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.

.

 

[L50LasPak]

Scotty, can you update that damn OP already? Even both of the videos are busted on my end.

 

[Secret Asshole]

I guess since Trump didn't drop the Spears of Freedom that people are making conspiracies that Iran tipped America off. It reminded of how Iraqis though Obama was in cahoots with ISIS because he wouldn't roll out the B-52s to truly bomb them back to the prehistoric dinosaur age.

To be fair when Trump said he would bomb the shit out of isis, everyone thought world War 2 era carpet bombings. So I guess people in general surprised at this low key resolution of high key expectations by his actions.

He did bomb the shit out of them, technically. He was the first President to approve the use of a MOAB, which is the most powerful conventional weapon we've got. The only thing more powerful than a MOAB is a nuke.

For reference, what a MOAB is designed for are bunkers and deep tunnel complexes. But a MOAB doesn't penetrate all that much. What it does is, because its explosive payload is so large, it creates a barometric pressure wave so large that it liquefies any living thing living underground. We also never use it because its functionally useless for urban warfare which is pretty much what modern warfare is. If you drop a MOAB on a town, you basically obliterate the entire fucking thing. Its so huge it has to be dropped from a C130.

Double Irony on our MOAB strike:
The strike aimed to destroy tunnels being used by ISIL-KP in the Nangarhar Province which the CIA made for the fighters against the Soviets.

Also I kind of wish we murdered him with the sword missile.

They literally told the US where they were aiming before they fired. It's just like what trump did with Syria.

Blue Team can chest pump to their base about being bad ass motherfuckers who won't put up with no shit, Red Team can can chuckle to their base about Blue Team being shit and how their tantrum achieved nothing. Meanwhile suddenly the tension behind the scenes is reduced and allows for either the adults to start talking or for the same childish games as before to resume but without several million 'people' demanding nukes be launched at the meany pantses half a world away.

Unfortunately Iran is fucking exceptional and also shot down an airliner which just makes the situation impossible to read.

Iran blowing up an airliner has likely prevented them from responding any further. The US is probably not going to respond further either, and the tactic from here on out is deescalation. We blew up the cunt responsible, Iran attempted to save face but ended up shitting their pants (too bad for them, not our fault) and now its both countries slowly backing away from each other, while the world is hysterically shouting WWIII when nobody, including us, Russia, China and Iran wants to go to war.

Having read the resolution, I'm confused on what the big deal is. A) Trump didn't "declare war" and B) It flat out states;


Which is exactly what happened here (the sand savage was apparently going to attack US armed forces, so he was taken out.) Unless I'm missing something, this changes absolutely nothing. It's just a virtue signal waste of time.

The War Powers act has basically been ignored by Presidents for over 50 years. Congress has 0 power over the president, he is the defacto Commander-in-Chief. The resolution is non-binding because it is unconstitutional and would get ass-fucked by the court. The whole thing is a play to their lobotomized base who believes Trump will not be president any day now

 

[Every Crook and Nanny]

My family thinks WW3 is on the horizon and friends are blaming the airliner shoot down on Trump because they think the retaliation on that raghead general was disproportionate and caused Iran to be on edge.

I’m not interested in arguing with them cause of the headache it’ll bring and to be fair, it’s mainly MSM news that reaches my side of the globe.

 

[L50LasPak]

Iran blowing up an airliner has likely prevented them from responding any further. The US is probably not going to respond further either, and the tactic from here on out is deescalation. We blew up the cunt responsible, Iran attempted to save face but ended up shitting their pants (too bad for them, not our fault) and now its both countries slowly backing away from each other, while the world is hysterically shouting WWIII when nobody, including us, Russia, China and Iran wants to go to war.

I don't even have the article yet where its said that Iran has stood down, but this explanation seems reasonable to me. I'm gonna call it. The 99 Red Balloons have gone by and Stanislav Petrov has smiled down upon us. I don't think there's gonna be a war.

Even a local one. Somehow. I at least expected the Middle East to dissolve into a nightmare and the final blow to Sykes-Picot over this whole thing.

This is, so, weird. Roughly 40 years ago this was the predicted flashpoint for nuclear war. People choking on ash and rolling around in agony with radiation burns and whole cities wiped off the map. Absolute destruction. Now even the foaming-at-the-mouth nutcases don't want war.

I cannot believe reality sometimes.

 

[Ponderous Pillock]

It's been posited that he put all his points into Luck.

I think he rolled an 18 for Perception, and boosted to 20 somehow, along with at least 16 in Luck.

If he can spot what's coming, the high luck ability definitely accounts for the extra lulz Trump is handed.

Trump's Brioni Suit: +5 Perception, +5 Luck, +5 Charisma.

Trump's Vacheron Constantin Historiques Ultra-Fine 1968: +2 Luck, +2 Perception, +5 Charisma.

I'm actually thinking this is the location. The reason being is that it looks like the plane was still traveling to the north west, and got hit at its 9-11 o'clock. There's also a structure that looks like a heavy vehicle bunker there, and it's at the perfect angle for that.

35°29'21.9"N 50°54'24.9"E · Parand, Markazi Province, Iran

Parand, Markazi Province, Iran

www.google.com

View attachment 1091466

Launch site
Missile flight path
Impact zone
Approximate direction of travel of plane

From what I've seen it's not really all that uncommon for Mideast armies to put military assets right next to civilian facilities, so I don't think it should be ruled out.

Is this the radar installation you're talking about btw?

35°29'21.9"N 50°54'24.9"E

Parand, Markazi Province, Iran

www.google.com

THe article that Sherp cited did figured it out already. So considering this and also everything else we have seen, the plane was shot down fare and square. ALso does Tehran have a ring of AA systems around the city like what the Russians have with Moscow?

ALso a YouTuber named covert cabal has a discord server where there are google docs that have documented all AA and anti ship systems that can be seen in Iran and Syria. I recommend looking at the google doc

Couple of things to note. It's not just the Middle East which does this. Quite a few states, including western powers double duty a few of the airfields and ports, with enclosed sections for military personnel. Mostly smaller western states such as Switzerland, Denmark, etc do this. The UK has mooted it quietly a few times, but has often quietly dropped the idea.

Second, being so close to Tehran, yes, they have a defensive ring, the city is lousy with military sites all over the shop. Its how they can flood the city with cunts in pickups to run over unarmed protestors.

Third, I doubt it was one of their older systems being so close to the capital. I suspect it was one of their newer toys, something like the Mersad or the Ya Zahara 3. Those are more likely to be in the vicinity of what are clearly testing ranges and the systems are themselves only a few years old, but are derivatives of the American Hawk Missiles. The debris seems to bear this out as it's nowhere near big enough to be the S-300's as those things are fucking enormous.

In fact, the air defence missiles are one of the few areas I won't hilariously shit on the Iranians. They're being smart and pretty much copying one-for-one, Chinese style, good and solid systems such as the S-300, the Hawk and the BUK M3 with very little upgrades as these systems are still perfectly lethal.

I wonder if the British royals will find this comparison insulting or endearing.

It's incredibly insulting and disrespectful. I make no bones about my own dislike of Diana (and I still think Harry is James Hewitt's son) and her "run to the press attitude" after divorcing Prince Charles. What I do respect her for is her extensive charitable work, including highlighting the various issues about mine fields and other dangers across former warzones. Those were causes I agreed with her wholeheartedly and to see her compared to this scumbag actually turns my stomach.

Imagine having a loonier analogy for this guy than Ethan Ralph (he merely compared him to Patton, who was at least famous for similar reasons)!

If we're going to make those kinds of comparisons, Solemani was probably closer to Rokossovsky (In that he turned around hopeless situations into enormous victories). Patton, for all his greatness, never really suffered a set back aside from when he ran out of fuel.

As much as a scumbag Solemani was, he was a tactical genius.

When did this turn into chan ?

It didn't, we once doxed a dog fucker from a picture of him in a god damn Cuban Ice Cream Parlour, this is Kiwis being Kiwis.

 

[Salty Boris]

For once, I'm with Iraq on this.

Frankly I didn’t think the US ever belonged there. I didn’t understand why Obama didn’t pull all the troops and so on. There are other personnel in the area if a need arises. How are 5000 or so soldiers supposed to prevent Iran from taking over influence of the area? Half assed measures.

Apparently we're staying. No mention of what Iraq's opinion on that is.

They likely won’t like it. I doubt Trump cares what they like. In the very unlikely event this turned into a war it would most likely be waged by air power. Doesn’t the US have air bases in UAE and Saudi Arabia? I suppose it’s possible those countries wouldn’t allow any attacks from their soil. But it doesn’t sound like Iraq wants to either.

Iran didn't aim 20 ballistic missiles at dirt, that's stupid even if it does benefit us to propagate that story. They launched them aiming to kill, and we shot them all down because their tech sucks and there's leaks everywhere between Iran and Iraq. This story is just to let Iran save some face.

It doesn’t seem very plausible that they could shoot every one of those missiles down. I agree they launched them with intent to kill and the stories are propaganda, but no missile defense system is that good.

 

[Ghostse]

Iran blowing up an airliner has likely prevented them from responding any further. The US is probably not going to respond further either, and the tactic from here on out is deescalation. We blew up the cunt responsible, Iran attempted to save face but ended up shitting their pants (too bad for them, not our fault) and now its both countries slowly backing away from each other, while the world is hysterically shouting WWIII when nobody, including us, Russia, China and Iran wants to go to war.

Its simple: Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

Or more applicable to current events:
When your enemy has 20% of their cruise missles fail, and then shoots down a 3rd-nation civilian airliner...

Iran for decades has relied on playing diplomatic fuckfuck games and taking advantage of the fact, firstly I WASN'T TOUCHING YOU, and Secondly that at least one powerful nation is ticked at the US and willing to provide cover for their most recent trolling efforts to stick it to the Great Satan.

Support for roasting salami was hard to gather for the fact that the guy who was killed was a general (aka a valid military target) and it was a result of an attack on an embassy. And now they shot down a 3rd nation's civilian airliner. They are fucked and they will be playing nice.

Remember back when Kashmir got hot, and Pakistan was playing sane, sensible, calm, and rational, quickly returning the Indian pilot unharmed with no quid pro quo? That because because their asses were in a fucking sling and they had no allies. Their PM made 100% certain do nothing from the Paki side that could be perceived as even a microaggression, because if they'd given India an excuse, everyone would have just sat back watched them get zergrushed.

As much as a scumbag Solemani was, he was a tactical genius.

Big ol' Doubt X here.
He was ruthless, not a genius. Solemani threw as many warm bodies at a situation as was needed. He's a tactical genius in the same way Zapp Branigann was. Which he at least had the tenancity to accomplish his objectives and not just give up, so I guess by standards of the region that definitely put him way up there.

 

[who dare wins?]

Trump's Brioni Suit: +5 Perception, +5 Luck, +5 Charisma.

Trump's Vacheron Constantin Historiques Ultra-Fine 1968: +2 Luck, +2 Perception, +5 Charisma.







Couple of things to note. It's not just the Middle East which does this. Quite a few states, including western powers double duty a few of the airfields and ports, with enclosed sections for military personnel. Mostly smaller western states such as Switzerland, Denmark, etc do this. The UK has mooted it quietly a few times, but has often quietly dropped the idea.

Second, being so close to Tehran, yes, they have a defensive ring, the city is lousy with military sites all over the shop. Its how they can flood the city with cunts in pickups to run over unarmed protestors.

Third, I doubt it was one of their older systems being so close to the capital. I suspect it was one of their newer toys, something like the Mersad or the Ya Zahara 3. Those are more likely to be in the vicinity of what are clearly testing ranges and the systems are themselves only a few years old, but are derivatives of the American Hawk Missiles. The debris seems to bear this out as it's nowhere near big enough to be the S-300's as those things are fucking enormous.

In fact, the air defence missiles are one of the few areas I won't hilariously shit on the Iranians. They're being smart and pretty much copying one-for-one, Chinese style, good and solid systems such as the S-300, the Hawk and the BUK M3 with very little upgrades as these systems are still perfectly lethal.



It's incredibly insulting and disrespectful. I make no bones about my own dislike of Diana (and I still think Harry is James Hewitt's son) and her "run to the press attitude" after divorcing Prince Charles. What I do respect her for is her extensive charitable work, including highlighting the various issues about mine fields and other dangers across former warzones. Those were causes I agreed with her wholeheartedly and to see her compared to this scumbag actually turns my stomach.



If we're going to make those kinds of comparisons, Solemani was probably closer to Rokossovsky (In that he turned around hopeless situations into enormous victories). Patton, for all his greatness, never really suffered a set back aside from when he ran out of fuel.

As much as a scumbag Solemani was, he was a tactical genius.



It didn't, we once doxed a dog fucker from a picture of him in a god damn Cuban Ice Cream Parlour, this is Kiwis being Kiwis.

Well the s 300 was soo different you the Iranians when's they finished the Zahr 3 missiles, they are the same. It's the most advanced missiles they do have besides the HAWK system. I assume their most importantly military bases are in the mountains? Since it would be hard to spot.

Covert cabals video on irans air defence is very informative and interesting, although it's a few months old.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LkG4-QVXVPw&t=1s

And his newest vid

What Will Happen with Iran and US?

Video Sponsored by Ridge Wallet:https://www.ridge.com/COVERTCABALUse Code “COVERTCABAL” for 10% off your orderWe started a Podcast - Tac Ops - www.youtube.co...

m.youtube.com

 

[Chamulum]

Big ol' Doubt X here.
He was ruthless, not a genius. Solemani threw as many warm bodies at a situation as was needed. He's a tactical genius in the same way Zapp Branigann was. Which he at least had the tenancity to accomplish his objectives and not just give up, so I guess by standards of the region that definitely put him way up there.

Are you people only capable of understanding real life figures until you compare them to some fictional character from some shitty show?

 

[???]

What's the average IQ in Iran?

I remember a few years ago some Hezbollah hajis were posted up in a Russian-made antiair missile truck when the USA or Israel bombed them. They ran around like chickens with their heads cut off rather than turning the fucking thing on and engaging or driving off. Naturally they died, and shortly thereafter Russia stopped letting them play in daddy's toys - Syria had to pay for Russian crews too.

This is basically the same thing that happened with pro-Russian Ukrainian militias a few years ago, when the retarded potato-niggers shot down a Dutch airliner using Russian hardware.

 

[Overly Serious]

They literally told the US where they were aiming before they fired. It's just like what trump did with Syria.

Blue Team can chest pump to their base about being bad ass motherfuckers who won't put up with no shit, Red Team can can chuckle to their base about Blue Team being shit and how their tantrum achieved nothing. Meanwhile suddenly the tension behind the scenes is reduced and allows for either the adults to start talking or for the same childish games as before to resume but without several million 'people' demanding nukes be launched at the meany pantses half a world away.

Unfortunately Iran is fucking exceptional and also shot down an airliner which just makes the situation impossible to read.

Plus you have some US generals making public statements that undermine the face-saving operation. They seem to want a war.

 

[Ponderous Pillock]

Big ol' Doubt X here.
He was ruthless, not a genius. Solemani threw as many warm bodies at a situation as was needed. He's a tactical genius in the same way Zapp Branigann was. Which he at least had the tenancity to accomplish his objectives and not just give up, so I guess by standards of the region that definitely put him way up there.

The Iranians have long copied Russian tactics and a lot of their conventional fighting style comes from the Iran-Iraq War, which involved Human Wave tactics almost exclusively. The only time Arabs and Persians have been effective is when lead by British Officers 50+ years ago.

The Battle of al-Quasayr is a key battle in which Soleimani was a key planner, and used only a small force of Hezbollah, which united a bunch of supply lines for the Assad regime.

 

[Big Nasty]

What's the average IQ in Iran?

I remember a few years ago some Hezbollah hajis were posted up in a Russian-made antiair missile truck when the USA or Israel bombed them. They ran around like chickens with their heads cut off rather than turning the fucking thing on and engaging or driving off. Naturally they died, and shortly thereafter Russia stopped letting them play in daddy's toys - Syria had to pay for Russian crews too.

This is basically the same thing that happened with pro-Russian Ukrainian militias a few years ago, when the exceptional potato-niggers shot down a Dutch airliner using Russian hardware.

AFAIK the Donbass shootdown happened because they had bypassed the IFF (Identify Friend/Foe) system that reacts to civilian aircraft transponders (or hadn't bothered to turn it on) and were firing blindly.

 

[WutangLee]

The Iranians have long copied Russian tactics and a lot of their conventional fighting style comes from the Iran-Iraq War, which involved Human Wave tactics almost exclusively. The only time Arabs and Persians have been effective is when lead by British Officers 50+ years ago.

The Battle of al-Quasayr is a key battle in which Soleimani was a key planner, and used only a small force of Hezbollah, which united a bunch of supply lines for the Assad regime.

They like to downplay that their conventional forces suffered some horrific defeats when they played an active role, to include losing field officers I.E. Major Generals and Brigadier Generals in ground battles. They even resorted to calling them assassinations. One was even beheaded by Syrian rebels. Their skills in conventional fighting seems to have been overestimated, as the Russian loyalist factions preformed spectacularly well, made up mostly of conventional Syrian soldiers, instead of the rag tag militia doctrine Iran's used to.

Now of course, they like to play plausible deniability all the time, so they can take credit for victories and forget defeats. Like how Iranian shitposters brag about Iranian involvement in the retake of Mosul, as if Coalition Forces weren't even there.
Here's a good one where the Iranians took a leading role.

2016 Southern Aleppo campaign - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Ghostse]

Are you people only capable of understanding real life figures until you compare them to some fictional character from some shitty show?

Ok fine you humor-hating faggot. He was only a tactical genius in the same way a WWII soviet commissar was a tactical genius.

For bonus persian-to-persian points I wanted to compare him to Cyrus, who also got his ass (and then his own head) handed to him when he couldn't just use weight of numbers, but before he'd picked the wrong fight, Cyrus actually used tactics and was a quite skilled-if-slimy political operator, which Soleimani was not.
(If only because open bigamy is now frowned on.)

The Iranians have long copied Russian tactics and a lot of their conventional fighting style comes from the Iran-Iraq War, which involved Human Wave tactics almost exclusively. The only time Arabs and Persians have been effective is when lead by British Officers 50+ years ago.

The Battle of al-Quasayr is a key battle in which Soleimani was a key planner, and used only a small force of Hezbollah, which united a bunch of supply lines for the Assad regime.

A small force of Hezbollah*

*Backed up by the Syrian army who had uncontested air supremacy, after weeks of artillery bombardment, who only managed to take the city after having the rebels encircled for two weeks, and eventually had to negotiate to allow rebel and civilian withdraw.

Which isn't to say that battle wasn't a key moment in the war, but "came in to the battle with a massive advantage, didn't make any major fuck ups" isn't exactly going to get you on the wall of great commanders.

OTOH, he actually got Arab forces to coordinate and kill the enemy and not each other, and that accomplishment shouldn't be dismissed. The Assad-side didn't make any major mistakes and conducted themselves competely if I'm remembering the right event, making sure to actually secure supply and escape routes. But again, that's just competence.

I will definitely grant you "comparative tactical genius" as he is most assuredly one of tallest pygmies in the mid-east.

 

[theshep]

Spoiler: More photos showing shrapnel damage

 

[BONE_Buddy]

Got a load of articles for you all:

Exclusive: Informants in Iraq, Syria helped U.S. kill Iran's Soleimani - sources

Iranian General Qassem Soleimani arrived at the Damascus airport in a vehicle with dark-tinted glass. Four soldiers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards rode with him. They parked near a staircase leading to a Cham Wings Airbus A320, destined for Baghdad.

www.reuters.com

Exclusive: Informants in Iraq, Syria helped U.S. kill Iran's Soleimani - sources
(Reuters) - Iranian General Qassem Soleimani arrived at the Damascus airport in a vehicle with dark-tinted glass. Four soldiers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards rode with him. They parked near a staircase leading to a Cham Wings Airbus A320, destined for Baghdad.

Neither Soleimani nor the soldiers were registered on the passenger manifesto, according to a Cham Wings airline employee who described the scene of their departure from the Syrian capital to Reuters. Soleimani avoided using his private plane because of rising concerns about his own security, said an Iraqi security source with knowledge of Soleimani’s security arrangements.

The passenger flight would be Soleimani’s last. Rockets fired from a U.S. drone killed him as he left the Baghdad airport in a convoy of two armored vehicles. Also killed was the man who met him at the airport: Abu Mahdi Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the Iraqi government’s umbrella group for the country’s militias.

The Iraqi investigation into the strikes that killed the two men on Jan. 3 started minutes after the U.S. strike, two Iraqi security officials told Reuters. National Security agents sealed off the airport and prevented dozens of security staff from leaving, including police, passport officers and intelligence agents.

Investigators have focused on how suspected informants inside the Damascus and Baghdad airports collaborated with the U.S. military to help track and pinpoint Soleimani’s position, according to Reuters interviews with two security officials with direct knowledge of Iraq’s investigation, two Baghdad airport employees, two police officials and two employees of Syria’s Cham Wings Airlines, a private commercial airline headquartered in Damascus.


The probe is being led by Falih al-Fayadh, who serves as Iraq’s National Security Adviser and the head of the PMF, the body that coordinates with Iraq’s mostly Shi’ite militias, many of which are backed by Iran and had close ties to Soleimani.

The National Security agency’s investigators have “strong indications that a network of spies inside Baghdad Airport were involved in leaking sensitive security details” on Soleimani’s arrival to the United States, one of the Iraqi security officials told Reuters.

The suspects include two security staffers at the Baghdad airport and two Cham Wings employees - “a spy at the Damascus airport and another one working on board the airplane,” the source said. The National Security agency’s investigators believe the four suspects, who have not been arrested, worked as part of a wider group of people feeding information to the U.S. military, the official said.

The two employees of Cham Wings are under investigation by Syrian intelligence, the two Iraqi security officials said. The Syrian General Intelligence Directorate did not respond to a request for comment. In Baghdad, National Security agents are investigating the two airport security workers, who are part of the nation’s Facility Protection Service, one of the Iraqi security officials said.

“Initial findings of the Baghdad investigation team suggest that the first tip on Soleimani came from Damascus airport,” the official said. “The job of the Baghdad airport cell was to confirm the arrival of the target and details of his convoy.”


The media office of Iraq’s National Security agency did not respond to requests for comment. The Iraq mission to the United Nations in New York did not respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Department of Defense declined to comment on whether informants in Iraq and Syria played a role in the attacks. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the United States had been closely tracking Soleimani’s movements for days prior to the strike but declined to say how the military pinpointed his location the night of the attack.

A Cham Wings manager in Damascus said airline employees were prohibited from commenting on the attack or investigation. A spokesman for Iraq’s Civil Aviation Authority, which operates the nation’s airports, declined to comment on the investigation but called it routine after “such incidents which include high-profile officials.”

Soleimani’s plane landed at the Baghdad airport at about 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 3, according to two airport officials, citing footage from its security cameras. The general and his guards exited the plane on a staircase directly to the tarmac, bypassing customs. Muhandis met him outside the plane, and the two men stepped into a waiting armored vehicle. The soldiers guarding the general piled into another armored SUV, the airport officials said.

As airport security officers looked on, the two vehicles headed down the main road leading out of the airport, the officials said. The first two U.S. rockets struck the vehicle carrying Soleimani and Muhandis at 12:55 a.m. The SUV carrying his security was hit seconds later.

As commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds force, Soleimani ran clandestine operations in foreign countries and was a key figure in Iran’s long-standing campaign to drive U.S. forces out of Iraq. He spent years running covert operations and cultivating militia leaders in Iraq to extend Iran’s influence and fight the interests of the United States. Reuters reported on Saturday that, starting in October, Soleimani had secretly launched stepped-up attacks on U.S. forces stationed in Iraq and equipped Iraqi militias with sophisticated weaponry to carry them out.

The attack on the general sparked widespread outrage and vows of revenge in Iran, which responded on Wednesday with a missile attack on two Iraq military bases that house U.S. troops. No Americans or Iraqis were killed or injured in the strike.

In the hours after the attack, investigators pored over all incoming calls and text messages by the airport night-shift staff in search of who might have tipped off the United States to Soleimani’s movements, the Iraqi security officials said. National Security agents conducted hours-long interrogations with employees of airport security and Cham Wings, the sources said. One security worker said agents questioned him for 24 hours before releasing him.

For hours, they grilled him about who he had spoken or text with before Soleimani’s plane landed - including any “weird requests” related to the Damascus flight - and confiscated his mobile phone.

“They asked me a million questions,” he said.

-End of Article-
​

Just a reminder that Human Intelligence becomes a lot harder to suppress when you are being flown in by people who hate your guts.

 

[LetThemEatCake]

My family thinks WW3 is on the horizon and friends are blaming the airliner shoot down on Trump because they thin or is itk the retaliation on that raghead general was disproportionate and caused Iran to be on edge.

I’m not interested in arguing with them cause of the headache it’ll bring and to be fair, it’s mainly MSM news that reaches my side of the globe.

You could ask them to be rational and ask them how 'world wars' work, in that they require a multiplicity of nations forming sides and forming battles line and battling it out in different theatres of war across many countries. Who would ally with Iran? Who would ally with the US? Do they know about NATO? Do they know Iran is a pariah actvely hated by many Middle Eastern countries and only having allies in a couple of places, one of which has been in a civil war since 2011?

Did they get this exercised about the endless goings-on in the Middle East before this? The endless little proixy wars that have been going on there since the Arab Spring? About Obama dn Hilary tearing Libya to shred, to the point it now has two warring governments each supported by various nations. Did they worry about Erdogan's sending troops into Libya last week? Why would this be a 'world war' if the Iraqi invasion wasn't? Did they get this scared when India and Pakistan were on the brink of nuclear fisticuff the other year? Were they bothered about Barack Obama's endless drone strikes in the Middle East, his creation of the Disposition Matrix, the CIA database of non-judicial murder targets or just when Trump had this old enemy of the US who'd just ordered an attack on an American embassy fried?

 

[BONE_Buddy]

Top Shia leader in Iraq tells militias its over:

Iraqi Shia cleric whose militia killed American troops says crisis is over following Iran strike and Trump speech

Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi army led a resistance against American troops following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, also called for restraint and patience.

www.militarytimes.com

Iraqi Shia cleric whose militia killed American troops says crisis is over following Iran strike and Trump speech
A controversial Iraqi politician and Shia cleric said Wednesday that the crisis is over following ballistic missile strikes from Iran against U.S. troops in Iraq and a speech by President Donald Trump claiming Iran was “standing down.”

Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi army led a resistance against American troops following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, also called for restraint and patience, according to a message posted to Twitter.

In the message, Sadr called for Iraqi factions to not start military action and he asked militias to restrain extremist voices within the various groups.

He also asked for Iraq to form a government within 15 days.

Moreover, an Iran-backed militia group believed to be responsible for a series of rocket strikes against coalition forces — which nearly sparked war between Iran and the U.S. — is calling for patience from its followers, according to a message posted by the group.


The message from Kata’ib Hezbollah was translated and posted by SITE Intelligence Group Wednesday.

The Iraqi Hezbollah group told its followers that “passions must be avoided” for the organization to achieve its goal of expelling America from Iraq. While the group called for patience, the Iran-backed was still seeking a “calculated response."

SITE Intelligence Group told Military Times that the Iraqi Hezbollah group post its message before Trump’s speech Wednesday.

But the messages from U.S. antagonists Sadr and Kata’ib Hezbollah send some signals of a desire to deescalate tensions in the region.

U.S. officials believe Kata’ib Hezbollah is responsible for a number of rocket attacks against Iraqi bases housing coalition troops, including the deadly rocket attack on Dec. 27 that killed an American contractor and wounded four U.S. troops.

The rocket attacks precipitated a series of events that led to a U.S. airstrike on Dec. 29 against the militia group and a decapitation strike killing revered Iran Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani as well as Kata-ib Hezbollah leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.


On Tuesday, Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at al-Asad and Irbil — both Iraqi air bases housing coalition troops — in retaliation for the U.S. strike that killed one of its most important commanders.

No U.S. troops were killed or wounded in the strike, but the attack sparked widespread worries of an impending military clash between Washington and Tehran.

Trump said Iran appeared to be “standing down” following the ballistic missile strike but warned of sanctions and military retaliation if it continued its malign behavior.

“Peace and stability cannot prevail in the Middle East as long as Iran continues to foment violence, unrest, hatred and war,” Trump said at the White House on Wednesday.

“The civilized world must send a clear and unified message to the Iranian regime that (their) campaign of terror, murder and mayhem will not be tolerated any longer," Trump said.


Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said he received advanced warning that Iran would soon start its retaliation against U.S. positions.

With no U.S. casualties and a number of the missiles landing in the dirt, some Pentagon leaders believe there is a chance to ameliorate tensions.

But Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the attack was not enough during a speech in Qom Province, Iran, following the ballistic missile attack, Iran state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

“They were slapped last night, but such military actions are not enough. The corruptive presence of the U.S. in the West Asian region must be stopped," Khamenei said, according to IRNA.

Khamenei said the U.S. must leave the region, IRNA reported.

Iran could turn to its extensive network of proxies and militias to orchestrate attacks against American troops.


Hezbollah in Lebanon has warned of attacking U.S. ships and troops in the region.

-End of Article-​

Looks like at least some of the Pro-Iranian milita groups want to avoid poking the bear for a while so as not to warrant an apocalyptic reprisal.

 

[bippu_as_fuck_ls400]

Iraqi PM tells US to decide mechanism for troop withdrawal
https://apnews.com/182bae76452d7565b0a3d840ff0369cb (http://archive.vn/gyYFO)

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has told the U.S. secretary of state to send a delegation to Iraq tasked with formulating the mechanism for the withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq, according to a statement released Friday.

The statement, from the office of the Iraqi caretaker prime minister, said the request came in a telephone call between Abdul-Mahdi and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday night. It says Pompeo called the Iraqi premier.

The prime minister said Iraq rejects all violations against its sovereignty including the attacks carried out by Iranian forces against U.S. troops in Iraq and also American violations of Iraq’s airspace in the airstrike that killed a top Iranian general last week.

The Iraqi leader asked Pompeo to “send delegates to Iraq to prepare a mechanism to carry out the parliament’s resolution regarding the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq,” the statement said.

“The prime minister said American forces had entered Iraq and drones are flying in its airspace without permission from Iraqi authorities and this was a violation of the bilateral agreements,” the statement added.

Iraqi lawmakers passed a non-binding resolution to oust U.S. troops following a strike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and senior Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis last Friday.