Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian general responsible for spreading Shiite influence across the Middle East and marshaling Tehran's proxy terrorist forces, was killed in an airstrike in Iraq on Thursday night.

Iranian sources immediately blamed the United States, ratcheting up fears of a full-fledged conflict between the two countries and terrorist reprisals against U.S. targets worldwide. The Pentagon later confirmed that Soleimani was killed by the U.S. on President Trump's orders.

Soleimani, 62, was killed in an airstrike near Baghdad International Airport along with Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, head of the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces. The general was referred to as Tehran’s “shadow commander” during his time as the head of the Quds Force, a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for conducting special operations outside Iranian territory.



U.S. official confirms a U.S. strike killed Qassem Soleimani- Reuters reporting — Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) January 3, 2020



The airstrike, apparently by a drone, came hours after Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that U.S. forces would preemptively hit Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria if the paramilitary groups planned further attacks against U.S. bases or personnel.

Rep. Michael Waltz, a Florida Republican and retired Green Beret officer, hailed the airstrike as proof that President Trump would protect U.S. interests overseas and was "absolutely the right move and long overdue." Speaking on Fox News, he said Soleimani was "responsible for massive human rights abuses, not to mention the American blood on his hands."

Soleimani was believed to have been behind the killing of hundreds of U.S. troops in Iraq. Last year, the State Department said that Iran was responsible for 608 U.S. troop deaths in the country.

His death followed a violent protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that is believed to have been influenced by Iranian proxies. U.S. officials responded by reinforcing the embassy with 100 Marines and two Apache helicopters and the deployment of 750 members of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley warned on Thursday that the U.S. would not hesitate to defend its interests against further threats in the region.

Soleimani rose to prominence during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, eventually rising to become the leader of the Quds Force. He and his group are believed to have supported Shiite insurgency operations against U.S. forces during the occupation of Iraq, including the supplying of explosively formed penetrators, a special kind of improvised explosive device capable of penetrating U.S. armor.

In recent years, Soleimani helped support the rise of the Popular Mobilization Units and helped place Iranian-backed Iraqi politicians in powerful positions. His death could prove to be a major blow against Iran’s growing influence in the region, as he was considered to be Tehran’s main agent there.