BREAKING: IRANIAN MISSILE ATTACK ON 2 BASES IN SUNNI IRAQ AND KURDISTAN REGION

An Iranian missile impact at the al-Assad Iraqi base in Anbar Province, Iraq on January 8, 2020 (via @BaxtiyarGoran on Twitter)

The Pentagon has confirmed that at least 2 Iraqi bases housing US troops were struck by ballistic missiles launched from inside Iran. The al-Assad airbase in Anbar Province, in the Sunni Arab heartland, and a base near Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, were both struck by 15 missiles. Sunni and Kurdish MP’s boycotted the vote in the Iraqi parliament on Sunday to mandate the expulsion of US forces from Iraq, indicating the the regime in Tehran was not only sending a message to the United States with this attack, but to Sunnis and Kurds as well.

The Pentagon has reported no casualties among American service members, although casualties have been reported among Iraqi troops, including possibly the chief of Iraqi operations in Anbar province.

US President Trump is reportedly meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State Esper at the White House to assess the outcome in the attacks. President Trump has already threatened the Iranian regime on Twitter regarding retaliatory attacks on Iraqi bases for the death of Qassam Soleimani, promising a “disproportionate” response.

This story is developing and will be updated with new/revised information as available. We encourage our global prayer partners to join us in prayer for the safety of both military personnel, civilians and ministry teams on the ground throughout the region in the coming days, and for divine wisdom to be granted to President Trump and other world leaders in their response to the aggression of the Iranian regime.

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https://www.npr.org/2020/01/07/794388410/military-base-housing-u-s-troops-in-iraq-has-been-attacked

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/jan/07/trump-news-today-live-impeachment-articles-iran-latest-updates-democrats

IRAN, IRAQ, UNITED STATESJANUARY 8, 2020

BREAKING: US AIRSTRIKE KILLS HEAD OF IRANIAN "QUDS FORCE" AND SENIOR IRAQI HEZBOLLAH LEADER AT BAGHDAD AIRPORT

Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the elite Quds Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, both killed in an airstrike Friday morning at Baghdad Airport. (Credit: Fars News Agency via Wikimedia Commons)

US officials have confirmed that an airstrike on a vehicle convoy inside Baghdad airport early Friday morning killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard "Quds Force" commander Qassem Solemani. The commander of the "Kataib Hezbollah" militia in Iraq, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was also killed in the same strike. Kataib Hezbollah is sponsored and directed by the IRGC, and al-Muhandis was also second-in-command over all Iraqi militias in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). Several other Iraqi militia figures were also killed in the strike.

The Pentagon released a statement confirming that US President Trump had authorized the strike that killed Solemaini, reporting that he was planning additional attacks on US forces in the Middle East. The IRGC is designated as a terrorist organization by the US Government.

Iranian state TV confirmed the "martyrdom" of Solemani, who was the architect of the Iranian “Quds Forces” strategic programs outside of Iran, including its relationship with terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shi’a militias in Iraq and Syria, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

This story is still developing and will be updated as new details emerge.

Photo: Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the elite Quds Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, both killed in an airstrike Friday morning at Baghdad Airport. (Credit: Fars News Agency via Wikimedia Commons)

Sources:

https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/01/02/infamous-top-iranian-revolutionary-guard-commander-qassem-soleimani-killed-in-air-strike-in-baghdad/

https://twitter.com/AlArabiya_Eng/status/1212908302201475072

https://twitter.com/BaxtiyarGoran/status/1212895016496050176

https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam/status/1212931521604177921

US AIRSTRIKES ON IRANIAN-LINKED MILITIA BASES KILL AT LEAST 25, INCLUDING SENIOR COMMANDER

An F-15 Strike Eagle, similar to the one shown here, was used by the US military to strike Kataib Hezbollah positions in Iraq and Syria (via nationalinterest.org).

US warplanes struck 5 bases belonging to the Iranian-sponsored militia Kataib Hezbollah in both Iraq and Syria this evening, killing at least 25, including a senior commander, and wounding dozens more. US Undersecretary of Defense Jonathan Hoffman released a statement confirming US responsibility, calling them “precision defensive strikes” intended to “degrade KH’s (Kataib Hezbollah’s) ability to conduct future attacks against OIR coalition forces.” All non-essential personnel have been evacuated from the US embassy and the Iraqi Prime Minister has called an emergency session of his security cabinet.

The strikes come less than 48 hours after a barrage of Katyusha rockets were fired into an Iraqi base housing US troops in Kirkuk on Friday. That attack killed a US civilian contractor and wounded four troops. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has previously warned Iran that any attacks on US forces in the region resulting in casualties would be met with a military response. A dozen attacks on US bases have been linked to Iranian proxies in the last three months. Unused Katyusha rockets were found near the scene of the latest attack which indicate that they were imported from Iran.

The US now joins Israel and possibly Saudi Arabia in the group of nations confronting Iran militarily in Syria and Iraq. Street demonstrations against Iranian hegemony have embroiled Iraq in political chaos over the last three months, during which Iran has taken a much more direct role in Iraqi politics and security.

Sources: https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-US-forces-launch-attack-on-Kataib-Hezbollah-base-in-Iraq-612478

https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-strikes-iranian-backed-militia-in-iraq-12-reported-killed/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2047960/statement-from-assistant-to-the-secretary-of-defense-jonathan-hoffman/

https://twitter.com/LucasFoxNews/status/1211335993208557568

https://twitter.com/BaxtiyarGoran/status/1211340329099628546

https://twitter.com/AJABreaking/status/1211366132063621123

https://twitter.com/BaxtiyarGoran/status/1211371251878510598

CASUALTIES IN ROCKET ATTACK ON US BASE IN IRAQ AFTER IDF CHIEF WARNS THAT CONFRONTATION WITH IRAN IS COMING

A vehicle-mounted Katyusha rocket battery, similar to the one which was likely used to attack the US base in Kirkuk, Iraq on Dec 27, 2019. (via DefenseTalk.com)

As many as 36 Katyusha rockets struck a base in Kirkuk, Iraq which houses American troops yesterday, causing the death of an American defense contractor and wounding several US soldiers. An announcement of responsibility is pending investigation, as both the remnants of ISIS and Iran-linked Shi'a militias are active in the area. However, ISIS has not had the capacity to conduct such a strike for a year, and the attack is just the latest in a string of 12 over the last three months which have been traced to the conglomerate of Iraqi militias known as Popular Mobilization Units, or PMU’s.

The PMU's are integrated into Iraqi security forces, but many of their brigades ultimately take orders from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iranian military leaders have repeatedly threatened US bases in the region with Iranian rockets. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iran just two weeks ago that any attacks on American troops resulting in American casualties will trigger a US military response.

The deadly attack comes at a precipitous time, after IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.Gen. Aviv Kochavi warned that a limited but "intense" confrontation with Iran is coming, reiterating Israel's commitment to prevent Iranian entrenchment in Iraq and Syria. There have been hundreds of mostly unclaimed airstrikes against Iranian or Iranian-allied targets in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq over the past six years, and recent intelligence suggests that Iran is using the IRGC and it's PMU proxies to transport and store Iranian missiles in Iraq.

Sources:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/rocket-attack-in-iraq-kills-u-s-contractor-wounds-four-u-s-troops-11577492632

https://www.debka.com/an-american-killed-4-injured-in-heavy-iraqi-shiite-rocket-strike-on-us-k-1-base-near-kirkuk/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-iraq-missiles-exclusive/exclusive-iran-moves-missiles-to-iraq-in-warning-to-enemies-idUSKCN1LG0WB

https://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/Trump-in-a-corner-after-rockets-kill-US-contractor-wound-forces-612346?fbclid=IwAR1u8NiJ51Ut_p_4TR__WjQbG82FmTqfcypjyXasXFdlpYQTbVrSDJHS_og

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-chief-israel-alone-in-the-fight-against-iran-in-syria-iraq/

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/1577266477-israel-s-army-chief-concerned-over-iranian-activity-in-protest-ridden-iraq

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pompeo-warns-iran-about-trigger-for-us-military-action-as-some-in-administration-question-aggressive-policy/2019/06/18/48bd3be0-9116-11e9-b570-6416efdc0803_story.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pompeo-warns-iran-over-rocket-attacks-at-iraqi-bases-11576277357

US FORCES IN IRAQ AND ISRAELI FORCES FACE A COMMON THREAT: IRANIAN ROCKETS

Shi'ite fighters fire a rocket toward Islamic State militants in Baiji, north of Baghdad, 2015 (Credit: Thaier Haier al-Sudani, Reuters)

Officials inside the US State Department and the Pentagon have become increasingly vocal about the growing trend of rocket attacks on US bases in Iraq. The locations of the attacks and the weapons used indicate that Iranian-sponsored militias, and not ISIS, are responsible. This means that US forces in the region now find themselves in the same predicament as the Israeli military, which also has to defend against ongoing, intermittent rocket fire from Iranian-sponsored militias in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria. The connection is not lost on the Americans, who have recently considered the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system as a means of protecting US troops in Iraq.

So far, no casualties have been reported as a result of the rocket fire in Iraq. Whereas the Israelis have often taken a course of direct (albeit undeclared) action against Iran and its proxies, the US has instead sought to use the regular Iraqi security forces as intermediaries with the Iranian-linked militias in Iraq - known collectively as Popular Mobilization Units (PMU's) or "Hashd al-Shabi" - in an attempt to "deconflict." But as Iranian threats on US bases in the region increase, and as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) takes a more direct role in the Iraqi government in order to quell ongoing street protests, it seems unlikely that deconfliction will occur as long as both US forces and Iranian actors are present in Iraq.

https://www.jpost.com/…/US-suspects-Iran-behind-rocket-atta…

https://www.militarytimes.com/…/rockets-land-near-baghdad-…/

https://sethfrantzman.com/…/us-breaks-silence-on-rocket-a…/…

US CONSIDERING TROOP INCREASE AS IRANIAN REGIME CONTINUES PROVOCATIONS ACROSS MIDDLE EAST

Short and medium range Iranian missile batteries, like the one shown here, are believed to have been moved into Iraq last month, as well as exported to Hezbollah inside Syria and Libya, putting them within range of Israeli cities (Credit: ypa.ir)

The United States military is considering the deployment of several thousand more troops to the Middle East after intelligence revealed the alarming movement of Iranian missile batteries into Iraq last month. Many analysts believe that the Tehran regime is taking advantage of unrest across Shi'a Iraq to position missiles that could be used to more easily strike US bases, the Saudi Gulf states, and of course, Israel.

The Pentagon talks became public on the same day that the US State Department announced that it has documented evidence that the Iranian regime has murdered over 1,000 peaceful street protesters in the last month, including one incident caught on tape in which up to 100 fleeing protesters were surrounded and massacred in cold blood by security forces in trucks with automatic weapons.

The movement of Iranian missile batteries into Iraq fits a larger pattern of creeping Iranian aggression across the region. Just last week, a US Navy vessel interdicted an Iranian vessel transporting a "large cache" of sophisticated missile parts to Yemen, where Houthi rebels have been fighting a proxy war against the Saudi Kingdom on Iran's behalf for over five years.

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https://timesofisrael.com/iran-said-exploiting-iraqi-unrest…

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https://www.economist.com/…/how-the-iranian-regime-put-down…
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https://www.foxnews.com/…/us-officials-release-photos-of-si…