Leader of IRGC’s elite Quds force, blamed for attacks on Israel, killed in American bombing at airport; head of Iran-backed militia also assassinated.

The US Department of Defense confirmed it had carried out the airstrike. Soleimani’s killing was announced hours after missiles struck at least two cars at Baghdad’s International Airport, killing at least seven people, according to Iraqi officials.

Soleimani’s death will likely mark a major escalation in a simmering conflict between the US and Iran that recently boiled over in Iraq with the storming of the US embassy by pro-Iranian militiamen following a US strike on a Tehran-backed militia.