A report by Al Hurra reporter Steven Nabil shows that sources close to the Iraqi government said to him hours before the U.S. attack that killed Iran Quds Force leader Major General Qassem Soleimani as he arrived at the Baghdad airport–reportedly from Syria–that there were fears in the Iraqi government that Soleimani was going to lead a coup and overthrow the government, arrest President Barham Salih and takeover the U.S. embassy.

Qassem Soleimani, before and after.

“What if the strikes were meant to stop a plan, this morning I was hearing from trusted sources close to the government leadership that they were worried of an Iranian backed plan by the Militias and Sulaimani to seize power and arrest the president and declare a new Iraqi norm.”

What if the strikes were meant to stop a plan, this morning I was hearing from trusted sources close to the government leadership that they were worried of an Iranian backed plan by the Militias and Sulaimani to seize power and arrest the president and declare a new Iraqi norm. pic.twitter.com/BDt6Hkp0uF — Steven Nabil (@thestevennabil) January 3, 2020

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One since deleted translation read, “Because Iranian militias and leaders are present, intending a coup and the elimination of important governmental, military and party figures. At the head of the list is Barham Salih, under the charge of working for America. Their plan is to withdraw all their military units and declare a people’s government on this basis while they control the branches of government and give a deadline for the American embassy to withdraw its employees.”

Another since deleted translation reads, “The image says: The militias and the Iranian leaders want to overthrow and kill Iraqi big officials and parties leaders, and military leader ms. Barham Salih is on the top of the list. Their plan is to seize power in Iraq, giving the U.S embassy a time-limit to withdraw”

Hopefully this translation will stay up, “The source say:Iran and its agents in Iraq are planing to perform cope against Iraqi gov.and they will assassinate and arrest the president and gov.members and will attack usa forces.”

The source say:Iran and its agents in Iraq are planing to perform cope against Iraqi gov.and they will assassinate and arrest the president and gov.members and will attack usa forces. — Jihad H.Ali (@JihadHAli4) January 3, 2020

Observers connected the dots:

Qasem Soleimani – IRGC -Dead

Abu Mahdi Mohandes – PMF -Dead

Hadi Ameri – Badr Org -Arested

Qais Khazali – Asaib Ahl al Haq -Arrested With American help, government of Iraq is eliminating threats to its power. The militia has official recognition. So this is a coup d'etat. — Ejder Memis (@_sHx_) January 3, 2020

Kassem Suleimani, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis were killed by American strike and American forces have arrested the terrorist Qais Al-Khazali and Hadi Al-Amiri in Baghdad. Thank u president Trump for stopping iran expansion project #mariamaaloof — Maria Maaloof (@bilarakib) January 3, 2020

We’ll know more tomorrow most likely, but this might explain why President Trump executed such a high stakes attack: To ward off an Iranian coup in Iraq.