Head of Iran's Quds Force Killed at Baghdad Airport

[Slasher]

Quit/quat. Split/splat. That kind of thing.

[Fliegenmong]

Splish Splash...I was takin' a wash

[Slasher]

And recalled the girl who’d given me dosh.

Oops sorry...wrong thread!

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Suleimani's death has led to at least 32 more deaths already...Crushed to death in Kerman in a stampede at his funeral. Over 190 injured.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/0 ... aze-place/
Reminds me of the crack suicide squad in Life of Brian

Judging by the rhetoric, it would seem possible that an Iranian proxy group will launch a big strike on Israel. Hizbollah would seem to be the obvious choice, and Jerusalem or Tel Aviv the likely targets. I expect they would hope to satisfy their internal demands for action without taking on Trump directly. The Israelis have gone very quiet.

[Boac]

Need another 20, then?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

20? Should be obtainable by knocking off a Brigadier.

[barkingmad]

The score is now provisionally 50 and could increase.

The emotional handwringing over the 1979 hostage crisis belies the delay in their release engineered by the Republicans in cahoots with some shady characters. This was achieved in order to spring the GOP’s own October Surprise and to overshadow Carter’s planned October surprise, so the credit for the (delayed) hostage release would then be claimed by the newly installed Reagan Administration. I trust those hostages still alive appreciated the news that they were pawns in US agencies’ games and that they could have been released much earlier but for that dirty dealing.

Only one of many references, in case anyone thinks I’ve overdosed on the ‘electric soup’ over the holiday period;

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/l ... story.html

[barkingmad]

Did anyone here view the BBC2 show at 2315Z on Monday 6th Jan (last night)? Eerily prescient of the events of the weekend and a detailed look at the life and history of the Quds’ late leader.
The program credits showed it was made in 2019 but postscript credits detailed the latest event.
And now BBC Radio MSM discussing the Vincennes cockup as I type this......

[Boac]

"The score is now provisionally 50 and could increase." - another 2 and the Chump will be happy.

[AtomKraft]

What goes around, comes around.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Fars news agency now reporting 56 dead, 213 injured.

[Rwy in Sight]

Suleimani's death has led to at least 32 more deaths already...Crushed to death in Kerman in a stampede at his funeral. Over 190 injured.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/0 ... aze-place/
Reminds me of the crack suicide squad in Life of Brian

Judging by the rhetoric, it would seem possible that an Iranian proxy group will launch a big strike on Israel. Hizbollah would seem to be the obvious choice, and Jerusalem or Tel Aviv the likely targets. I expect they would hope to satisfy their internal demands for action without taking on Trump directly. The Israelis have gone very quiet.

The first point lead me to think how cheap/meaningless is the life for the religion of peace and love. After WWII I can't think of another case of people in such vast numbers willing to get killed for little reason like suicide bombers in ME.

And the silence of the Israelis is astonishing and MSM doesn't mention anything either. Your plan does hold water and will drag Israel into the issue.

[barkingmad]

“And the silence of the Israelis is astonishing and MSM doesn’t mention anything either”.

Try this? It may provide an answer to your query;

Did anyone here view the BBC2 show at 2315Z on Monday 6th Jan (last night)? Eerily prescient of the events of the weekend and a detailed look at the life and history of the Quds’ late leader.
The program credits showed it was made in 2019 but postscript credits detailed the latest event.
And now BBC Radio MSM discussing the Vincennes cockup as I type this......

[om15]

I like the comments from Mr Trump this evening,

"This was a monster, and now he's not a monster, he's dead"

In the modern acceptance that politicians must never ever speak clearly and unambiguously some may blanch at this. I don't.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

At least 12 ballistic missiles launched from Iran at US bases in Iraq. Iran directly claims responsibility. Pentagon confirms.
Trump "has been briefed and is monitoring the situation"
One awaits developments.

Update 1:

Amid reports from VoA that a total of 3 US locations have been hit in Iraq by Iran cruise missiles - Al Asad, Erbil and Taji - we now wait for the US counter-response: just after 730pm, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived at the White House, as did the Chairman of Joint Chiefs. In short, Trump’s entire war cabinet is now at the White House.

No reports yet of casualties or property damage at any of the targets.

[PHXPhlyer]

I've got a bad feeling about this.
No easy way out.

PP

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Trump has drawn a line in the sand just like Obama did over chemical attacks in Syria. Obama bottled it, which I think is more than a minor factor in Iran's actions now. I don't think Trump will bottle it.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Tangential to today's attacks, Iraq is walking back its demands for an immediate withdrawal of US troops

The tone in Baghdad appears to have changed after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened sanctions against Iraq and a draft letter announcing complete U.S. withdrawal of forces accidentally leaked.

“The U.S. president’s threats to impose sanctions on Iraq that will ‘make Iranian sanctions seem somewhat tame’ led some Iraqi MPs to urge a softening of the parliament’s position. One Iraqi MP said Trump’s unpredictability made such a move risky when US air support in particular might still be needed to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State,” the UK Guardian reported.

This led to (theoretically former, but still acting) Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi walking back his demand for “urgent measures” to expel American forces. On Monday, his office released a statement stressing “the importance of mutual cooperation on implementing the withdrawal of foreign troops, in line with the Iraqi parliament’s resolution, and to set relations with the United States on a proper foundation.”

From The Grauniad

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Update 2:
Upwards of 30 SSM launched from Iran in first attack.
Second wave reportedly being launched now at a new US base target in Iraq.

No confirmation of details above yet.
Launch sites not known. Video of launches being shown on Iran State TV is apparently library footage according to a translation from the Farsi.
Missile types not known yet. Most of the sites currently listed as targets are reachable by all Iran's SSMs from their nearest possible launch points in Iran. So, they could be all SCUD-types, right up to their GPS+guided IRBMs. The Al-Assad air base is outside the range of SCUDs or Iranian copies thereof, but is reachable by the Fateh-110, which is a road-mobile SSM based on solid-fuel rocket technology allegedly obtained with the co-operation of the Chinese.
Still no reports on battle damage or casualties.
My assessment: Most likely scenario is that these are all attacks by road-mobile short-range SSMs, shoot-n-scoot tactics probably being used, IRBMs being retained for possible counterstrikes/escalation depending on the US response.

Update 3:
First wave targets appear to be Al Assad and Irbil, Taji as second wave target, according to Pentagon and reporter rumours respectively. Makes sense tactically: longer range targets first, shorter second.
Off to bed chez Fox3.

[boing]

Now that Iran has shown they are willing to bet everything and in this fashion the response must be immediate and in order to disable military facilities it will be pretty fierce. I'm guessing that we will probably only need to wait for tomorrow morning's news. Diego Garcia to Tehran about 7 hours flight time pretty much the same distance as London to Tehran.

.