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As Israel’s role in Soleimani strike is revealed, Hezbollah’s Nasrallah warned he could be next

As the region reels from a tumultuous week of tensions between the US and Iran, new information has come to light, alleging that the sole foreign leader who knew of US President Trump’s plans to assassinate Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Reports surfaced over the weekend that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo briefed Netanyahu on the strike ahead of time, and thanked the premiere for Israel’s role in the strike.

US media reported that the Israeli state provided key intelligence to the Americans confirming intelligence the US had received about Soleimani’s travel plans and whereabouts leading up to the strike on his convoy at the Baghdad International Airport on January 3rd.

While the rest of the world’s leaders remained in the dark about the US plans, Netanyahu spoke to reporters at the Tel Aviv airport hours before Soleimani’s vehicle was targeted by a drone strike, affirming his support for the United States’ “its full right to defend itself and its citizens.”

“We know that our region is stormy; very, very dramatic things are happening in it,” Netanyahu said. “We are alert and are monitoring the situation. We are in continuous contact with our great friend the US, including my conversation yesterday afternoon.”

On Friday, Iran reportedly warned Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that he could be the next target of the US military, according to a Channel 13 report by journalist Ronen Bergman, who co-authored the in-depth New York Times report on the past week’s tensions.

The report added that Nasrallah was instructed to beef up his security after the attack on Soleimani.

According to the Times of Israel, following the Channel 13 report, Likud Minister Yoav Gallant, a high-level Israeli security official, warned that Nasrallah “should be wary” as he is “the most prominent figure left in Middle Eastern terror,” following the US killings of Soleimani, Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, and Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghadi over the past few years.

By Sunday, Nasrallah had gone public with threats that any further aggression against Iran or US refusal to withdraw troops from the region would result in retaliatory attacks from Hezbollah

“If in the coming days or weeks the US doesn’t withdraw its forces from the Middle East, the American soldiers will return to the US in coffins,” Nasrallah said during a memorial ceremony for Soleimani, with whom he maintained close ties.

Nasrallah went on to say that Iran’s retaliatory strikes on the American military bases in Iraq sent a “strong message to the Zionist entity,” and that any future attacks on Iran could warrant attacks on Israel.

On Monday afternoon, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz tweeted in both Hebrew and Arabic about Nasrallah’s “attacks” on Netanyahu and threats against Israel.

“If he [Nasrallah] challenges Israel – that won’t help him either,” Katz wrote, referring to the bunker that Israel claims Nasrallah has been hiding in since 2006 out of fear of being targeted by Israel.

Over the weekend, Katz had postponed a planned visit to Dubai over alleged security concerns amid the US-Iran tensions.

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https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israeli-intel-helped-the-united-states-to-take-out-soleimani-report-says-1.8382401?utm_term=20200112-08%3A11&utm_campaign=Haaretz&utm_medium=email&writerAlerts=true&utm_source=smartfocus&utm_content=www.haaretz.com%2Fisrael-news%2F1.8382401

“Israeli Intel Helped the United States to Take Out Soleimani, Report Says”

“Informants at the Damascus international airport tipped off the CIA about the time Soleimani’s plane took off for Baghdad, while Israel confirmed the information provided to the Americans.”

Haaretz, Jan. 12/20

“Israeli intelligence helped the United States to assassinate Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in near Baghdad, NBC reported on Friday.

“According to the report, informants at the Damascus international airport tipped off the CIA about the time Soleimani’s plane took off for Baghdad, while Israel confirmed the intelligence provided to the Americans.

“According to The New York Times, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo before Soleimani was assassinated, being the only leader in the region that was informed about the operation.

“As the Cham Wings Airbus A320 carrying Soleimani landed outside the Iraqi capital, CIA agents at the Baghdad International Airport confirmed the exact location of the plane, the NBC report said.

“Then, U.S. drones armed with four Hellfire missiles, moved into position in the Iraqi airspace, fully controlled by American forces.

“In a bid to unravel the chain of events that led to Soleimani’s killing, NBC interviewed two sources directly familiar with the details of the operation that took out the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, as well as other senior officials who were informed about it.

“Iraqi authorities are currently holding four people suspected of aiding the U.S. – two Baghdad airport employees and two Cham Wings airline workers, who are believed to be part of a broader network that provided information about Soleimani to the United States. The authorities suspect that the four informed the CIA about Soleimani’s arrival in Iraq on the night he was killed.

“In addition, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday that their country carried out a secret operation in Yemen that targeted, but failed to kill, an Iranian military official last week.

“The strike was carried out on the same day that the United States struck Soleimani, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The timing could suggest that the United States had sought to take out a broader swathe of the Iranian military leadership when it killed Soleimani, citing an imminent threat from him.

“The Pentagon declined comment on the failed strike in Yemen, first reported by the Washington Post.

“U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States killed Soleimani because ‘they were looking to blow up our embassy.’

“Trump said the United States also carried out the strike because of a rocket attack on a U.S. military base in Iraq by an Iran-backed militia in December that killed a U.S. contractor, which U.S. officials believe Soleimani had a role in orchestrating.

“Asked about Trump’s remarks on the plot to blow up the Baghdad embassy, a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted Soleimani had orchestrated protests at the embassy and acknowledged there had been such plotting to blow up the embassy.

“The official declined to provide details on the U.S. intelligence.”

As any honest, informed person knows, “the most prominent figure left in Middle Eastern terror” is Israel’s Prime Gangster Benjamin Netanyahu. Orwell’s prediction has come true.

Netanyahu has exerted himself for a quarter century to set up a war between Iran and the US, to benefit Israel.

Nasrallah is no fool. I’m sure he expects assassination attempts (and has probably survived a few) and has made arrangements for succession in case one attempt succeeds. He might even expect one to succeed eventually.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/13/seems-increasingly-likely-trump-just-made-imminent-threat-posed-soleimani

“Seems Increasingly Likely Trump Just Made Up the ‘Imminent Threat’ Posed by Soleimani”

“New reporting reveals the president conditionally approved the Iranian general’s assassination seven months ago.” By Andrea Germanos, staff writer, Common Dreams, Jan. 13/20

“New reporting out Monday further erodes the White House narrative that President Donald Trump was justified in ordering the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani earlier this month because Soleimani posed an ‘imminent’ threat to American targets.

“According to NBC News, Trump authorized Soleimani’s killing in June—seven months ago—on the condition that Iranian actions resulted in the death of an American. The assassination was pushed by Iran war hawks John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, who wanted the U.S. to carry out the killing in retaliation for Iran shooting down a US. drone in June. Trump responded to the push by responding ‘that’s only on the table if they hit Americans,’ according to a person briefed on the discussion.

“Discussions on targeting Soleimani began even earlier. From NBC: ‘The idea of killing Soleimani came up in discussions in 2017 that Trump’s national security adviser at the time, retired Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, was having with other administration officials about the president’s broader national security strategy, officials said. But it was just one of a host of possible elements of Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Iran and ‘was not something that was thought of as a first move,’ said a former senior administration official involved in the discussions.’

“Middle East analyst Juan Cole added to the mounting scrutiny over Trump’s ‘imminent’ threat narrative on Monday. Writing at his Informed Comment blog, Cole noted:
‘[Soleimani] does not appear to have killed or had killed any Americans at all in the past decade, and from 2015 because of the U.N. Security Council nuclear deal with Iran, Soleimani was not an adversary of the US in recent years. In fact, he was often a de facto ally and the U.S. Air Force gave him air support at Tikrit and elsewhere in the campaign against ISIL (ISIS, Daesh). In fact, for a while there Soleimani was fighting ISIL and al-Qaeda-linked militias in Syria in tacit alliance with the Kurds supported by the United States at a time when Israel allied with an al-Qaeda affiliate in the Golan Heights.’

‘Moreover, the entire narrative of the Trump administration was undermined by Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdelmahdi, who told Parliament on Jan. 5 when he asked its members to kick out the U.S. military, that he had personally invited Soleimani to Baghdad as part of a back-channel set of negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Iran aimed at cooling down tensions between the two. Soleimani did not sneak into Iraq on a covert mission. He flew on a commercial jet and went through passport control with his diplomatic passport.

‘While an attempt was made to invade the U.S. embassy on the Wednesday before Soleimani’s arrival, that was done by members of the Iraqi militia, the Kata’ib Hizbullah, who were angry that on December 30, the Trump administration bombed its bases in northern Iraq and killed some two dozen of its fighters.’

“Cole suggested the Trump administration appeared to be taking a page from the George W. Bush administration, which set up the Office of Special Plans to amass sketchy evidence to push the narrative of a threat of weapons of mass destruction posed by Iraq.

“Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have also found evidence presented to them by administration officials to be unconvincing.

“Among that group is Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who pointed to Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s comments to CBS Sunday that he ‘didn’t see’ any specific evidence about four U.S. embassies being targeted by Soleimani.

“Speaking on MSNBC’s Kasie DC show Sunday, Merkley said, ‘the whole imminent argument is basically made up and they’re trying to backfill and give that some substance.’

“‘But it wasn’t there,’ Merkley said. ‘It wasn’t in the [Senate] briefing. It wasn’t detailed… and there’s Secretary Esper trying to square the circle and having a hard time doing it.’

“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also contributed to the doubt over the administration’s stated justification, telling Fox News last week that the administration actually didn’t know when or where the purported ‘imminent’ attacks were going to take place.

“Soleimani’s killing has sparked Agnes Callamard, United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, to call this month for an impartial probe.”