraqi prime minister since 2016—and the United States-backed Iraqi Armed Forces. Tensions rose between Iran and the United States in 2018 when United States President, Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions against Iran, which "led to a sharp downturn in Iran's economy". In the ensuing 2019–2020 Persian Gulf crisis, attacks on several oil tankers and on Saudi oil fields were considered by Western powers to be among Iran's responses to the sanctions, although Iran denied responsibility.
On 27 December 2019, the K-1 Air Base in Kirkuk province, Iraq—one of many Iraqi military bases that host Operation Inherent Resolve coalition personnel—was attacked by more than 30 rockets, killing a United States civilian contractor and injuring four United States service members and two Iraqi security forces personnel. The United States blamed the Iranian-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militia for the attack. A senior United States official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said there had been a campaign of 11 attacks on Iraqi bases hosting OIR personnel in the two months before 27 December incident, many of which the United States attributed to Kata'ib Hezbollah. On 29 December 2019, US airstrikes on Kata'ib Hezbollah's headquarters killed 25 militia members.
On 31 December 2019, after a funeral was held for the Kata'ib Hezbollah militiamen that were killed by the prior American airstrikes, an angry mob of dozens of Iraqi Shiite militiamen and their supporters marched through the perimeters of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone and surrounded the United States embassy compound. According to the Associated Press, the Iraqi Security Forces did not attempt to stop the mob and permitted them to pass a security checkpoint. Dozens of the demonstrators then smashed through a main door of the checkpoint, set fire to the reception area, raised Popular Mobilization Units militia flags, left anti-American posters, and sprayed anti-American graffiti. United States president Donald Trump accused Iran of orchestrating the attack on the embassy and added that they would be held "fully responsible". Iran's foreign ministry denied they were behind the protests at the U.S. embassy and warned against any retaliation. Supreme leader of Iran Ali Khameini tweeted "If Iran wants to fight a country, it will strike directly." Eric Trump made a suggestive tweet foreshadowing 3 January attacks, then deleted it afterward.
Iranian Major General and IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Units militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in a US airstrike on 3 January 2020 while traveling in a convoy on an access road near Baghdad International Airport. Several missiles fired from a drone struck the convoy and at least seven people are thought to have died. According to Ayatollah Ali Sistani's office, among them were several commanders who defeated Islamic State terrorists. The United States Department of Defense issued a statement that said the American strike was carried out "at the direction of the president" and was meant to deter future attacks. He asserted that Soleimani had been planning further attacks on American diplomats and military personnel and had approved the attacks on the American embassy in Baghdad. Soleimani's body was identified using a ring he wore on his finger. DNA results regarding the identification of the victims is still pending, however a senior Pentagon official stated that there was "high probability" that Soleimani is identified. PMU spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi confirmed both of their deaths to Reuters.
Soleimani's death has raised tensions between the United States and Iran. A spokesman for the Iranian government said the country's top security body would hold an extraordinary meeting shortly to discuss the "criminal act of attack". Global oil prices soared more than four percent in the wake of the strike, pushing oil stocks (of BP and Royal Dutch Shell) on the London stock exchange higher. U.S. equity futures and Asian stocks reversed their gains for the day and investors moved towards "safe haven" assets such as gold, treasury bonds, and the Japanese Yen. In the wake of the attack, World War III became a trending topic on Twitter, as did Franz Ferdinand. After the attack, on the night of 2 January 2020 (US time), several planes with U.S. service members took off from bases in the eastern United States. According to online plane tracking software, they traveled due east, with U.S. Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers concurrently taking off from RAF Mildenhall in the UK. The US embassy in Baghdad urged Americans to leave Iraq immediately "via airline while possible, and failing that, to other countries via land." The French embassy in Tehran sent a Twitter message urging its citizens to stay away from public gatherings and to behave with prudence and discretion and abstain from taking pictures in public spaces.
Courtesy : Wikipedia
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