On Wednesday, July 18, a bomb killed at least three top officials from Bashar al Assad’s crumbling regime. Among them was Assef Shawkat, the deputy defense minister and former head of Syrian military intelligence. Different accounts of how Shawkat and the others were killed have been offered to the media. Either a suicide bomber or a remotely detonated explosive device did them in. In either case, it was a remarkable turn of events—a boomerang of sorts. For years, Shawkat and his fellow Assad family cronies directed this sort of attack at others, particularly American soldiers in Iraq.

Leaked State Department cables show that Shawkat was one of al Qaeda in Iraq’s (AQI) most important patrons. And he played this role on behalf of his brother-in-law, Bashar al Assad. The Assad regime has American blood on its hands.