Brace yourself Middle East…
By ANNA AHRONHEIM
JANUARY 3, 2020
It was a strike that will shake the Middle East.
The United States on Friday announced that it had taken out Iran’s top general, Qasem Soleimani, as well as Iraqi Shi’ite militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in a strike outside Baghdad’s airport.
Considered a military genius, Soleimani was appointed commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 1997. Until a few years ago, he remained almost invisible to the public eye. But over the past few years, he has risen to international fame as the man behind Iran’s regional aspirations and the country’s fight in Syria.
He was on a hit list: the joker in the hand who, like a cat with nine lives, survived multiple assassination attempts.
But his number came up only two days into the New Year.
And now the entire region is bracing itself for what Iran will do in response to the deadly strike that took out their top military men.
Iran could “very easily” respond to what they see as America’s regional proxies, including the State of Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to Philip Smyth, the Soref Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, speaking to The Jerusalem Post.
Read more at https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/How-will-Iran-react-to-the-killing-of-two-of-their-top-military-men-612974
