US killed top Iranian commander to stop a war, Trump says as 3,000 American troops head to the region - CNN

The US will deploy the troops following a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport that killed military commander Qasem Soleimani, a defense official told CNN.

The troops will come from the Immediate Response Force of the 82nd Airborne Division. CNN has previously reported the forces had been placed on prepare-to-deploy orders.

After hundreds of protesters targeted the US Embassy compound in Baghdad this week, the US sent in 750 troops from the same unit and said additional deployments were possible. The new deployment will encompass the rest of the brigade -- about 3,000 soldiers.

The decision comes after Trump said he ordered the precision strike to kill Soleimani, who was plotting "imminent and sinister attacks" on Americans, adding the decision was one of deterrence rather than aggression.

"We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war," Trump said in a statement from his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday, a day after the airstrike in the Iraqi capital.

Soleimani was the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, and became the architect of Tehran's proxy conflicts in the Middle East. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis -- the deputy head of the Iran-backed Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) -- was also killed.

The Trump administration viewed Soleimani as a ruthless killer, and the President told reporters Friday that the general should have been taken out by previous presidents.

The Pentagon blamed Soleimani for hundreds of deaths of Americans and their allies. "General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region," the Pentagon said, calling the strike "decisive defensive" action aimed at deterring future Iranian attacks.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the strike had thwarted an "imminent" attack in the region, but declined to give any details on the intelligence on which he based his statement.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat and member of the Appropriations Committee, said the strike will increase threats to US interests from across Middle East.

"Today the administration announced we're sending 3,000 more troops to the region," he said. "So clearly the administration recognizes that this action has actually dramatically increased the risks in the Middle East, increased the risks of an attack from Iran and it should be no surprise to anybody who has followed these issues that Iran does mean what it says when it says this is essentially tantamount to an act of war."

Iran says it will fight back

In a letter to the United Nations, Iran described the attack as state terrorism and an unlawful criminal act.

It was "tantamount to opening a war," Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran's ambassador to the UN, told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront."

"The response for a military action is a military action. By whom? When? Where? That is for the future to witness," he said.

He said the strike had escalated a war that started when Iran pulled out of a nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018.

"The US has started the economic war in -- in May 2018. Last night, they started a military war. By assassinating, by an act of terror, against one of our top generals," he told CNN.

Iran and its allies condemned the strike as an "assassination," while European officials and the UN called for de-escalation.

The Pentagon blamed Soleimani and his Quds Force for recent attacks on coalition bases in Iraq, including the December 27 strike that culminated in the deaths of an American contractor and Iraqi personnel. It also blamed him for the US Embassy attack in Baghdad on December 31.

At least six people were killed in the strike, an Iraqi security source told CNN on condition of anonymity.

Funeral processions will be held for Soleimani in both Iran and Iraq, Iranian state media reported. Iran will hold three days of national mourning, with people also gathering in Baghdad on Saturday to pay tribute to all the officials killed.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has vowed "harsh revenge," according to a statement on his official website.

"His pure blood was shed in the hands of the most depraved of human beings," Khamenei said.

Maj. Gen. Ismail Qaani, who served for years alongside Soleimani, has been appointed as his replacement.

Some US officials are bracing for Iran to retaliate with a cyber attack, but Iran has shown it is also capable of engaging in another form of online warfare: social media disinformation campaigns. Authorities were on Saturday increasing vigilance and fortifying defenses.

CNN's Ryane Browne, Zachary Cohen, Hamdi Alkhshali, Kareem Khadder and Angela Dewan contributed to this report

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2020-01-04 07:49:00Z
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US killed top Iranian commander to stop a war and not start one, Trump says - CNN

The US will deploy the troops following a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport that killed military commander Qasem Soleimani, a defense official told CNN.

The troops will come from the Immediate Response Force of the 82nd Airborne Division. CNN has previously reported the forces had been placed on prepare-to-deploy orders.

After hundreds of protesters targeted the US Embassy compound in Baghdad this week, the US sent in 750 troops from the same unit and said additional deployments were possible. The new deployment will encompass the rest of the brigade -- about 3,000 soldiers.

The decision comes after Trump said he ordered the precision strike to kill Soleimani, who was plotting "imminent and sinister attacks" on Americans, adding the decision was one of deterrence rather than aggression.

"We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war," Trump said in a statement from his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday, a day after the airstrike in the Iraqi capital.

Soleimani was the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, and became the architect of Tehran's proxy conflicts in the Middle East. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis -- the deputy head of the Iran-backed Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) -- was also killed.

The Trump administration viewed Soleimani as a ruthless killer, and the President told reporters Friday that the general should have been taken out by previous presidents.

The Pentagon blamed Soleimani for hundreds of deaths of Americans and their allies. "General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region," the Pentagon said, calling the strike "decisive defensive" action aimed at deterring future Iranian attacks.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the strike had thwarted an "imminent" attack in the region, but declined to give any details on the intelligence on which he based his statement.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat and member of the Appropriations Committee, said the strike will increase threats to US interests from across Middle East.

"Today the administration announced we're sending 3,000 more troops to the region," he said. "So clearly the administration recognizes that this action has actually dramatically increased the risks in the Middle East, increased the risks of an attack from Iran and it should be no surprise to anybody who has followed these issues that Iran does mean what it says when it says this is essentially tantamount to an act of war."

Iran says it will fight back

In a letter to the United Nations, Iran described the attack as state terrorism and an unlawful criminal act.

It was "tantamount to opening a war," Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran's ambassador to the UN, told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront."

"The response for a military action is a military action. By whom? When? Where? That is for the future to witness," he said.

He said the strike had escalated a war that started when Iran pulled out of a nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018.

"The US has started the economic war in -- in May 2018. Last night, they started a military war. By assassinating, by an act of terror, against one of our top generals," he told CNN.

Iran and its allies condemned the strike as an "assassination," while European officials and the UN called for de-escalation.

The Pentagon blamed Soleimani and his Quds Force for recent attacks on coalition bases in Iraq, including the December 27 strike that culminated in the deaths of an American contractor and Iraqi personnel. It also blamed him for the US Embassy attack in Baghdad on December 31.

At least six people were killed in the strike, an Iraqi security source told CNN on condition of anonymity.

Funeral processions will be held for Soleimani in both Iran and Iraq, Iranian state media reported. Iran will hold three days of national mourning, with people also gathering in Baghdad on Saturday to pay tribute to all the officials killed.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has vowed "harsh revenge," according to a statement on his official website.

"His pure blood was shed in the hands of the most depraved of human beings," Khamenei said.

Maj. Gen. Ismail Qaani, who served for years alongside Soleimani, has been appointed as his replacement.

Some US officials are bracing for Iran to retaliate with a cyber attack, but Iran has shown it is also capable of engaging in another form of online warfare: social media disinformation campaigns. Authorities were on Saturday increasing vigilance and fortifying defenses.

CNN's Ryane Browne, Zachary Cohen, Hamdi Alkhshali, Kareem Khadder and Angela Dewan contributed to this report

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2020-01-04 07:14:00Z
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Qassem Soleimani, top Iranian military commander, killed in U.S. airstrike in Baghdad - follow live updates - CBS News

A former U.S. intelligence official described Soleimani as "most experienced guerrilla fighter operating globally," running operations with Iranian forces and proxy militias in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. The official described his death as "devastating," and said the "very disruptive" assassination would likely cause a power struggle in Iran.  

Former acting CIA director: There will be “dead civilian Americans” as a result of Qassem Soleimani killing

In April 2019, the U.S. designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the Quds Force, a "foreign terrorist organization." In making the announcement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo singled out Soleimani. 

"With this designation, we are sending a clear signal, a clear message to Iran's leaders, including Qassem Soleimani and his band of thugs, that the United States is bringing all pressure to bear to stop the regime's outlaw behavior," Pompeo said at the time. 

Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser under Barack Obama who was instrumental in the 2014 Iran nuclear deal, said there's "no question that Soleimani has a lot of blood on his hands."

"But this is a really frightening moment," he added. "Iran will respond and likely in various places. Thinking of all US personnel in the region right now." 

More than 700 Army paratroopers are headed to Kuwait, and as many as 5,000 more paratroopers and U.S. Marines were expected to be sent to the Persian Gulf in the coming days.

While speaking to reporters off camera earlier Thursday, Esper said there were indications militias loyal to Iran were planning further attacks against Americans. 

"Do I think they may do something? Yes, and they will likely regret it," he said.

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2020-01-03 17:02:00Z
CAIiEPEScUoQr-t1AL3ud5MELU8qGQgEKhAIACoHCAowyNj6CjDyiPICMKb_xAU

Five things to know about Australia's devastating wildfires | TheHill - The Hill

Australian officials have declared a new state of emergency as wildfires ravage the southeastern part of the county, tearing through koala habitat and dense neighborhoods in a region popular with foreign tourists.

Various fires have devastated the states of New South Wales and Victoria since November, tearing across more than 10 million acres, destroying more than 1,000 homes and killing at least 18 people. The state of emergency is the third in as many months.

Here are five things to know about the deadly blazes.

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The fires were started by lightning

The government has blamed a lightning storm for sparking nearly 200 wildfires earlier this week.

But conditions were exacerbated by other unusual weather, including extreme winds, heat and drought.

Temperatures in Australia have been high, even for the summer, soaring above 100 degrees in some parts of the country over the weekend, just days before Australia recorded its hottest year on record.

Intense winds have not only helped the fires spread, they have led to loss of life. In New South Wales, a fire engine was flipped over by high winds, killing a 28-year-old volunteer firefighter.

A severe drought has also played a key role. Last year was the country's driest ever.

Experts say climate change is a factor

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Experts say climate change has exacerbated the fires.

“Australians need only wake up in the morning, turn on the television, read the newspaper or look out the window to see what is increasingly obvious to many – for Australia, dangerous climate change is already here,” Penn State University professor Michael Mann wrote in The Guardian this week.

His comments follow a 2018 government report saying Australia's changing climate could result in natural hazards occurring at an “unimagined scale.”

The following year, a United Nations report said Australia was one of the developed countries most susceptible to climate change.

More recently, former New South Wales Fire and Rescue Commissioner Greg Mullins wrote in a November opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald that the blazes were “burning in places and at intensities never before experienced.” He blamed “an established long-term trend driven by a warming, drying climate." 

In an interview with The Hill, Stanford University climate professor Noah Diffenbaugh said the high temperatures are drying out vegetation, increasing the risk of wildfires.

“The long-term warming has increased the frequency and severity of severe heat across the world," he said. "When low precipitation conditions do occur, they’re more likely to co-occur with high temperature and that combination...elevates wildfire risk. And that is exactly what we’re seeing in Australia right now.”

University of California, Los Angeles geography professor Glen MacDonald added that higher temperatures also contribute to a longer fire season.

"Particularly in Southeastern Australia, that's definitely been part of it," he told The Hill.

The death toll is rising

People have been killed, gone missing or been displaced because of the fires.

In this week alone, at least seven people have been reported dead, and two were reported missing, in New South Wales. In Victoria, one person died.

This season, at least 1,298 homes have been destroyed, according to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from the most affected areas, while tens of thousands elsewhere were left without power.

In the coastal town of Mallacoota, some 4,000 people headed to the beach to escape the fire, only to be stranded on the shoreline after being cut off by the blaze. The government has since sent a Navy ship to carry people out in batches of about 800 at a time.

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The fires show the potential to wipe out species

Australia's koala population has been one of the hardest hit by the fires, with government officials estimating 30 percent may have died in the blazes.

"Up to 30 percent of the koalas in the region may have been killed, because up to 30 percent of their habitat has been destroyed," Australia's Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. last week.

But it’s not just koalas that face a serious threat. Researchers from the University of Sydney estimated some 480 million animals in New South Wales face death or displacement because of the fires.

The fires show threatened and endangered species are increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters that threaten to erase entire species.

The Puerto Rican parrot population has been hit hard by several record-breaking hurricanes, most recently Hurricane Maria in 2017. Scientists worry rising sea levels could harm oysters and mussels that rely on water that isn’t too highly salinic.

Koalas are already facing habitat destruction from growing urban areas, but the massive fires have wiped out even more territory. Experts say restoring that habitat will be key to giving the species a chance to rebound.

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“Habitat protection is not just drawing a line around the minimal habitat needed for the species but making sure they can grow into areas that are protected,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These fires are just an ongoing example of what fires can do not only to people but the wildlife we care about.”

Calls for stronger government response put spotlight on coal industry

How to tackle this blaze and future ones has taken a decidedly political tone in Australia, with some calling for more action from government leaders.

One area of tension has been Australia’s reliance on coal, an industry that employs tens of thousands of people.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison last month rejected calls to impose new restrictions on the coal industry, saying, “What we won't do is engage in reckless and job-destroying and economy-crunching target.”

Richard Di Natale, who heads the Australian Greens political party, accused Morrison of “failing in his basic duty to keep our citizens safe from harm through his inadequate response to these fires and his refusal to accept that burning climate changing fossil fuels would lead to more frequent and intense bushfires.”

He also called on Morrison to “declare a Royal Commission into the bushfire crisis.”

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In November, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, called Di Natale and others “inner-city raving lunatics.”

Morrison, who heads Australia’s Liberal party, was heckled this week when visiting a town affected by the fires.

"How come we only had four trucks to defend our town? Because our town doesn't have a lot of money but we have hearts of gold, prime minister,” one woman reportedly said.

There have also been calls to redirect funds toward fighting the fire. A petition that garnered nearly 300,000 signatures called for money spent on New Years’ Eve fireworks to instead go toward combating the fires.

"We need to fundamentally re-think how we prepared for, finance, and respond to disasters like this," Nicholas Aberle, the campaigns manager for Environment Victoria, said in an email to The Hill. "The existing approaches are no longer adequate to deal with the scale of bushfires Australia now faces, nor the increasing scale of fires we will face in future. For example, it is hard to rely on shared equipment across states when every state is on fire simultaneously."

Aberle added that the country's government "has been brought kicking and screaming to engage with the fires in any meaningful way, because they know that climate change is making bushfires worse, and they know in their heart of hearts that Australia is woefully behind the pack when it comes to cutting emissions."

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2020-01-03 11:00:16Z
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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.

2020  DEMS RESPOND TO KILLING

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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