NBC News cited unnamed sources as saying that Israel added to the early January's military operation by providing the Americans with key intelligence details on the matter.

The details helped confirm and verify intelligence from informants at a Syrian airport that General Soleimani had been on a nighttime flight from Damascus to Baghdad, info which was used to tip off the CIA.

The New York Times, in turn, reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ahead of Soleimani's killing, and the Tel Aviv regime likely became Washington's only ally which was in the know about the issue. 

Unnamed US officials have also told The New York Times that the United States considered targeting General Soleimani since at least July 2018.

According to the newspaper, officials considered assassinating the senior Iranian general outside Iran, in Syria or Iraq, deeming that an attack against him in Iran itself would be too difficult to accomplish.