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Inside Soleimani's Plot to Attack U.S. Forces in Iraq
(Reuters) In mid-October, Iranian Maj.-Gen. Qasem Soleimani instructed his Iraqi Shi'ite militia allies to step up attacks on U.S. targets in the country, as mass protests against Iran's growing influence in Iraq were gaining momentum. Soleimani's plans to attack U.S. forces aimed to provoke a military response that would redirect that rising Iraqi anger toward the U.S. Two weeks before the meeting, Soleimani ordered Iranian Revolutionary Guards to move more sophisticated weapons - such as Katyusha rockets and shoulder-fired missiles that could bring down helicopters - into Iraq, militia commanders and Iraqi security sources told Reuters. Soleimani ordered Kataib Hezbollah - a force founded by Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis - to form a new militia group to carry out rocket attacks on Americans housed at Iraqi military bases. The U.S. intelligence community had reason to believe that Soleimani was involved in "late stage" planning to strike Americans in multiple countries, including Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, U.S. officials said. On Thursday - the day before the attack that killed Soleimani - U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper warned that the U.S. might have to take preemptive action to protect American lives from expected attacks by Iran-backed militias. "The game has changed," he said.