Iranian & Iraqi state television have announced that IRGC Quds Force Commander Major General Qassem Soleimani has been killed in airstrikes in the vicinity of Baghdad International Airport (BIAP).
Soleimani's death would be a significant blow to Iran. He was responsible for the recruitment, organization, training, and operations of Iranian backed militias throughout the Middle East.
Soleimani was also responsible for smuggling weapons into Yemen in support of Houthi rebels while Obama & Kerry were negotiating the Iran nuclear deal. This included heavy weapons that they did not have earlier in the internal conflicts within Yemen.
He also oversaw the Ramazan Corps which was directly responsible for hundreds of deaths of American troops during the Iraq War. The Ramazan Corps had also setup a headquarters in Kirkuk in 2017.
Soleimani's death would certainly have a negative short term effect on external operations as he was the architect of nearly everything outside of Iran.
