(Times of Israel) – Top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani has met with Iran-linked Iraqi militias in Baghdad, telling them to “prepare for proxy war,” according to a report Thursday, amid rapidly rising tensions between the Washington and Tehran. Soleimani called the militias for a meeting three weeks ago, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear when the meeting actually took place. “It
wasn’t a call to arms, but it wasn’t far off,” a senior intelligence source said. The meeting played a part in the US State Department’s decision on Wednesday to order all nonessential government staff to leave Iraq, as Germany and the Netherlands both suspended their military assistance programs in the country. While Soleimani has regularly met with leaders of Iraqi Shia groups in recent years, this meeting stood out, the source said. READ MORE
