‘A just struggle’: Netanyahu backs Soleimani’s killing as US ‘self-defense,’ says Quds head planned more attacks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the US assassination of a top Iranian commander a justified act of self-defense and said Donald Trump should be credited for “acting swiftly, forcefully and decisively.”

The Israeli leader said his country “stands with the United States in its just struggle for peace, security and self-defense,” accusing Soleimani of having staged and planned attacks against “American citizens and many other innocent people.”

Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the elite Quds Force, was killed by a US airstrike outside of the Baghdad International Airport in an early Friday targeted assassination operation. Netanyahu cut short his visit to Greece and returned to Israel in response to the news.

The US killing of the senior general has angered people in both Iran and Iraq. Tehran pledged to retaliate for Soleimani death while Iraqi caretaker prime minister said Washington has violated the terms, under which Baghdad allows the US to station its troops on its soil.

Among the dozen people killed by the US airstrike was a senior commander of the Iraqi militia backed by Iran.

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