Friday, January 3, 2020

Updates From The Middle East

I'm going to try and keep everything on this page today as relating to Iran, so check back for updates. The first link below is Times of Israel Liveblogging so check with this link for updates as well (newer posts will be added to the bottom of page):





The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they unfold.

Iran says it has decided on response to deadly US airstrike

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council says it has reached a decision on how to respond to the US killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, but isn’t saying what the decision is.

The council’s brief statement after a special session Friday says it investigated “the different aspects of this incident and it is announcing that the United States of America is responsible for all consequences of this criminal adventure.”

Israeli embassies, IDF raise alert levels as Iran threatens revenge attacks

The Defense Ministry has put Israeli embassies and offices on “high alert” worldwide in the wake of the US killing in Iraq of Qassem Soleimani and amid Iranian threats of revenge against the US and Israel, Channel 13 news reports.
Security has also been bolstered at Israeli legations deemed to be in locations regarded as “sensitive,” the TV report says.

The Israeli army has also raised its alert levels. The Hermon ski site near the Israel-Syria boder is being kept closed, but no special instructions have been issued to northern Israeli residents.
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett earlier Friday convened a meeting in Tel Aviv of security and intelligence chiefs to deal with the possible repercussions of the Soleimani killing.



American oil field workers leaving Iraq

American nationals working at Iraqi oil fields are leaving the country after a US strike killed top Iranian and Iraqi commanders in Baghdad, an oil ministry spokesman says.
Several already left in the morning and others are preparing to fly out, Assem Jihad tells AFP, adding that there is “no impact” on Iraq’s oil production.

Pompeo says US ‘committed to deescalation’ after Soleimani killing

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the US is “committed to deescalation” after the killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in an American strike.
Pompeo tweets that he has spoken with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Chinese Politburo member Yang Jiechi about the killing.
“Thankful that our allies recognize the continuing aggressive threats posed by the Iranian Quds Force,” he writes. “The US remains committed to deescalation.”

‘Precision drone strike’ killed Soleimani: US defense official

A US drone carried out a “precision strike” to kill senior Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a US defense official tells AFP.
“A precision drone strike hit two vehicles at Baghdad airport,” the official says.
The official adds that part of the 750 forces from the US 82nd Airborne division dispatched to the region a few days ago had already arrived in Baghdad.

Tens of thousands rally in Iranian capital against US ‘crimes’

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Tehran to protest against American “crimes,” an AFP correspondent reports, after US strikes killed a top Iranian commander in Baghdad.
Chanting “Death to America” and holding up posters of slain commander Qassem Soleimani, the demonstrators fill streets for several blocks in central Tehran after Friday prayers.


Hamas mourns Soleimani, says his blood will be a ‘curse for Zionist occupation’

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, expresses its condolences to Iran on the death of Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in an American strike in Baghdad early Friday.



Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Friday morning that a “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the US after an American airstrike on a pair of cars at Baghdad’s airport killed Qassem Soleimani, the powerful head of Iran’s elite Quds Force.
“There is no doubt that the great nation of Iran and the other free nations of the region will take revenge for this gruesome crime from criminal America,” Rouhani said in a statement posted on the Iranian government website.



Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday praised the United States and President Donald Trump for killing Iranian top commander Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike in the early morning hours.

The prime minister said “Israel has the right to defend itself. The US has the same right exactly. Soleimani is responsible for the deaths of innocent US citizens and many others. He was planning further attacks.”



1. Bigger than Baghdadi: Ostensibly Israel had nothing to do with the killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and PMF head Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, but it’s watching what’s happening in Iran/Iraq and preparing for blowback all the same.

2. In the crossfire: Prof. Eyal Zisser tells Kan that “this was a dramatic and significant strike … it’s hard to see the Iranians not responding.”
    • As far as that response goes, Israel sees itself as right in the line of fire: “anyone who wants to start popping champagne doesn’t understand that this could lead to an attack on Israel,” tweets MK Ofer Kassif, echoing some of the language used by Democrats accusing Trump of pushing the region into war.

    “To continue on General Soleimani’s path, we’ll raise his flag in all battlefields,” the Hezbollah-linked Al-Manar website quoted Nasrallah as saying.
    “Meting out the appropriate punishment to these criminal assassins… will be the responsibility and task of all resistance fighters worldwide,” he said.




    Zvi Yehezkeli, Channel 13's Arab affairs jouralist, on Friday warned that Iran will place Israel on its list of targets due to the US elimination of Revolutionary Guards leader Qassem Soleimani.

    Yehezkeli has said several times, during interviews with 103 FM Radio, that Israel should eliminate Soleimani, who was the most powerful Iranian after Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself.


    Yehezkeli also warned that there would be a response from Iran: "The elimination is an event on a scale such as we have not seen in the Middle East for a long time," he tweeted. "The Iranians are in shock. Soleimani felt very free and easy in Iraq. He did not think the Americans would eliminate him, and he did not take precautions."

    "I believe the Iranians will place us on their list of targets. When and how will it happen? I don't know. We are entering a long period of waiting and preparation for an Iranian response - and Israel is already preparing for such a reaction. Don't forget that Soleimani has people who do his will in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon - but now the Iranians are only concerned with picking up the pieces, literally and figuratively."
    US Mid-East bases and Israel on top alert for repercussions from Iran

     Soleimani’s death represents an extraordinary US operational-intelligence feat in which Israeli intelligence may be presumed to have assisted. It ramps up the US-Iranian contest to the level of open war between US forces serving in Iraq – numbering some 5,000 – and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards units operating in the country under Soleimani’s command.

    Iran Deploys F-14 Jets to Border After Vowing to Avenge General Soleimani's Murder
    Iranian Supreme leader Ali Khamenei has pledged "harsh revenge" against those responsible for killing the Quds commander, while President Rouhani similarly vowed to avenge Soleimani's death.
    Tehran has deployed F-14 fighter jets to the country's borders in the wake of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani's murder after the military official was killed in an airstrike near Baghdad International Airport, authorised by US President Donald Trump, Iranian state TV reported.

     Iran vows revenge amid fears of 'devastating war'

    Iran has vowed a 'crushing revenge' and 'jihad' on the United States after an American airstrike this morning killed Tehran's top general Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, at Baghdad International Airport.



    'World War 3' trends after Donald Trump airstrike kills Iran general

    The phrase ‘World War 3’ began trending after the killing of the Iranian leader’s second in command in a US airstrike.

    Trump’s Takedown Of Iranian General Qassim Suleimani Is Likely To Start A Global War

    It would be difficult to put into words the extreme rage that the Iranians are feeling right now.  Their deeply hated enemy, the United States, has just killed a greatly beloved national hero.  They are going to want revenge, and they are going to want it to be as painful as possible.

    Needless to say, there will probably be attacks against U.S. targets in the region, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper has stated that the U.S. military may even take “pre-emptive action” to prevent that from happening…

    Breaking Report: Before U.S. Drone Strike, Fears Soleimani Was in Iraq to Lead Coup, Arrest President Salih and Takeover U.S. Embassy

    A report by Al Hurra reporter Steven Nabil shows that sources close to the Iraqi government said to him hours before the U.S. attack that killed Iran Quds Force leader Major General Qassem Soleimani as he arrived at the Baghdad airport–reportedly from Syria–that there were fears in the Iraqi government that Soleimani was going to lead a coup and overthrow the government, arrest President Barham Salih and takeover the U.S. embassy.


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