Jumat, 03 Januari 2020
Footage shows aftermath of US airstrike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Suleimani - Guardian News
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2020-01-03 09:01:31Z
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Top Iranian general killed by U.S. airstrike had to be identified by his ring: Iraqi officials - Fox News
A top Iranian general killed by a U.S. airstrike at the Baghdad international airport early Friday had to be identified by the ring he wore, Iraqi officials said.
Gen. Qassem Suleimani’s body was torn apart in the attack ordered by President Trump, two officials from the Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said.
IRAN VOWS 'HARSH RETALIATION' AFTER US AIRSTRIKE KILLS IRANIAN GEN. QASSEM SOLEIMANI
Following the attack, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the United States.
Khamenei declared three days of public mourning for Soleimani.
Suleimani was the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, which has been designated by the U.S. as a terror group since 2007.
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Six other officials, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of PMF were killed in the attack, Iraqi officials said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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2020-01-03 08:47:48Z
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US strike against top Iranian commander threatens spiral of violence in Middle East - CNN
The Pentagon announced the US had carried out the attack near Baghdad airport, describing it as "decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad."
In a statement late Thursday, the Pentagon asserted that "General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region." It said Soleimani "had orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months."
The targeted US strike also killed one of the most prominent leaders of the Iraqi Shia militia, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Al-Muhandis was the leader of Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group that Washington blames for a recent surge in rocket attacks against US forces in Iraq.
Hundreds of the group's supporters attacked the US Embassy in Baghdad this week following US airstrikes against five of Kataib Hezbollah's units in Iraq and Syria last Friday.
The latest crisis has been brewing for weeks amid an uptick in rocket attacks by Shia militia against Iraqi bases where US forces are present -- attacks of growing sophistication and accuracy -- in which a US civilian contractor has been killed.
But Charles Lister, a leading analyst of Iranian policy in the region, says this strike far eclipses the deaths of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden or ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in terms of strategic significance and implications. "The US and Iran have been engaged in a dangerous tit-for-tat for months now, but this is a massive walk-up the escalation ladder," he said.
Ben Friedman, policy director of think tank Defense Priorities in Washington, told CNN that the strike was a "remarkably reckless act, because the forces the US has in the region are not sufficient to deal with the potential fallout."
Soleimani was once described by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as a "living martyr of the revolution." Friedman describes his killing as an act of war that the Iranians will feel compelled to avenge.
Soleimani was the architect of the growing Iranian military presence in Iraq, Syria and Yemen as the leader of the IRGC's Quds Force, essentially Iran's special forces tasked with missions beyond Iranian borders.
He had led the Quds force for nearly 20 years, "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," as Dexter Filkins wrote in a New Yorker profile in 2013. He was revered by his fighters, whose funerals he often attended.
Ali Soufan, a former FBI officer with huge experience in the Middle East, wrote in the Combating Terrorism Center's Sentinel in 2018 that "without question, Soleimani is the most powerful general in the Middle East today; he is also one of Iran's most popular living people."
"More than anyone else, Soleimani has been responsible for the creation of an arc of influence -- which Iran terms its 'Axis of Resistance' -- extending from the Gulf of Oman through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea," wrote Soufan, who now runs the Soufan Group, which analyzes events in the Middle East.
In early 2008, Soleimani sent General David Petraeus, then the most senior US commander in Iraq, an imperious message: "Dear General Petraeus: You should be aware that I, Qassem Soleimani, control Iran's policy for Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and Afghanistan. And indeed, the ambassador in Baghdad is a Quds Force member. The individual who's going to replace him is a Quds Force member."
Soleimani was hugely influential among what are known as the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq -- Shia militia first mobilized in 2013 to confront the advance of ISIS. He personally led their campaign to drive ISIS out of cities like Tikrit. Those militia remain a powerful force in Iraq, many of them outside the control of a weak state.
Soleimani was also the chief Iranian official in providing support for the Assad regime in Syria, for which he was sanctioned by the US Treasury. Along with Russian airpower, his leadership of Shia militia from Iraq, Iran and Lebanon helped turn the tide of the war in Syria as Assad's army weakened in 2015-16.
And Soleimani was an important Iranian interlocutor with the powerful Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. In a recent interview, Soleimani revealed that he had taken part in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, saying he was present in Lebanon throughout the conflict.
Targets for retaliation
This strike then is nothing like those aimed at terrorist leaders like Baghdadi and bin Laden. US Democratic Senator Chris Murphy asked: "Did America just assassinate, without any congressional authorization, the second most powerful person in Iran, knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war?"
The assassination of such a powerful official will certainly not go unanswered by Tehran, which has responded to the imposition of crippling US sanctions over the last 18 months with what it calls a policy of maximum resistance. Khamenei himself said Friday that "harsh revenge awaits the criminals" involved in the killing of Soleimani and others, in a message to the nation published on his official website.
Iran's campaign has included the harassment and sabotage of shipping in the Gulf and Arabian Sea -- and attacks on Saudi Arabia, including devastating cruise missile strikes against the kingdom's largest oil processing plant at Abqaiq in September that took out 5.7 million barrels of oil production at a stroke.
Besides its own forces in the IRGC, Iran has powerful proxies across the region -- in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. All will likely be tasked with finding ways of attacking US interests and allies. In the face of adversaries with superior military capabilities, Iraq has mastered the art of asymmetrical warfare, a sort of state-sponsored guerrilla action, and exported the model to its allies across the region.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javid Zarif described the US action as "extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation. The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism."
What those consequences will be is yet unknown. One possible target for retaliation will be the small US military presence in Syria, which in some places is within miles of units of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units. Charles Lister believes "the US presence in Syria now looks very vulnerable, having already shrunk in size and weakened in terms of credibility and partner trust."
"US allies in the Gulf, particularly Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi, could all fall victim to Iranian retaliatory measures, as could [the US] al-Udeid base in Qatar," adds Lister.
Friedman says he doesn't think Iran "will start a war with the United States, but you can imagine there will be a number of provocative acts against US forces." And he agrees the 500-strong US contingent in Syria might be especially vulnerable.
For the Iraqi government, already reeling in the face of popular protests against corruption that have left nearly 500 people dead over the past three months, this strike threatens to plunge the country into a new spasm of political violence.
Since the Trump administration began its policy of "maximum pressure" against Iran, the Iraqis have tried to navigate a path to neutrality between two titans. They have largely failed -- and Iraq could now become the sandbox for a US-Iranian conflict, just as it faces the re-emergence of the remnants of ISIS in provinces north of Baghdad.
Iraqi authorities responded to the US strike by putting the Green Zone in Baghdad, where the US and other embassies are situated, on lockdown. But there is no underestimating the anger of a broad swathe of Iraqis against such a flagrant violation of the country's sovereignty.
Lister says Soleimani's death "is a serious loss for Iran's regional agenda, but his 'martyrdom' will likely fuel a response that will, at least in the medium term, make up for his death. With Soleimani dead, war is coming -- that seems certain, the only questions are where, in what form and when?"
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2020-01-03 07:56:00Z
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Australia Fire Updates: Bracing for an Even Worse Weekend - The New York Times
SYDNEY, Australia — Already besieged by one of the worst wildfire seasons in Australian history, evacuees and those staying put on Friday braced for conditions to grow even more dire.
Across Australia’s southeast, supermarket shelves emptied, gas stations closed and roads became clogged with traffic as skies turned a hellish red or a smoke-choked white. Firefighters were overwhelmed by more than 100 raging blazes and families were forced to make perilous stay-or-go decisions.
The toll so far includes 18 deaths, more than 1,000 homes destroyed and thousands of animals killed. On Friday, experts and government officials offered a grim warning: The upcoming weekend is likely to be the most dangerous yet.
Predictions for Saturday
Early Friday, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service dramatically expanded its estimate of the amount of land at risk from spreading fires, including “ember attacks,” in which burning wood fragments are carried by wind. The weekend is expected to bring high winds and temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 38 Celsius.
New South Wales, the state that includes Sydney, declared a state of emergency in its southeastern region on Thursday. Residents and tourists across a broad swath of the southeast were advised to flee.
Rescue by sea
The Royal Australian Navy began rescuing people trapped in Mallacoota, a seaside town in Victoria, after fires cut off its land-based escape routes. The Department of Defense said on Friday afternoon that 57 people had departed on one of its ships, and about 900 would leave throughout the day.
About 4,000 people, including about 3,000 tourists, were trapped in the town, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Some people would be unable to board the ships because it required using ropes to get on board, ABC reported. Those who made it onto a ship will take a 17-hour voyage to get to Melbourne.
‘It feels like it’s not real’
People staying behind on the south coast were preparing for the worst, after days of dwindling resources.
Clarinda Campbell, 37, said she and her two children had been without power and had barely slept since Tuesday, when fires swept through the area. They fled to a property owned by her parents in Surf Beach, where phone reception was out in all but a few spots. Water and food sources were running low, with no way to store them, and there was no garbage disposal service. Radio was the main source of information, and shops were accepting only cash.
But the community rallied together, she said. On Friday, a neighbor brought fresh bread, which is now a luxury.
“It has been very touching,” Ms. Campbell said. “In the crisis you see the best and the worst.”
On Friday, the family fueled up their cars in case a getaway was necessary.
Without the use of phones, they had to make contingency plans. Ms. Campbell said she was nervously waiting for Saturday, when her husband, who had stayed behind in the town of Broulee to defend their home, was supposed to run to a nearby hilltop with a sliver of cellular reception, to let her know if he was safe.
But with the possibility of fires blocking escape routes, she was trying to reach her husband on Friday to persuade him to leave.
“It feels like it’s not real,” she said. “I’ve gone to sleep every night and woken up every morning hoping that it was just a bad dream.”
Bernard Kreet, a caterer in Catalina, said he was hosting two families who had been evacuated from other towns, thinking that Catalina would probably avoid the worst. While his partner had left for the next town north, Mr. Kreet opted to stay behind.
“It’s so hard to get out of town, it’s chaos down here,” he said.
Catalina has run out of rice and fuel is low, he said. Power was out from Tuesday to Thursday.
When fire swept close to the area on Tuesday, he huddled with about 300 others at a Catalina golf club, waiting to hear if it would come their way.
“The feeling in that room, of 300 people just frightened — it was heavy,” he said. “There will be so many people with PTSD after this. So many people are just so anxious.”
Isabella Kwai reported from Sydney, and Daniel Victor from Hong Kong.
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2020-01-03 06:30:00Z
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Kamis, 02 Januari 2020
Iran's military leaders: We're not afraid of war with the US - New York Post
Top military leaders in Iran blustered Thursday that the Islamic Republic is not cowed by threats from President Trump over the siege of the US Embassy in Baghdad and would “break” American forces if war erupts.
“We are not leading the country to war, but we are not afraid of any war and we tell America to speak correctly with the Iranian nation. We have the power to break them several times over and are not worried,” said Revolutionary Guards Commander Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, Reuters reported, citing an Iranian news agency.
Iran’s Army chief, Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, said his forces are ready to confront the “enemy.”
“Our armed forces … monitor all moves, and if anyone makes the slightest mistake, they will decisively react, and if the situation heats up, we will show our abilities to the enemy,” state media quoted Mousavi.
The displays of bravado are in response to Trump’s remarks on Tuesday blaming Iran for orchestrating the assault on the US diplomatic compound in Baghdad and promising to hold the regime accountable.
“Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat,” the president wrote on Twitter as Iranian-backed militias tried to storm the embassy.
Speaking later Tuesday before a New Year’s Eve celebration at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump said he preferred peace instead of war when asked if Washington and Tehran were barreling toward a conflict.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea for Iran. It wouldn’t last very long. Do I want to? No. I want to have peace. I like peace. And Iran should want peace more than anybody. So I don’t see that happening,” he said.
The attack on the embassy was in response to the US military carrying out airstrikes against five bases of the Iranian-support militia Kataib Hezbollah in Syria and Iraq over the weekend that killed 25 fighters.
The US blamed the group of killing an American contractor and wounding four service members in a rocket attack on a military base in Iraq last Friday.
The siege ended Wednesday after the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mainly Shiite-aligned militias, called on the protesters to disperse, saying the Iraqi government had “heard their message.”
The Defense Department immediately deployed a detachment of US Marines and two helicopter gunships to bolster forces at the embassy and put thousands more troops on ready to respond to the violence in Baghdad.
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2020-01-02 14:05:00Z
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State of emergency declared in Australia as fires rage on - CBS This Morning
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2020-01-02 12:35:41Z
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New images of destruction inside US embassy in Baghdad - CNN
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2020-01-02 12:28:47Z
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