Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi revealed that the aircraft that targeted Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, near Baghdad airport, had an Iraqi approval.
The two men were assassinated in a US strike on Baghdad International Airport in Iraq on January 3. This unprecedented operation came as a result of the tension in relations between Washington and Tehran.
In televised statements, the former Iraqi prime minister said: “The plane that targeted the leaders (referring to Soleimani and Muhandis) near Baghdad airport obtained Iraqi approval.”
His comments came nearly a year following Soleimani’s assassination and in the wake of the recent operation that killed Iranian nuclear engineer Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on Iranian soil.
It is noteworthy that flying drones in the Iraqi airspace must obtain prior approval of the joint operations room, which directly reports to the prime minister. The head of the caretaker government at the time, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, issued an order in August 2019 prohibiting any flights, even by the international coalition, following the targeting of a military camp by aircraft, which the Iraqi official circles said were Israeli.
In this context, Professor of National Security at Nahrain University and head of Akkad Center for Strategic Affairs and Political Studies, Dr. Hussein Allawi, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The possibility of the Iraqi government knowing about the airport incident was non-existent. Such covert operations armed with drones are not disclosed, and they are part of the national security secrets of the state that targeted two important leaders in the Iraqi field and the Middle East, and this is what the US administration announced.”
