War Iran-United States Military Crisis of 2020 - US Baghdad embassy under siege, rocket fire in US Baghdad green zone, Ukrainian Airlines flight 752 crash, and more!

January 10th:
Exclusive: Informants in Iraq, Syria helped U.S. kill Iran's Soleimani - sources (archive)(post)
Iraqi Shia cleric whose militia killed American troops says crisis is over following Iran strike and Trump speech (archive)(post)
Iraqi PM tells US to decide mechanism for troop withdrawal (archive)(post)
Mike Pence says Congress might 'compromise sources and methods' if fully briefed on the Soleimani strike (archive)(post)
Unidentified planes hit Iraqi militiamen in Syria, killing 8 (archive)(post)
Iraq: The Master Of Mayhem Meets A Missile (archive)(post)
Eliminating Qasem Soleimani was Donald Trump’s Middle East farewell letter (archive)(post)
Iran uses BULLDOZERS to clear debris from plane crash site while accusing US of ‘big lie’ that they shot it down (archive)(post)
Swiss Back Channel Helped Defuse U.S.-Iran Crisis (post)

January 11th:
UKRAINIAN AIRCRAFT WAS BROUGHT DOWN IN IRAN DUE TO 'HUMAN ERROR' (archive)(post)
Iran minister says 'human error' caused by 'US adventurism' led to deadly crash of Ukrainian jetliner (archive)(post)
Ukrainian aircraft was brought down in Iran due to 'human error' (archive)(post)
Trump, at Ohio rally, says Democrats would have leaked Soleimani attack plans (archive)(post)
The Atlantic's David Frum blames Trump for downing of plane in Iran, deaths of 176 (archive)(post)
Associated Press changes ‘shockingly bad’ headline about Soleimani, Ukrainian plane crash after backlash (archive)(post)
GOP Rep. Doug Collins apologizes for saying Democrats are 'in love with terrorists' (archive)(post)
Iran demands West 'show findings' as new video reveals aircraft was struck before fiery crash (archive)(post)
Warren town hall interrupted by angry protester accusing her of ‘siding with terrorists’ (archive)(post)
Trump administration announces new sanctions on Iran (archive)(post)
Prepare For the Worst From Iran Cyber Attacks, As DHS Issues Warning: Experts (archive)(post)
Trump tells Fox News' Laura Ingraham 'four embassies' were targeted in imminent threat from Iran (archive)(post)
Trump tweets support for Iranian protesters as they demand Khamenei quit (archive)(post)
Trump warns Iran against ‘another massacre’ as protests flare over downed jet (archive)(post)

January 12th:
Trump tweet in Farsi 'the most liked Persian tweet' in history of Twitter (archive)(post)
Iraq warned to keep US troops or risk financial blow-WSJ (archive)(post)
Iran arrests UK ambassador in what Britain calls ‘flagrant violation of international law’ (archive)(post)

January 13th:
Trump authorized Soleimani's killing 7 months ago, with conditions (archive)(post)

edit: This is a WIP. All links are posted in the order they appear in the thread, not in chronological order of their publication.


---Original OP before the merge---
Iraqi supporters of Iran-backed militia attack US Embassy
https://apnews.com/75228a8a607a44863b57021ac33264dc (http://archive.vn/ljm9Y)

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA12 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (AP) — Dozens of angry Iraqi Shiite militia supporters broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday after smashing a main door and setting fire to a reception area, prompting tear gas and sounds of gunfire.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw flames rising from inside the compound and at least three U.S. soldiers on the roof of the main building inside embassy. It was not clear what caused the fire at the reception area near the parking lot of the compound. A man on a loudspeaker urged the mob not to enter the compound, saying: “The message was delivered.”

The embassy attack followed deadly U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah. The U.S. military said it was in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it had blamed on the militia.

Dozens of protesters marched inside the compound after smashing the gate used by cars to enter the embassy. The protesters, many in militia uniform, stopped in a corridor after about 5 meters (16 feet), and were only about 200 meters away from the main building. Half a dozen U.S. soldiers were seen on the roof of the main building, their guns were pointed at the protesters.

Smoke from the tear gas rose in the area, and at least three of the protesters appeared to have difficulties breathing. It wasn’t immediately known whether the embassy staff had remained inside the main building.

The protesters hanged a poster on the wall: “America is an aggressor.”

Shouting “Down, Down USA,” the crowd tried to push inside the embassy grounds, hurling water and stones over its walls. They raised yellow militia flags and taunted the embassy’s security staff who remained behind the glass windows in the gates’ reception area. They sprayed graffiti on the wall and windows in red in support of the Kataeb Hezbollah militia: “Closed in the name of the resistance.”

Hundreds of angry protesters, some in militia uniforms, set up tents outside the embassy. As tempers rose, the mob set fire to three trailers used by security guards along the embassy wall.

No one was immediately reported hurt in the rampage and security staff had withdrawn to inside the embassy earlier, soon after protesters gathered outside.

The U.S. attack — the largest targeting an Iraqi state-sanctioned militia in recent years — and the subsequent calls by the militia for retaliation, represent a new escalation in the proxy war between the U.S. and Iran playing out in the Middle East.

Tuesday’s attempted embassy storming took place after mourners and supporters held funerals for the militia fighters killed in a Baghdad neighborhood, after which they marched on to the heavily fortified Green Zone and kept walking till they reached the sprawling U.S. Embassy there.

AP journalists then saw the crowd as they tried to scale the walls of the embassy, in what appeared to be an attempt to storm it, shouting “Down, down USA!” and “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday’s strikes send the message that the U.S. will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardize American lives.

The Iranian-backed Iraqi militia had vowed Monday to retaliate for the U.S. military strikes. The attack and vows for revenge raised concerns of new attacks that could threaten American interests in the region.

The U.S. attack also outraged both the militias and the Iraqi government, which said it will reconsider its relationship with the U.S.-led coalition — the first time it has said it will do so since an agreement was struck to keep some U.S. troops in the country. It called the attack a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty.

In a partly televised meeting Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi told Cabinet members that he had tried to stop the U.S. operation “but there was insistence” from American officials.

The U.S. military said “precision defensive strikes” were conducted against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq and Syria. The group, which is a separate force from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, operates under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Many of them are supported by Iran.

.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

When you realize null has been infected by Mr. Tickles.

Mr. Tickles' unjust banning was always going to have consequences, but I never imagined it would go this far.

 

[Null]

I get my sources directly from people who live in China and report on the conditions there. I base my analysis on historical context and the facts we are aware of that can be verified without going through state-approved media reports. I honestly have never read a news article about the Chinese economy without first being informed about it by somebody who lives and works in China.

Now, I want you to tell me; why is this a fantasy? Why are these people wrong? Why are their experiences living, working and reporting on the conditions of the country they call home invalid compared to your external sources? I'm not being disingenuous here, and I'm not going to respond to anything you say with some dumb 'GOTCHA' post. I genuinely want you to explain why you're so convinced of all these things, and why you value your sources more highly than mine.

Because I talk to people who are Chinese, speak Chinese, whose friends are Chinese, who do business in China, who have family in China, who have lived in China, who have traveled through China, and have never, ever reported any of the shit you're reporting. Now either they're all very good propagandists who've been maintaining a charade for almost a decade, or (more likely) you've found discontents who are desperately trying to make their country sound bad.

Imagine if you wanted a good idea of what life in America was so you went to /r/AskReddit and profiled them. You'd think America was actual, literal hell. A military in shambles, staffed by people only trying to get their GED, being blown to bits on the side of a road in Iraq so they can get money and health insurance for their biracial transgender daughter who is currently failing school because of a dysfunctional, prejudiced education system that is fundamentally hollowed out due to corporate interests and institutional racism. That's your source. Credible information from real Americans living in America.

 

[JosephStalin]

The Iranians are starting to explain too much. Sign of a liar.

Ukrainian plane crashes in Iran killing 176

There were many Iranian and Canadian citizens on board the Ukraine International Airlines' Boeing 737.

www.bbc.co.uk

Anyway, it's bullshit that a plane would instantly explode in midair if hit by a missile. Korean Air 902 was hit by a Soviet missile in 1978 when it wandered into Soviet airspace by accident. It that case the missile took off part of one of the wings and thr debris penetrated the fusilage. It suffered decompression and still flew on at least 40 minutes before made it down to land on a frozen lake in one piece, albeit with a couple of dead passengers from the decompression. It depends what part of the plane got hit and how high you are whether the whole thing falls apart instantly. Korean Air 007 didn't break up instantly either, even at 31,000ft.

Agree, least as far as the bigger planes go. They are built pretty stoutly. Smaller planes, possibly. Look for a non-Iranian recording of the plane's radio calls to surface. Pilots should be speaking English to control tower, could lapse into Ukrainian as the place goes down.

 

[Vince McMahon]

Because I talk to people who are Chinese, whose friends are Chinese, who do business in China, who have family in China, who have lived in Chinese, who have traveled through China, and have never, ever reported any of the shit you're reporting. Now either they're all very good propagandists who've been maintaining a charade for almost a decade, or (more likely) you've found discontents who are desperately trying to make their country sound bad.

Your anecdotal experience doesn't discount other people's anecdotal experience. If you were friends with someone who served in Stasi, would that mean that you'd belive that East Germany would've stood on its' own for 40 more years?

Bladerunner future was not supposed to be a prophecy, but eh, maybe the chinese won't care if I get a Daryl Hannah sexdoll

扣你這個調皮鬼的社會信用的50分吧

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Null's right about the guns and free speech though.

 

[Suburban Bastard]

Clearly Iran fired at US bases to distract America from Drumpf’s impeachment hearings.

 

[Null]

Your anecdotal experience doesn't discount other people's anecdotal experience. If you were friends with someone who served in Stasi, would that mean that you'd belive that East Germany would've stood on its' own for 40 more years?

Lmfao, this logic works both ways my dude. Their anecdotal experiences are just what you want to believe so it's cool.

I'd ante up by saying I would literally go live in China for a year, but you'd still claim I was just in a sheltered environment where I only saw what the Communists WANTED me to see!.

 

[BONE_Buddy]

While we wait for the presidential address, here is something that happened a couple of says ago:

Hill Air Force Base Executes The Mother Of All Elephant Walks With 52 F-35s

The huge display of sortie generation capability comes as the base's F-35 force reaches full capacity after transitioning to the F-35 years ago.

www.thedrive.com

Hill Air Force Base Executes The Mother Of All Elephant Walks With 52 F-35s
The huge display of sortie generation capability comes as the base's F-35 force reaches full capacity after transitioning to the F-35 years ago.

The 388th and 419th Fighter Wings that call Hill Air Force Base in Utah home have just executed a massive readiness drill that included an 'elephant walk' of a whopping 52 F-35As. The exercise coincides with the wings reaching full strength following the transition to the F-35A, a process that began years ago.

The elephant walk and the massive number of flights that usually go along with it are all about sortie generation and displaying a level of readiness that could be leveraged during a full-blown crisis. Both wings held a similar exercise in November of 2018 with 35 aircraft, which was highly impressive, but 52 is a whole other story. Just the amount of hardware on the runway in terms of billions of dollars is staggering.

Today we launched about 50 F-35s in rapid succession. Part of a long-planned combat power exercise with @388fw, we pushed the boundaries and tested our Airmen’s ability to deploy @thef35 en masse. We’re ready to fly, fight, and win. @usairforce @USAFReserve @USAF_ACC pic.twitter.com/QskjR6lsch
— 419th Fighter Wing (@419fw) January 6, 2020​

That same runway in the image is also quite fresh as a major rehabilitation of it wrapped up this summer. This kept many of Hill's resident aircraft away, including being sent on combat deployments, as flying needed to continue during the construction period.

We know that large waves of launches and recoveries are also part of the drill as the base gave local residents a heads-up in advance of the increased level of activity in the hours to come.

During the exercise, which has been planned for months, the local community will see increased flying operations between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. More to follow.️
— 388th Fighter Wing (@388fw) January 6, 2020​

This elephant walk of 5th generation fighters is also a reminder that Hill AFB is truly on the leading edge of combat aviation and considering the construction projects underway at the base alone, it will continue to be for the foreseeable future.
We will update this post when more images and information becomes available.
Update: 2:03pm PST—
More shots!







And video:

WATCH: 52 F-35s launched in rapid succession from @HAFB today! @388fw & @419fw conducted a combat power exercise part of normal, scheduled training operations and not a response to any current events.

The fighter wings are home to 78 aircraft.

Via @Fox13 pic.twitter.com/fHFlGTyp05
— 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐞 (@brian_schnee) January 6, 2020​

 

[sasazuka]

Several outlets are claiming a technical issue caused the crash. But that bitch was on fire a long time. A twitter video shows it. No Canadian media are even reporting anything suspicious and the missile strikes aren't even mentioned. WTF?

Ali Hashem علي هاشم on Twitter

“#Breaking First footage of the Ukrainian airplane while on fire falling near #Tehran https://t.co/kGxnBb7f1q”

twitter.com

Another interesting thing about that video is that you can see the plane, from the vantage point of the person filming it, heading right, then left, then right again before it explodes in midair and hits the ground seconds later, which probably means it was spiraling indicating that it might have already been missing something aerodyamically vital like a wing (due to a missile strike).

 

[Mr. Manchester]

I don't know much about China, but I just bought a really nice S&W 686 and if they become a world power and take my guns I'm going to be pretty upset.

 

[Curious Addie]

Trump speech incoming...

 

[Vince McMahon]

Lmfao, this logic works both ways my dude. Their anecdotal experiences are just what you want to believe so it's cool.

I'd ante up by saying I would literally go live in China for a year, but you'd still claim I was just in a sheltered environment where I only saw what the Communists WANTED me to see!.

And I would be correct, considering that is highly unlikely you'd settle anywhere outside of the Yangtze river basin/coastland, which is arguably the storefront of the PRC. Good luck venturing inland, though, 鬼佬.

 

[Shield Breaker]

Null's right about the guns and free speech though.

All governments drift towards totalitarianism. I think most of us here wouldn't deny it. That doesn't change Null's hot takes sounding like a Mister Metokur stream.

 

[Nobunaga]

It sickens me that Trump forced the Iranians to shoot down a civilian aircraft, and a Ukrainian one no less. There are no coincidences. Trump is removing loose ends, with the help of Iran and Russia.
How deep does the rabbit hole go?

Everyone on that plane was gonna testify against DRUMPFT and get him impeached

 

[Vince McMahon]

All governments drift towards totalitarianism. I think most of us here wouldn't deny it. That doesn't change Null's hot takes sounding like a Mister Metokur stream.

Null is like an Ouorosboros of lolcowdom. He's a supreme leader that tardwrangles lolcows but could be a supreme lolcow himself.

 

[Jaded Optimist]

Most of those who died had dual citizenship. I'm guessing there was someone on that plane that Iran didn't want to leave.

I'm seeing reports that Iran is refusing to give up the black box and will only allow Ukrainian representatives to be present.

 

[Crabbo]

Even if they prove it was an intentional act, Canada and Britain are so cucked they would probably announce that those killed were just an average statistic.
"Part and parcel of living in an intersectional world" or some shit.
This aint gonna be a Lusitania

 

[TV's Adam West]

Iran's master plan was crashing this plane, with no survivors.

 

[Null]

Yes, me not underestimating a country of one billion people that is moving at about seven times the pace of the US is me being a lolcow.

There is no more universally controversial opinion that I hold than that the Chinese are more organized and forward-thinking than people give them credit for. To absolutely everyone, the average Chinese person shits in a field, eats egg fermented in virgin boy urine, fries their food with recycled oil, and barbecues dogs. Giving the country any more credit than you'd give the DPRK is a sign of delusion and falling for propaganda. The Chinese are nothing more than rice niggers and factory monkeys who make your iPhone and should never be thought of in any positive light.

People get what they fucking deserve. That's all I gotta say.

 

[Shield Breaker]

Everyone on that plane was gonna testify against DRUMPFT and get him impeached

Are we sure it wasn't about Epstein?