The
United States killed Iran's top general and the architect of Tehran’s proxy wars in the
Middle East in an airstrike at Baghdad's international airport early on Friday, an attack that threatens to dramatically ratchet up tensions in the region.
The targeted killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, could draw forceful Iranian retaliation against
American interests in the region and spiral into a far larger conflict between the U.S. and
Iran, endangering U.S. troops in
Iraq,
Syria and beyond.