Ex-intel chief admits Israel’s role in Qassem Soleimani's assassination

TEL AVIV: Israel’s former military intelligence chief on Tuesday admitted that the country was involved in the American airstrike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, making it the first public admittance of Tel Aviv’s involvement in the operation.

Soleimani, led the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and was believed to have led Iran’s involvement with the paramilitary groups operating overseas. He was killed in a US drone strike conducted at Baghdad Airport, Associated Press reported.

A week after the airstrike, NBC News reported that Israeli intelligence helped confirm the details of Soleimani’s flight from Damascus to Baghdad. Moreover, according to media reports, Israel had access to Soleimani’s numbers and it had conveyed the information to the US.

Maj Gen Tamir Heyman, a former Israel general who led the military intelligence until October, is the first official to confirm Tel Aviv’s involvement in the murder.

The comments first appeared in November in a Hebrew-language magazine closely linked to Israel’s intelligence services. The interview was held in late September, a couple weeks before his retirement from the military.

According to the authors, the former Israeli general begin the interview while talking about the US drone strike, in which ‘Israeli intelligence played a part’. “Assassinating Soleimani was an achievement, since our main enemy, in my eyes, are the Iranians,” Heyman told the magazine.

He went on to add about “two significant and important assassinations during my term” as the head of the army intelligence during his time. “The first, as I’ve already recalled, is that of Qassem Soleimani — it’s rare to locate someone so senior, who is the architect of the fighting force, the strategist and the operator — it’s rare,” he said.

Heyman termed Soleimani “the engine of the train of Iranian entrenchment” in the neighbouring Syria. He further stated that Israeli strikes had been successful in “preventing the attempt by Iran to put down roots in Syria.”

The interview was published as world powers and Iran were engaged in negotiations to reach a new agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear programme. The previous deal, struck in 2015, unraveled after the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and re-imposed crippling economic sanctions on Iran.

Israel considers Tehran a “regional arch-foe” and vows ‘any steps needed’ to prevent it from gaining access to nuclear weapons. On the other hand, Iran holds the stance that its nuclear programme is meant for peaceful purposes.