After the previous few days events (Kata'ib Hezbollah attacks our airbase, we flatten their headquarters, Hezbollah & 2 other iranian militias storm the US embassy) the US has responded with one of the biggest shots across the bow of Iran in memory

https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Four-rockets-land-on-Baghdad-airport-report-612947
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/world/middleeast/qassem-soleimani-iraq-iran-attack.html
https://www.foxnews.com/world/rockets-baghdad-airport-injuries-reported

General Qassim Soleimani, head of the Quds force and a top IRGC commander and one of Iran's top military names, as well as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Iraqi-Iranian leader of Kata'ib Hezbollah who personally lead the assault on the US embassy, were both killed in US airstrikes near the Baghdad airport;



The Quds Force serves as a CIA equivalent that sponsors shadow operations in other countries and has been responsible for many attacks on the US, its why the US always calls them state sponsors of terrorism. Al-Muhandis was just a local mililtia leader of a Hezbollah chapter in Iraq and a nobody compared to Soleimani, who has been one of the US's top public enemies, on terrorist lists, sanctions lists, etc. The Quds Force is responsible for propping up Hezbollah in Lebanon, both Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Israel, the Houthis in Yemen and Iranian militias in Iraq, Afghanistan & Syria. They're the people who make the Fajr-5 missiles fired at Israel and give them to the Palestinians.

For Soleimani to get blown up by the US is like if Petraeus had been blown up by Iran during the Iraq War
This guy was far more powerful and controlled far more military assets when he died then al-Baghdadi, who was chased down only after the Caliphate was destroyed. This is knocking off one of Iran's top commanders when they're still saber rattling against us.

tdlr; US immediately fucked them up?

TLDR: You know all those times when we read about how the US military took out a top hajji durka commander of the al-hasan muhamed brigade in takkalakkastan who you've never heard of, and its totally meaningless and everyone forgets about it within a day?
This isn't that guy. This guy was the big cheese, one of the top Iranian leadership.

"yes"

US DOD confirms targeted killing.

holy cow this is a crazy escalation

big hot war coming again to the sandbox

Reports also around the webs that Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of the PMF militant force in Iraq (backed by Iran obviously) was actually stupid enough to use a cell phone to call the militants that fired the rockets earlier in Iraq on a cell phone, which allowed the US to zero in on their location and strike.

This is far and away the most significant foreign policy development of Trump's presidency. A truly MASSIVE shot fired. As Goom said, Soleimani was a huge deal.


I'm just hoping that the situation wont escalate meaningfully after such a strike. Sure, it will escalate somewhat in the short term; the Iranians will spit fire and swear revenge and death to America, yadayadayada. But I really hope they got the message and will retreat with their tail between their legs after they've spouted enough hot air on the world stage to "save face in public". On the other hand, I can easily see the situation in the ME going from bad to worse from here.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Jan 2 2020 09:29pm

We should dance in the streets

This will be the start of war again in the ME...

One thing that's worth pointing out: Iran is at their weakest right now. That seems to be agreed upon by the middle east pundits. They had to cut off the internet in Iran because of mass protests and are crushing them with massacres, they had to crush protests by Sunnis in Iraq with massacres and the Iranian backed government is barely standing. Hezbollah is facing the same in Lebanon, and the Houthis are getting crushed. Israel has diminished Hamas and Islamic Jihad to a reasonably low point, not exactly like after their mass raids, but still. And their Russian allies aren't exactly on firm economic footing.
If Iran chooses to respond, it wouldn't be sustainable and they'd know that. They're facing pressure on a half dozen fronts, their economic pinched, facing mass revolts in multiple countries.
The bad scenario is where Soleimani proves to be popular enough with the Iranian people that they can deflect from their domestic crisises to focus on the US as an external threat. But they've worn that pretense thin