Waves of ballistic missiles, soldiers hunkered down in bunkers for hours, intense shock waves — a top US commander said he reacted to Iran’s unprecedented attack against an Iraqi base with “disbelief”.

In an exclusive interview with AFP at the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq, Lt. Colonel Tim Garland said his superiors had given him “a couple hours of advance warning” last Tuesday night that an attack by Iran was coming.

“My first reaction was shock, initial disbelief,” he said, sceptical that Iran would be capable, and willing, to conduct a bold attack on Ain al-Asad.

The airbase was targeted in retaliation for the US killing top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad on January 3.

The base is one of the largest in Iraq, with 1,500 US troops making up the bulk of a coalition presence directly adjacent to thousands of Iraqi forces.

Getting those forces to safety was an act of quick thinking and coordination across the army and air force commanders at Ain al-Asad, Garland said.

By 11:00pm (2000 GMT), US and coalition forces had evacuated from their sleeping quarters and offices, and were hiding out either in fortified bunkers or dispersed across the base.

They waited, tense, for over two hours.

But not even their commander expected the strength of the blasts that came next.

“When the first round came in, it was the loudest, most powerful noise I’ve ever heard,” Garland told AFP.

– Shockwave ‘bowed door’ –

“There’s something unnatural about the air. The way it moved, the way it heated up; the shock wave that came in and bowed the door in and bowed it back out,” he said.

Starting at 1:35am and for the next three hours, around five volleys of ballistic missiles slammed into the base at varying intervals.

“I have not been that scared for a long time. It’s been a while,” said Garland, who has served multiple tours in Iraq.

“We didn’t know what it was going to look like — if there was going to be a carpet bombing effect,” he added.

When the strikes quietened around 4:00am, commanders and soldiers emerged from their bunkers to fires burning across the base, more than a dozen impact sites but — miraculously — no casualties.

Two soldiers who had been in guard towers were blown out of their positions but only suffered concussion, the commander said.

“How they survived was a miracle of God,” Garland remarked.

He said the volleys that hit the base were timed in such a way as to trick soldiers into thinking the bombing was over.

“It was just enough time to make you feel safe. It was my opinion that it was intended to inflict casualties,” said Garland.

Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said on Sunday the missiles it fired in the early hours of Wednesday were not aimed at killing American personnel.

By Monday, most of the impact sites had been cleared.

A bulldozer was piling up the last of the twisted metal and debris from the last site, located by the base’s airfield.

A soldiers’ living quarters had been totally pulverised and still smelt of charred metal.

Soldiers who lived there told AFP they had lost all their personal belongings — clothes, books, pictures of their families and mementos they had carried through more than a decade in the military.

But given the intensity of the strikes, Garland said, they were lucky.

“Theatre ballistic missile strikes. That’s unprecedented,” he said.

Source: AFP

Britain’s Prince Charles and Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined regional leaders in Oman on Sunday to offer their condolences to the royal family after the death of long-reigning Sultan Qaboos.

A ceremony at Muscat’s Alam Palace drew figures from across political divides in the Middle East, including Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was among those who met the new sultan, along with Tunisian President Kais Saied, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, and Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

Former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy was also in attendance at the ceremony, which took place a day after the new royal ruler Haitham bin Tariq was selected and sworn in.

Haitham is a cousin of Qaboos, who never married and died Friday at the age of 79 without an heir apparent.

It was Sultan Qaboos’ policy of neutrality and non-interference that elevated Oman’s standing as a “Switzerland of the Middle East” and won it respect in the region and beyond.

It maintains healthy relations with the United States as well as with regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia, in what many diplomatic observers see as a model of balance.

Sultan Qaboos, who ruled for half a century, came to power in 1970 when he overthrew his father in a coup with British support.

As a young man, he attended Britain’s elite Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, after which he joined a British infantry battalion in Germany.

British premier Johnson is to meet with the new sultan and senior Omani officials during his visit, his office said in a statement.

“The UK and Oman have a broad and long-standing bilateral relationship that goes back over 200 years,” it said. “Our countries have deep economic ties and shared defence and security interests.”

As ruler, Qaboos modernised his country but also forged a broader role as a go-between in regional and international crises.

Under his reign, Oman refrained from taking sides in the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar as well as a military intervention in Yemen led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The sultan’s death comes amid increased tensions between Tehran and Washington, following the US killing of a top Iranian commander in Iraq that raised fears the region was sliding into war.

The late sultan’s standing has been recognised with warm tributes from across the world, including from US President Donald Trump who said Qaboos was a “true partner and friend to the United States”.

Source: AFP

Iran on Saturday said its armed forces had “unintentionally” shot down the Ukrainian airliner which crashed outside Tehran.

The admission came a day after the country’s civil aviation chief had denied that the plane was brought down by a missile.

The Boeing 737 crashed on Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board, shortly after Iran launched missiles at American forces in Iraq in response to the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad.

Here is a recap of other planes hit by missiles over the past four decades:

– 298 killed, Ukraine –

July 17, 2014: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.

All 298 people aboard the Boeing 777 are killed, including 193 Dutch nationals.

The Kiev authorities and separatist pro-Russian rebels, who are battling for control of eastern Ukraine, accuse each other of firing the missile that downed the flight.

– 11 killed, Somalia –

March 23, 2007: An Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircraft belonging to a Belarusian airline is shot down by a rocket shortly after takeoff from the Somalian capital Mogadishu, killing 11 people. The plane was transporting Belarusian engineers and technicians who had travelled to the country to repair another plane hit by a missile two weeks earlier.

– 78 killed, Black Sea –

October 4, 2001: 78 people, mostly Israelis, were killed when their Siberia Airlines Tupolev Tu-154, flying from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk, exploded mid-flight over the Black Sea. The crash happened less than 300 kilometres (190 miles) from the Crimean coast. A week later Kiev admitted that the disaster was due to the accidental firing of a Ukrainian missile.

– 290 killed, Gulf –

July 3, 1988: An Airbus A-300 belonging to Iran Air, flying from Bandar Abbas in Iran to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, was shot down in Iran’s territorial waters in the Gulf shortly after takeoff by two missiles fired from a US frigate patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, apparently mistaking it for a fighter aircraft.

The 290 passengers on board were killed. The United States paid Iran $101.8 million in compensation.

– 269 killed, Sakhalin –

September 1, 1983: A Boeing 747 belonging to Korean Air (then called Korean Air Lines) was shot down by Soviet fighter jets over the island of Sakhalin, after veering off course. All 269 people on board were killed. Soviet officials acknowledged five days later that they had shot down the South Korean plane.

– 108 killed, Sinai Desert –

February 21, 1973: A Libyan Arab Airline Boeing 727 flying from Tripoli to Cairo was shot down by Israeli fighter jets over the Sinai Desert. All but four of the 112 people on board were killed. The Israeli air force intervened after the Boeing flew over military facilities in the Sinai, then occupied by Israel. Israeli authorities said fighters opened fire when the plane refused to land.

Source: AFP

Iran said on Saturday it unintentionally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane killing 176 people on board due to human error, after initially denying it brought down the plane in the tense aftermath of Iranian missile strikes on U.S. targets in Iraq.

Wednesday’s crash heightened international pressure on Iran after months of friction with the United States and tit-for-tat military strikes. Washington killed an Iranian general last week in Iraq, prompting Tehran to fire at U.S. targets.

The United States and Canada, which had 57 citizens on board, had blamed an Iranian action for bringing down the aircraft. Ottawa had told Iran that “the world is watching.”

On Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the armed forces investigation showed the downing of the Boeing 737-800 was the result of “human error at time of crisis caused by U.S. adventurism (that) led to disaster.”

An Iranian military statement, announcing that a missile had struck the plane and expressing condolences to the victims, said the plane had flown close to a sensitive military site belonging to the elite Revolutionary Guards.

It said responsible parties would be referred to a judicial department within the military and held accountable.

Mobile phone footage posted and circulated by ordinary Iranians on Twitter after the crash has indicated that it came down in a ball of flames.

Iran had said on Thursday it would download the information from voice and flight data recorders, known as black boxes, to determine what had happened, although it had said that the process could take one to two months.

Tehran said it could ask Russia, Canada, France or Ukraine for help in an effort that it said could take one or two years.

Many of the victims were Iranian with dual nationality.

Iran initially dismissed the accusations that a missile was to blame for the crash, calling such suggestions “psychological warfare”.

Grief-stricken Iranians and others have posted images related to the crash. One showed a child’s red shoe in the dirt. Another was a selfie of a mother and daughter in their seats, sent to a loved one just before takeoff.

“Why were any civilian airlines flying out of Tehran airport in those conditions?” a user named Shiva Balaghi wrote on Twitter.

Ukraine had been looking at various possible causes of the crash, including an attack by a Russian-made missile, a collision, an engine explosion or terrorism.

(REUTERS)

Queen Elizabeth II has ordered royal courtiers to define a future role for Prince Harry and Meghan within days, following their unexpected decision to distance themselves from the royal family.

First Brexit, now Megxit.

Sources say Queen Elizabeth II has called on aides to rapidly define the new roles of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The reports come as Britain is still reeling from the couple’s announcement that they are stepping down from full-time royal duties.

Fans of the monarchy greeted the move with dismay.

“Very strange behaviour,” royals superfan John Loughery told Reuters. “And I think she is wearing the trousers, and I feel sorry for Harry. We want the golden boy back. And I think it will end up in tears.”

Many are sceptical at how the couple could stay on as part-time royals – and are upset by claims that the rest of the royal family was blindsided by the announcement.

“They’re a law unto themselves. They are just putting out statements, here, there and everywhere without consulting anybody,” said another fan.

On their new website, the Sussexes announced they will no longer take part in the Royal Rota system, which sends updates to British papers. Tabloids in particular have been heavily critical of the couple, leading Prince Harry and Meghan to speak publicly about the toll of the intense media pressure that comes with being senior royals.

From now on, they will be providing direct access only “to credible media outlets focused on objective news reporting”, and prioritising communication with “grassroots media organisations and young, up-and-coming journalists”.

You might call it their own way of taking back control.

Culled from France 24

The UN Security Council on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to “an international order based on international law” amid fears of armed conflict between the United States and Iran.

The 15 members said the Security Council “reaffirms its commitment to the Charter of the United Nations, including the purposes and principles of the Charter, and an international order based on international law.”

The declaration was issued at the start of a debate on the UN Charter which had been tabled before the present crisis by Vietnam, a non-permanent member of the Security Council and which assumes the rotating presidency this month.

A record 111 countries, including several ministers, had signed up for the marathon debate on peace and security that will bring US and Iranian officials into the same room for the first time since the two countries came to brink of war in the past week following the US assassination of a top Iranian general.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said this week he had been informed by UN chief Antonio Guterres that Washington has denied him a visa for his trip to the UN headquarters in New York.

Asked about Zarif’s complaint, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the State Department does not comment on visa matters.

“The United States never say ‘no.’ They just don’t respond,” a UN official told AFP, noting that the tactic allowed Washington to deny any breach of its obligations as host country to the UN headquarters.

The same source, who asked not to be named, said that if the US formally refuses a request for a visa it is obliged to notify the UN leadership, which would cast its actions in an unfavorable light.

The declaration came as the UN prepares to celebrate 75 years since its founding in October 1945.

“The Security Council reaffirms its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security,” it said.

In the week since tensions flared between the United States and Iran, no member nation of the Security Council has called for an emergency meeting of the body to address the crisis that has brought the Middle East to the verge of open war.

Source: AFP

A large number of anti-war activists have stage a demonstration in New York City’s Times Square, demanding an end to US military actions in the Middle East.

The demonstration was held on Wednesday amid US President Donald Trump’s aggressive actions against Iran that have increased concerns of spiraling out of control into a new full-fledged war in the Middle East.

Protesters were chanting, “Trump, Pence, out now.”

The anti-war activists were holding banners which read, “No war on Iran! No assassinations! No interventions! No sanctions!”, “No more drones,” “Fight climate change, not Iran,” and “Trump, Pence, out now.”

Amanda, one of the protesters, said, “People in this country need to oppose all war and crimes against humanity.”

“But not just that. We here are part of the ‘Out Now’ movement, we are opposing the war against Iran, on the basis that Trump and Pence are fascists they need to be driven out of the white house,” Amanda added.

Another protester said, “We are against war with Iran, we have made it clear time and time again, that these wars do not benefit anyone except for that people that can profit of them, and American people are very conscious of that.”

Tensions between the US and Iran escalated after Trump ordered the assassination of a top Iranian commander who had played a leading role in the Middle East in the fight against Daesh terrorists.

Fears of a new war in the Middle East emerged following the assassination of General Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) last week.

On Saturday, Trump said that his military would hit “very important” targets, including cultural heritage sites, if the Iranians want to take a retaliatory action against the assassination of Lieutenant General Soleimani.

Early on Wednesday, Iran responded to the assassination of Soleimani, the Middle East’s most prominent anti-terror commander, striking the American airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq and another in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Meanwhile, a coalition of progressive advocacy groups in the US have called for massive rallies across the country to protest Trump’s “military brinksmanship” against Iran and demand immediate de-escalation of tensions with Tehran.

“We will not be forced into another war,” said the coalition, led by MoveOn, Indivisible, Win Without War, and other groups.

“On Thursday, January 9, at 5 p.m local time, the anti-war majority in this country will get visible to oppose Trump’s war and say #NoWarWithIran,” the coalition said.

As of Wednesday, over 180 protests have been planned across the US, up from just 50 when the protests were first announced Tuesday afternoon.

Culled from Presstv

The United Kingdom has expressed concerns about “reported casualties” following Iran’s attack on two US bases in Iraq carried out to retaliate Washington’s assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander, Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said that “tens of surface-to-surface missiles” were fired at the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq early on Wednesday.

The attack was confirmed by US officials.

Following the incident, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemned the strike, calling on Iran not to repeat what he called “reckless and dangerous” strikes.

“We condemn this attack on Iraqi military bases hosting Coalition – including British – forces,” Raab said. “We are concerned by reports of casualties and use of ballistic missiles.”

“We urge Iran not to repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks, and instead to pursue urgent de-escalation.”

The IRGC has called for a complete withdrawal of US troops from the Arab country, asserting that it would not differentiate between the US and Israel in retaliating against the assassination of the Iranian national hero.

“We warn US allies providing bases for the [American] terrorist army… that any country serving as the origin of bellicose and aggressive attacks in any form against the Islamic Republic of Iran will be targeted,” read the IRGC statement.

The Pentagon claimed that it would take necessary measures to protect US military forces amid heightened tensions in the region.

Iran summons UK ambassador over British support for Soleimani’s assassination

On Tuesday, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Robert Macaire, Britain’s ambassador to Tehran, over the support that a number of top UK officials have voiced for the US assassination of General Soleimani.

This came following the unacceptable remarks by the UK prime minister, foreign secretary, and defense secretary about Trump’s order to assassinate Soleimani, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was the deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and their companions.

In his meeting with Macaire, the Iranian Foreign Minister’s assistant for European affairs strongly condemned UK officials’ remarks, saying the US’ move violated international law and Iraq’s national sovereignty.

Source: Presstv

A Ukrainian plane carrying at least 170 people crashed shortly after take off in Tehran killing all on board, Iran state media reported.

The Boeing 737 had left Tehran’s international airport bound for Kiev, semi-official news agency ISNA said, adding that 10 ambulances were sent to the crash site.

“Obviously it is impossible that passengers” on flight PS-752 are alive, the head of Red Crescent, Morteza Salimi, told semi-official news agency ISNA, adding that 170 passengers and crew had boarded the plane.

State news agency IRNA said 167 passengers and nine crew members had boarded the plane, which was operated by Ukraine International Airlines.

Press TV, state television’s English-language news broadcaster, said the plane went down in the vicinity of Parand, a city in Tehran province.

The crash was likely to have been caused by “technical difficulties”, it reported, citing Ali Khashani, spokesman for Imam Khomeini International Airport.

“The plane caught fire after crashing,” said Press TV. A video aired by the state media broadcaster appeared to show the plane already on fire, falling from the sky.

Iranian state television showed footage from the site of the crash of Red Crescent search and rescue teams scouring an open field with debris strewn across it.

American airline manufacturer Boeing tweeted: “We are aware of the media reports out of Iran and we are gathering more information.”

– Escalating tensions –

The crash came shortly after Iran said it fired missiles at Iraqi bases in revenge for the killing of one of the Islamic republic’s top military commanders in a US drone strike on Friday.

Following the missile strikes, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was banning US-registered carriers from flying over Iraq, Iran and the Gulf after rocket attacks on US forces in Iraq.

“The (FAA) issues Notices to Airmen tonight outlining flight restrictions that prohibit US civil aviation operators from operating in the airspace over Iraq, Iran and the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman,” it said in a statement.

“The FAA will continue closely monitoring events in the Middle East.”

Iran launched the missiles after a US drone strike killed Qasem Soleimani, a hugely popular figure who headed the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed “severe revenge” for the assassination and declared three days of mourning following the assassination which shocked the Islamic republic.

The assassination of Soleimani set off an escalating war of words between Iran and the US.

In Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani on Monday warned Trump to “never threaten” Iran, after the US leader issued a US strike list of 52 targets in the Islamic republic.

Source: AFP

Iran launched a missile attack on U.S.-led forces in Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday in retaliation for the U.S. drone strike on an Iranian commander whose killing has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles from its territory against at least two Iraqi facilities hosting U.S.-led coalition personnel at about 1:30 a.m. (2230 GMT), the U.S. military said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a tweet late on Tuesday that an assessment of casualties and damage from the strikes was under way and that he would make a statement on Wednesday morning.

“All is well!” Trump, who visited the al-Asad air base in December 2018, said in the Twitter post.

One source said early indications were of no U.S. casualties. Other U.S. officials declined to comment.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps confirmed they fired the missiles in retaliation for last week’s killing of Qassem Soleimani, according to a statement on state TV.

The force advised the United States to withdraw its troops from the region to prevent more deaths and warned U.S. allies including Israel not to allow attacks from their territories.

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement that the bases targeted were al-Asad air base and another facility in Erbil, Iraq.

“As we evaluate the situation and our response, we will take all necessary measures to protect and defend U.S. personnel, partners, and allies in the region.”

Hours earlier on Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the United States should anticipate retaliation from Iran over Friday’s killing in Iraq of Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force.

“I think we should expect that they will retaliate in some way, shape or form,” he told a news briefing at the Pentagon, adding that such retaliation could be through Iran-backed proxy groups outside of Iran or “by their own hand.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran “took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter”, targeting the bases where the attack against its citizens and senior officials was launched.

“We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression,” he wrote in a post on Twitter.

If the U.S. military was indeed spared casualties, and Iran has completed its threatened retaliation for the U.S. drone strike on Soleimani, as Zarif suggested, there might be an opportunity for Washington and Tehran to seek an off-ramp to their increasingly violent confrontation.

Asian stock markets, which had been roiled by the attack, pared some of their losses after the tweets from Trump and Zarif. U.S. crude prices also retreated after surging almost 5% on worries any conflict could cut oil supplies.

‘We will take revenge’

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it would ban U.S. carriers from operating in the airspace over Iraq, Iran, the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Singapore Airlines had already diverted all flight routes from Iranian airspace.

Democrats in the U.S. Congress and some of the party’s presidential contenders warned about the escalating conflict.

“Closely monitoring the situation following bombings targeting U.S. troops in Iraq,” U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Twitter. “We must ensure the safety of our service members, including ending needless provocations from the Administration and demanding that Iran cease its violence. America & world cannot afford war.”

Soleimani, a pivotal figure in orchestrating Iran’s long-standing campaign to drive U.S. forces out of Iraq, was also responsible for building up Tehran’s network of proxy armies across the Middle East.

He was a national hero to many Iranians but viewed as a dangerous villain by Western governments opposed to Iran’s arc of influence running across the Levant and into the Gulf region.

A senior Iranian official said on Tuesday that Tehran was considering several scenarios to avenge Soleimani’s death. Other senior figures have said the Islamic Republic would match the scale of the killing when it responds, but that it would choose the time and place.

“We will take revenge, a hard and definitive revenge,” the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, General Hossein Salami, told throngs who crowded the streets for Soleimani’s funeral on Tuesday in Kerman, his hometown in southeastern Iran.

Soleimani’s burial went ahead after several hours of delay following a stampede that killed at least 56 people and injured more than 210, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.

Iran TV reported Soleimani was buried after the missile attacks. “His revenge was taken and now he can rest in peace,” it said.

The missiles were launched on Wednesday at the same time that he was killed last on Friday.

Soleimani’s body had been taken to holy Shi’ite Muslim cities in Iraq and Iran, as well as the Iranian capital, Tehran, before arriving to be buried in the city cemetery’s “martyrs section”, according to the semi-official news agency ISNA.

In each place, huge numbers of people filled thoroughfares, chanting: “Death to America” and weeping with emotion. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wept as he led prayers in Tehran.

Prompted by the strong public backlash over Soleimani’s killing on Iraqi soil, lawmakers in Iraq voted on Sunday to demand a removal of all foreign forces from the country.

More than 5,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq along with other foreign forces as part of a coalition that has trained and backed up Iraqi security forces against the threat of Islamic State militants.

Some 115 German soldiers are stationed in Erbil and all are fine, a spokesman for Bundeswehr operations said.

A NATO official told Reuters it would move some of its several hundred trainers out of Iraq. Canada said on Tuesday some of its 500 Iraq-based forces would be temporarily moved to Kuwait for safety reasons.

U.S. officials have said Soleimani was killed because of solid intelligence indicating forces under his command planned attacks on U.S. targets in the region, although they have provided no evidence.

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said 13 “revenge scenarios” were being considered, Fars news agency reported. Even the weakest option would prove “a historic nightmare for the Americans”, he said.

(REUTERS)