It's important to note that this guy isn't just a top general: He's basically the guy responsible for Iran's foreign policy. It would be like an Iranian airstrike taking out the likes of Dick Cheney during the Bush years.
For anyone who wants more background on Suleimani, this New Yorker piece [0] about him from 2013 is detailed and interesting.
A quick excerpt, if you don't have time for it all:
Suleimani took command of the Quds Force fifteen years ago, and in that time he has sought to reshape the Middle East in Iran’s favor, working as a power broker and as a military force: assassinating rivals, arming allies, and, for most of a decade, directing a network of militant groups that killed hundreds of Americans in Iraq. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has sanctioned Suleimani for his role in supporting the Assad regime, and for abetting terrorism. And yet he has remained mostly invisible to the outside world, even as he runs agents and directs operations. “Suleimani is the single most powerful operative in the Middle East today,” John Maguire, a former C.I.A. officer in Iraq, told me, “and no one’s ever heard of him.”
I wonder if anyone knows we are now at war with Iran. I honestly don't know what will happen. This is really, really bad. There could be tens of thousands of casualties by the weekend.
You could argue that a state of war has existed since the Iranian Revolutionary Council approved the invasion of the US Embassy in Tehran, the murder of workers, and the taking of hostages.
A quick excerpt, if you don't have time for it all:
Suleimani took command of the Quds Force fifteen years ago, and in that time he has sought to reshape the Middle East in Iran’s favor, working as a power broker and as a military force: assassinating rivals, arming allies, and, for most of a decade, directing a network of militant groups that killed hundreds of Americans in Iraq. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has sanctioned Suleimani for his role in supporting the Assad regime, and for abetting terrorism. And yet he has remained mostly invisible to the outside world, even as he runs agents and directs operations. “Suleimani is the single most powerful operative in the Middle East today,” John Maguire, a former C.I.A. officer in Iraq, told me, “and no one’s ever heard of him.”
[0] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/30/the-shadow-com...