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Iraq
Abu Ali al-Khazali was a close associate of Qassem Suleimani - killed by USAF.
2019-12-30
Much more on this story from yesterday.
Who is Qais al-Khazali?
Note al-Khazali is from Sadr City Iraq and led the Mullah's special forces but 41 Iranians and 25 PMU were killed in this bombing.

A follower of Muqtada al-Sadr's father he became a spokesman for Sadr Mahdi Army after the 2003 US invasion. He created Asaib Ahl al-Haq (عصائب أهل الحق‎) in 2006 as it emerged from the Mahdi Army's "Special Groups" and his Khazali network of followers. AAH is said to have been responsible for 6,000 attacks and eventually raised 10,000 fighters.

He was SANCTIONED by the USA on Dec 6th!
[Twitter]


Note that Iraqi government is starting to panic with this bombing.








41 Iranians and 25 PMU members tits up.

[Twitter]
The PMU response:


And another militia


Rudaw reports the story as well:
US forces conducted airstrikes on five facilities belonging to an Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria on Sunday night, the US Department of Defense has said. Fifteen of its fighters were killed in western Iraq, an official from the militia told AFP.

The "precision defensive airstrikes" were conducted on three Kataib Hezbollah locations in Iraq and two in Syria, according to a statement from US Secretary of Defense assistant Jonathan Hoffman, in response to repeated attacks on Iraqi bases hosting US-led coalition personnel.

Among the fifteen killed were commanders, an official from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) - an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias in Iraq, including Kataib Hezbollah - told AFP. Iraqi Security Media Cell reported four Kataib Hezbollah members were killed and 30 injured in three airstrikes at a base on the Iraq-Syria border at 7 pm on Sunday evening.

Among those killed was militia commander Abu Ali Khazali, according to a statement from the PMF.

A base in al-Qaim, western Iraq, was one of the targeted locations, a US defense official told Rudaw English.

The five locations included "weapon storage facilities and command and control locations that KH [Kataib Hezbollah] uses to plan and execute attacks on OIR [Operation Inherent Resolve] coalition forces," according to the US Defense statement.

The strikes "will degrade KH's ability to conduct future attacks against OIR coalition forces," the statement added.

Sunday's airstrikes follow an attack on the K1 military base in Kirkuk province on Friday night.

One US civilian contractor was killed when ten missiles struck the base. At least two Iraqi policemen were killed, according to a federal police source. Several US and Iraqi service members were also injured, US officials from the Combined Joint Task Force said on Saturday morning.

The US blamed Friday's attack on Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia that forms part of the PMF, a powerful umbrella group of militias in Iraq that operate with little Iraqi government oversight.

Iraqi bases hosting US military personnel have been subject to a spate of attacks in the last two months. Iran-backed groups are suspected by the US and its allies to have conducted the attacks.

One of Iraq's biggest parliamentary alliances has condemned the airstrikes as "American aggression against Iraqi sovereignty."

"The Nasr Coalition...demands the government [of Iraq] commit the American forces present on Iraqi soil to the terms of the agreements signed between the two countries...such attacks will harm security, stability and bilateral relations," the statement read.
The Times of Israel adds:
A few hours after the strikes, four rockets exploded near a base housing US troops close to Iraq’s capital without wounding anyone, an Iraqi security official told AFP.

The military spokesman for Iraq’s outgoing prime minister Abel Abdel Mahdi decried “a violation of Iraqi sovereignty”.

Another powerful pro-Iran faction, Assaib Ahl al-Haq — whose leaders were recently hit with US sanctions — called for Americans to withdraw from Iraq.

“The American military presence has become a burden for the Iraqi state and a source of threat against our forces,” it said in a statement.

“It is therefore imperative for all of us to do everything to expel them by all legitimate means.”

Bahrain supports U.S. strikes on Kataib Hizbollah sites in Iraq, Syria

[Jpost] Bahrain expressed support for strikes conducted by the United States targeting Kataib Hezbollah facilities in Iraq and Syria, Bahrain's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

Israel praises US strike on Iran-backed militia, calling it a ‘turning point’

[IsraelTimes] Foreign Minister Israel Katz praises the United States for its strikes on bases belonging to the Iran-backed Iraqi Hezbollah militia in Iraq and Syria, calling it “a turning point in the regional reality in light of the conduct of Iran and its metastases.”

“If the Iranians make a mistake in understanding the essence and power of the US, they will suffer blows they have never suffered before,” Katz says in a tweet.
And courtesy of g(r)omgoru:
U.S. officials: strikes on Iraq and Syria 'successful'

[Jpost] - U.S. officials said on Sunday that air strikes in Iraq and Syria against an Iran-backed militia group were successful, but warned that "additional actions" may still be taken in the region to defend U.S. interests.
Oh dear. I should be concerned, were I in any way connected to the Mad Mullahs...
The U.S. military carried out the strikes on Sunday against the Kataib Hezbollah militia group in response to the killing of a U.S. civilian contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base, officials said.

Related:
Kataib Hezbollah: 2019-12-29 Air Strikes, possibly drone attacks, in Iraq's Qaim kill elements from Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah
Kataib Hezbollah: 2019-12-29 Photos show rockets used against the US were also shipped to Hezbollah
Kataib Hezbollah: 2019-12-28 US civilian contractor killed and several US and Iraqi personnel wounded in Kirkuk rocket attack
Related:
K1 military base: 2019-12-28 US civilian contractor killed and several US and Iraqi personnel wounded in Kirkuk rocket attack
K1 military base: 2019-03-26 US boosts forces in Iraq/Syria, backing recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Golan
K1 military base: 2019-01-10 Number of foreign troops in Iraq declines every month: PM
Related:
Nasr Coalition: 2019-11-22 Iraqi parliament strips benefits of senior officials
Related:
Qais al-Khazali: 2019-12-26 Iraqi protesters rally after night of arson attacks
Qais al-Khazali: 2019-12-11 Iraqi protesters defiantly turn out in the capital Baghdad
Qais al-Khazali: 2019-12-10 Iraqis rally for slain activist as Baghdad summons Western envoys
Posted by:3dc

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