Iraqi Telecommunication Firm Accused of Collaboration in General Soleimani’s Assassination
By Staff, Agencies
A telecommunication company in Iraq provided the American occupation forces in Iraq with vital information which helped Washington to assassinate former Islamic Revolution Guard Corps [IRGC] Quds Force Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Deputy Commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units [PMU] Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Iraqi media reported.
The Special Committee to Investigate the Assassination of General Soleimani and al-Muhandis has received information about an Iraqi telecommunication company’s involvement in the incident, the Arabic-language Shafaq News reported on Monday, but did not provide any details on the company’s identity.
It quoted an informed source as saying that the committee has received documents from a number of PMU commanders, known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, which showed a telecommunication company had provided the US Army Command at Victoria Base at Iraq Airport with mobile phone information of one of al-Muhandis' associates.
"The US Army Command has obtained sufficient information about the location of al-Muhandis and his meeting with General Soleimani through this phone line, and this has contributed to the assassination process," the source said.
Lieutenant General Soleimani and Hajj Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were assassinated in a US drone strike that targeted their vehicle on the road to the Baghdad International Airport on January 3.
Five Iranian and five Iraqi companions were also martyred during the attack.
On January 8, the IRGC Aerospace Force started heavy ballistic missile attacks on US Ain Al-Assad airbase in Southwestern Iraq near the border with Syria and a US operated airbase in Erbil in retaliation for the US assassination of ant General Qassem Soleimani.
Ain Al-Assad is an airbase with a 4km runway at 188m altitude from sea levels, which is the main and the largest US airbase in Iraq. Early reports said the radar systems and missile defense shields in Ain Al-Assad failed to operate and intercept the Iranian missiles. Unofficial reports said the US army's central radar systems at Ain Al-Assad had been jammed by electronic warfare.
The second IRGC reprisal attack targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan Region in the second leg of "Martyr Soleimani" reprisal operation.
It was the first direct attack on the US army ever since world war two.
The IRGC officials said none of the missiles had been intercepted.
Meanwhile, Iran announced in late June that it had issued arrest warrants for 36 officials of the US and other countries who have been involved in the assassination of the martyred General Soleimani.
