A/HRC/44/38 Annex I. The targeted killing of General Soleimani 1. This case study examines the targeted killing by US armed drone of Iran’s General Quassem Soleimani in Iraq. It is based on legal and policy analyses of the facts as they are known to the Special Rapporteur. The case in question 2. On 3 January 2020, a targeted drone strike in the vicinity of Baghdad International Airport killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMFs), four other members of the PMF (Muhammed Reza al-Jaberi, Hassan Abdu al-Hadi, Muhammad al-Shaybani, Haider Ali) and four members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Hossein Pourjafari, Shahroud Mozafarinia, Hadi Taremi, Vahid Zamanian) were reportedly killed in the strike. It is unclear whether civilians were harmed or killed in the attack.1 3. Arriving from Damascus reportedly on an official visit upon the invitation of the then Prime Minister of Iraq, General Soleimani landed at Bagdad airport around 1:00 am where he was met by Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes. Moments after leaving the airport, his convoy was hit by a drone strike, killing at least ten persons. Notice of the strike was only made public some hours later at 4:00 am. In the meantime, the airport went into lockdown with all flights suspended.2 4. Some hours after the strike, the US Department of Defense (DoD) claimed that the US military3 had taken this “decisive” action against General Soleimani at the direction of US President Trump.4 5. On the same night that Soleimani was killed, the US military in Yemen allegedly targeted the commander of the Yemen division of Iran’s elite Quds Force, Abdul Reza Shahlai. The attempt failed, but killed instead Mohammad Mirza, a Quds Force operative.5 6. Five days later, on January 8, Iran launched numerous pin-point precision6 ballistic strikes, against two Coalition force bases in Iraq, including the Ain al-Assad airbase from which the US drone strike against General Soleimani was launched. The strikes injured over 100 US servicemen, including 34 troops with traumatic brain injury.7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 https://airwars.org/civilian-casualties/?country=iraq,syria&belligerent=coalition. The Special Rapporteur is unaware of any statement by the US administration identifying who else was killed and their role, if any, in ongoing or imminent attacks on the US. For a timeline of the event, see this video by Al Arabiya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7egpOeaJU4. Reporting suggests the involvement of the US Central Intelligence Agency as well. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/mideast/airport-informants-overhead-drones-how-u-s-killedsoleimani-n1113726. https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2049534/statement-by-the-departmentof-defense/. The DoD claimed that this was a “defensive” action, that General Soleimani was “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region” and the “strike was aimed at deterring future attack plans.” See https://theintercept.com/2020/01/10/us-strike-abdul-reza-shahlai-yemen/; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/on-the-day-us-forces-killed-soleimani-theylaunched-another-secret-operation-targeting-a-senior-iranian-official-in-yemen. https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/soleimani-helped-turn-iran-into-one-of-the-most-effectiveproponents-of-remote-warfare-his-impact-lives-on/. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-pentagon-tbi-exclusive/exclusive-more-than-100-u-s-troopsdiagnosed-with-brain-injuries-from-iran-attack-officials-idUSKBN2041ZK. 23