Hezbollah leader says he warned Qassem Soleimani of U.S. assassination threat

BEIRUT – Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday he had warned Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani of the risk of assassination and met him in the Lebanese capital Beirut on New Year's Day before he was killed in a U.S. attack in Baghdad. Nasrallah, in a speech commemorating Soleimani, said he had told Iran's pre-eminent military commander some time ago of concern for his life. Soleimani was killed on Friday in a targeted U.S. drone strike on his convoy at Baghdad airport. "I told him … there is great focus on you in the American media, press and magazines and they're printing your pictures on the front page as'the irreplaceable general,' this is media and political priming for your assassination," Nasrallah said.