1. The assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani appears to signal a new harder military stance by the US towards Iran, which could see future US strikes targeting the Islamic Republic directly in reprisal for anti-US actions carried out by Iran or its regional proxies. 2. Iran and its militia allies in Iraq and Lebanon have vowed a broad retaliation for Soleimani's death that they claim will seek to remove the US military presence from the Middle East and is likely to concentrate on achievable targets such as Iraq and Syria. 3. A potential spin-off effect of the Soleimani assassination is that it could encourage Israel to escalate its campaign of airstrikes against Iran-related targets in Syria and Iraq and possibly even opt for a pre-emptive strike against Hizbullah in Lebanon.
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