A network of informants in Damascus and Baghdad international airports collaborated with the U.S. military as part of the drone strike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Abu Mahdi Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an exclusive report by Reuters revealed on Thursday.
According to the report, an investigation into the drone strike is being led by Falih al-Fayadh, who is Iraq’s National Security Adviser and head of the PMF, which organizes Shi’ite militias backed by Iran.
The investigation has “strong indications that a network of spies inside Baghdad Airport were involved in leaking sensitive security details,” on Soleimani’s arrival to Baghdad, an Iraqi security official told Reuters. They were comprised of two security staffers at the Baghdad airport and two Cham Wings employees, including “a spy at the Damascus airport and another one working on board the airplane,” the source said.
The investigators see the four as part of a wider group of people who were feeding information to the U.S. military.
“Initial findings of the Baghdad investigation team suggest that the first tip on Soleimani came from Damascus International Airport. The job of the Baghdad International Airport cell was to confirm the arrival of the target and details of his convoy,” said a security official.
