What we know about the strike that killed Iranian military leader Gen. Qasem Soleimani
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon confirmed Thursday night that the United States killed powerful Iranian military leader, Major General Qasem Soleimani, at Baghdad’s international airport in an airstrike.
The Defense Department said it conducted the attack at President Donald Trump's direction as a "defensive action" against Soleimani, who it said was planning further attacks on American diplomats and service members.
More: U.S. launched Baghdad airstrike that killed Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani
Here's what we know so far:
He was the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force
Qasem Soleimani was one of the regime's most powerful figures. The 62-year-old became head of the Quds Force in the late 1990s.
The Quds Force is an elite part of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which Trump designated a foreign terrorist organization in April.
This was the first time the U.S. designated the arm of another government as a terrorist organization.
The Quds are known for their irregular and unconventional warfare style.
The Department of State blamed Iranian forces for "the deaths of at least 603 American service members in Iraq since 2003" and that "this accounts for 17% of all deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011."
Qasem Soleimani largely led most Iranian-backed forces in operations during the Iraq War.
According to the Associated Press:
Quds Force members have deployed into Syria’s long war to support President Bashar Assad, as well as into Iraq in the wake of the 2003 U.S. invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, a longtime foe of Tehran.
Soleimani rose to prominence by advising forces fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and in Syria on behalf of the embattled Assad.
U.S. officials say the Guard under Soleimani taught Iraqi militants how to manufacture and use especially deadly roadside bombs against U.S. troops after the invasion of Iraq. Iran has denied that. Soleimani himself remains popular among many Iranians, who see him as a selfless hero fighting Iran’s enemies abroad.
White House response so far
Trump's first tweet following the attack was a picture of the American flag. He pinned the tweet to the top of his profile.
The White House soon after shared the statement by the Department of Defense.
Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham retweeted both tweets by Trump and the White House's twitter.
Others killed in the attack
According to the AP, strike also killed six others.
Among those was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, and five others, including the PMF’s airport protocol officer, Mohammed Reda.
Strike comes days after Embassy attack
The strike came just a few days after supporters of the Iran-backed Iraqi militia, Kataib Hezbollah, mobbed the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
Related: Photos reveal extensive damage to US Embassy in Baghdad as American soldiers rush to region
The breach at the embassy followed U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah.
The U.S. military said the strikes were in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a Dec. 27th rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that the U.S. blamed on the militia.
The Defense Department said Thursday that Soleimani had "orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months - including the attack on December 27th - culminating in the death and wounding of additional American and Iraqi personnel." The Iranian general also approved the attacks on the U.S. Embassy, the Pentagon said.
Contributing: The Associated Press, Deirdre Shesgreen, Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What we know about strike on Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani