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Iraq
US carrying out retaliatory strikes in #Iraq in response to a rocket attack on Wednesday that killed two US troops and a British service member
2020-03-13
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
The Times of Israel adds this follow up to yesterday evening’s breaking post on the counterattack.
British army also takes part in strikes on Kataeb Hezbollah weapons facility day after missiles fired at base kill 3 troops.

The US launched Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s Thursday in Iraq, targeting the Iranian-backed Shia militia members believed responsible for the rocket attack that killed and maimed American and British troops at a base north of Baghdad, the Pentagon said..

US officials said multiple strikes by US fighter jets hit five locations and mainly targeted Kataeb Hezbollah
...also spelt Kata’ib Hizbollah and Kataib Hezbollah just in the past few days...
weapons facilities inside Iraq. A Defense Department statement said the strikes targeted five weapons storage facilities "to significantly degrade their ability to conduct future attacks."

US officials said the locations of the strikes were largely around the Baghdad region. One US official said there were two strikes at Jurf al-Sakher, one in Karbala, one at al-Musayib, and one at Arab Nawar Ahmad. The official said the US expected casualties would be lower than 50, and said the main effort was to hit the weapons.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because some details about the operations had not yet been made public.

An official with the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Units told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that two Iraqi federal police personnel were killed in Jurf al-Sakher. An Iraqi military statement said the aerial "aggression" occurred at 1:15 a.m. in the areas of Jurf al-Sakher, al-Musayib, Najaf and Alexandria on the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Units, emergency regiments and commandos of the 9th division of the Iraqi army.

The strikes marked a rapid escalation in tensions with Tehran and its proxy groups in Iraq, just two months after Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
carried out a massive ballistic missile attack against American troops at a base in Iraq. They came just hours after top US defense leaders threatened retaliation for the Wednesday rocket attack, making clear that they knew who did it and that the attackers would be held accountable.

"The United States will not tolerate attacks against our people, our interests, or our allies," Defense Secretary Mark Esper said. "As we have demonstrated in recent months, we will take any action necessary to protect our forces in Iraq and the region."

The Pentagon statement said the facilities hit in the precision strikes were used to store weapons used to target the US and coalition forces. It called the counterattack "defensive, proportional and in direct response to the threat" posed by the Iranian-backed Shia militia groups.

Esper told news hounds at the Pentagon earlier Thursday that President Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
 had given him the authority to take whatever action he deemed necessary.
Related:
Kataeb Hezbollah: 2020-01-03 Satellite photos show results of US airstrikes last Sunday on Iran-backed Iraqi militia
Kataeb Hezbollah: 2020-01-02 'You can't do a damn thing!' Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei hits back at Donald Trump after the president threatened to make him pay a 'big price' for US embassy attack
Kataeb Hezbollah: 2020-01-01 M-22 Ospreys Deliver US Marines to US Embassy Baghdad
Related:
Kataib Hezbollah: 2020-03-11 Rocket attack in Iraq kills two Americans and a British citizen
Kataib Hezbollah: 2020-02-14 Rocket attack hits northern Iraq base hosting US troops
Kataib Hezbollah: 2020-02-14 Two rockets targeted a military base in #Kirkuk which hosts #US troops, no casualties reported
Posted by:Fred

#4  Never mess with any retaliation under 1 kiloton equivalent of TNT.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2020-03-13 18:55  

#3  at least 32 #Iranian-backed militia killed and over 50 wounded including General Siamand Mashhadani, #Iranian Revolutionary Guards Top Commander (unconfirmed).
Posted by: Shineper Grumble1521   2020-03-13 16:29  

#2  It called the counterattack "defensive, proportional and in direct response to the threat" posed by the Iranian-backed Shia militia groups.


I'd rather we carried out more than proportional counterattacks.
Posted by: lord garth   2020-03-13 16:14  

#1  the strikes targeted five weapons storage facilities

I wonder why there isn't some more rigor in targeting high ranking commanders and weapon storage facilities. Why a retaliation strategy? Why not a crushing campaign?

Resources, career advancement concerns, too much Oclub time, not enough skin sanitizer,...
Posted by: Skidmark   2020-03-13 12:02  

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