In a news story that is perhaps best described with an Alien vs Predator metaphor (see below), a General with Iran’s Qods Force was killed by an ISIS sniper in Iraq. It’s worth noting that the Qods Force is an arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which was ruled a complicit actor in the 9/11 attacks by a U.S. Federal Judge.

Here are the details of the commander’s death via Long War Journal:

An Islamic State sniper gunned down a general in Iran’s Qods Force who was advising Iraqi troops and Shiite militias in the battleground city of Samarra in central Iraq.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) announced that Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi was “martyred” while serving in Samara, close to the “shrine of Imam Hassan Askari” on Dec. 27, 2014, Jahan News, a hard-line Iranian media outlet reported. Taqavi was killed by an Islamic State “sniper,” ABNA noted.

Taqavi served as an “adviser to the [Iraqi] Army and the popular mobilization of the Iraqi people,” a reference to the Shiite militias that fight alongside the Iraqi military. Iran’s Qods Force, the expeditionary special operations arm of the IRGC, is tasked with supporting the Iraqi military and Shiite militias, including the Badr Brigade, Hezbollah Brigades, Asaib al Haq (League of the Righteous), and Muqtada al Sadr’s Promised Day Brigade (or Peace Brigade). The Shiite militias have been instrumental in reinforcing beleaguered and demoralized Iraqi forces, and have helped retake some areas in Iraq, including Jurf al Sakhar and Amerli.

A man above Taqavi with the Qods Force is the group’s superior commander Qasem Soleimani, who has also been in Samarra. According to LWJ, Iran is very invested in protecting a sacred Shiite shrine:

Samarra is a key front in Iraq’s current war against the Islamic State, and Iran has placed considerable importance on supporting Iraq’s military and the Shiite militias operating there. Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Qods Force, has been spotted in Samarra directing military operations. As recently as last month, he was photographed alongside Shiite militiamen in Samarra. The Qods Force commander has also been spotted on other key fronts as Shiite militias continue to battle the Islamic State.

The Al Askari shrine in Samarra is one of the most important in Shiite Islam, and its fall to the Islamic State would be a major blow to Iran.

In 2012, Shoebat.com reported on the plans issued to Soleimani by the Ayatollah to launch attacks against the U.S.

It is not known if Taqavi’s death will increase the need for Soleimani’s presence in Samarra. Hadi al-Ameri, commander for another arm of the IRGC – the Badr Brigade – is also leading operations in Iraq against ISIS. As has been reported, he is among the most ruthless of Iran’s henchmen. Here is video of him kissing the Ayatollah’s ring:

In 2011, al-Ameri was welcomed into the White House. At the time, he was Iraq’s new transportation minister.

Hadi al-Ameri in Oval Office in 2011.

This visit by al-Ameri was highly controversial because of his suspected involvement in the terror attack on the Khobar Towers in 1996 that murdered 19 U.S. soldiers. Here is an interview with one of the survivors of that attack, William Schooley at the time of al-Ameri’s visit to the White House:

As Shoebat.com reported on at some length, IRGC was found complicit in the September 11, 2001 attacks by United States District Judge George B. Daniels on December 22, 2011. The case proved that Iran and its many arms – including IRGC – collaborated with al-Qaeda in the attacks:

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