Former Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot revealed that his army had "almost killed" commander of Iran's Quds Force Qassem Soleimani in Syria years before his was assassinated by the United States.
In an interview with Israel's Maariv newspaper, he said his forces have carried out several operations against the ISIS terrorist group, killing almost hundreds of its members.
The Israeli army carried out direct air strikes and land operations against ISIS members wherever they were found in the Middle East, he revealed.
"We decided to take part in the fight against ISIS. In cooperation with several other armies, we carried out countless operations," he added.
"We targeted members of the organization on a very wide scale. I estimate that our operations killed hundreds of operatives, wounded over 1,000 members and destroyed positions and infrastructure," he continued.
One of these operations took place in Syria and "almost killed Soleimani two years before he was assassinated by an American strike," revealed Eizenkot.
He managed to survive by sheer luck, he added without elaborating.
Soleimani was ultimately killed by a US drone strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020.
