Baghdad, Iraq – It was 1am on January 3, 2020, when news arrived that an American drone had targeted a convoy of vehicles in Iraq’s capital, in which a top Iranian general was believed to have been killed.
Before the hour was up, Iraqi state television corroborated what many had suspected: Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani was among the 10 victims of the deadly strike, which the United States later said was part of a wider strategy to deter enemies.
By the time the country woke up that morning, the news had sent shockwaves across the globe, with some Iraqis comparing their disbelief to what they felt when Saddam Hussein was toppled.