In the first public acknowledgment of Israel’s role in the operation, Israel’s former military intelligence chief says the Jewish state was involved in the American airstrike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.

A week after Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike at the Baghdad airport in January 2020, NBC News reported that Israeli intelligence helped confirm the details of Soleimani’s flight from Damascus to Baghdad. Earlier this year, a Yahoo News reported that Israel “had access to Soleimani’s numbers” and gave that intelligence to the United States.

But Maj. Gen. Tamir Heyman, the now-retired general who headed military intelligence until October, appears to be the first official to confirm Israel’s involvement.

Heyman’s comments were published in the November issue of the Malam magazine published by the Israeli Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center.

“Assassinating Soleimani was an achievement, since our main enemy, in my eyes, are the Iranians,” Heyman told the magazine. He said there were “two significant and important assassinations during my term” as head of army intelligence.

“The first, as I’ve already recalled, is that of Qassem Soleimani — it’s rare to locate someone so senior, who is the architect of the fighting force, the strategist and the operator — it’s rare,” he said. Heyman called Soleimani “the engine of the train of Iranian entrenchment” in neighboring Syria.

Heyman said that Israeli strikes had succeeded in “preventing the attempt by Iran to put down roots in Syria.”

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Heyman’s remarks.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is landing in Israel on Tuesday to meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.

Sullivan will also meet with Palestinian President Mohammed Abbas in Ramallah to discuss strengthening US-Palestinian ties.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)