US
Intelligence Reportedly Gives Israel Green Light To Assassinate
Iran's Top General
1
January, 2018
According
to reports circulating widely in Israeli media today, the
United States has quietly given Israel the green light to assassinate
Iran's top military officer, Iranian Revolutionary Guards al-Quds
Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The leader of Iran's most elite force also coordinates military
activity between the Islamic Republic and Syria, Iraq, Hezbollah, and
Hamas - a position he's filled since 1998 - and as Quds Force
commander reports directly to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali
Khamenei, and oversees Iran's covert operations in foreign countries.
Iran's
Revolutionary Guards have vowed
to crack harshly down on protests currently
gripping multiple major cities across the country, now in their fifth
day, and after a particularly bloody night which saw 12
demonstrators killed -
some of them reportedly shot by security forces.
Iranian
Revolutionary Guards al-Quds Force commander Maj. Gen.
Qassem
Soleimani. Image via The Iran Project
Soleimani. Image via The Iran Project
Iranian
Revolutionary Guards al-Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassem
Soleimani. Image via The Iran Project
The report, though unconfirmed, originated in a Kuwaiti newspaper and is now going viral through a Times of Israel story. The Times of Israel summarizes the context as follows:
Thursday’s report by al-Jarida, which has been known to publish improbable-sounding stories about Israel, was widely picked up by Israeli media. There was no immediate reaction to the report from Jerusalem or Washington.
Three years ago, Israel came close to assassinating Soleimani near Damascus, al-Jarida quoted unnamed source as saying, but the Americans tipped off the Iranians against the background of intense disagreement between Washington and Jerusalem.
That was during the Obama administration, which, according to reports at the time, was so focused on securing the 2015 Iran nuclear accord that it chose to overlook and even obstruct efforts to clamp down on Iranian-backed terror organizations. It’s not clear if the reported tip-off was related to efforts to secure the Iran deal.
And
concerning the current go-ahead for new assassination plans
reportedly given
by US intelligence to the Israelis:
The source was quoted by the paper as saying that Soleimani’s assassination would serve both countries’ interests and that US authorities have given Israel the go-ahead to carry it out.
Israel
has been known to conduct high-risk secretive assassinations in
foreign countries over the past years and decades. One notable
headline grabbing operation,
reportedly by Mossad agents, occurred in 2010 and resulted in the
assassination of a top Hamas commander who had checked into a high
end Dubai hotel after flying in from Syria.
An
eleven man Israeli hit squad had entered the hotel while dressed in
tennis gear and carrying tennis rackets,
and were later reported to
be traveling on fake Irish and French passports. After conducting
surveillance the Mossad agents got Hamas' Mahmoud al-Mabhouh to open
his hotel room door and quickly suffocated him without arousing
suspicion from other hotel guests. By the time the body was
discovered, the assassins had flown out of Dubai to various locations
around the world and were never seen again.
And
in 2015 a secret
document revealed by The Intercept as
part of the Edward Snowden leaked NSA archives confirmed that Israeli
agents had assassinated a top Syrian general and personal aide to
President Assad in 2008 while the general dined at his family home
near Tartus, along the Syrian coast. The daring operation involved
Israeli naval commandos and snipers targeting Gen. Muhammad
Suleiman's house from the waters of the Mediterranean and shooting
him in the head and neck. Israel considered him responsible for
coordinating weapons and supplies between Iran and Lebanese
Hezbollah, as well as overseeing an alleged nascent nuclear
development program at Syria’s Al Kibar facility which
had previously
been bombed by Israeli jets.
Leaked Top Secret NSA cable published by The Intercept in 2015 confirming the Israeli assassination of a top Syrian general.
Six
months prior to Syrian General Suleiman's murder, a top Hezbollah
officer was killed by a joint CIA-Mossad operation in the heart of
Damascus.
According to former intelligence officials who confirmed the
assassination plot to the Washington
Post,
a car bomb planted near a Damascus downtown restaurant instantly
killed Imad Mughniyah - Hezbollah's international operations chief
who was believed to have masterminded several terror attacks
targeting Americans.
So
concerning these latest reports unconfirmed reports that Iran's
Qassem Soleimani might be in Mossad's crosshairs, while
such a high risk operation against a top Iranian official would be
unlikely to succeed, it is certainly not without precedent.
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