Military.com | By Richard SiskMore than a dozen ballistic missiles have been launched at at least two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops, Pentagon officials confirmed Tuesday night.The attack, officials said, was by Iran, apparently in response to the Jan. 3 U.S. strike that killed Iranian Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani.In a statement released just after 7 p.m. Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said the attack had begun roughly 90 minutes earlier, targeting multiple bases."Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq," he said. "It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. military and coalition personnel at Al-Asad and [Erbil]." Hoffman said officials were still developing initial battle damage assessments."In recent days and in response to Iranian threats and actions, the Department of Defense has taken all appropriate measures...

By Danielle Wallace | Fox News A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 passengers and crew crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's airport Wednesday morning, killing all on board and turning farmland on the outskirts of the capital into fields of flaming debris.The Ukraine International Airlines flight, bound for the country's capital of Kiev, plunged from the sky just minutes after departing Imam Khomeini International Airport, according to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency. The crash came hours after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles on Iraqi bases housing American and coalition soldiers. Both Ukrainian and Iranian officials say they suspect a mechanical issue brought down the Boeing 737-800 aircraft."I heard a massive explosion and all the houses started to shake. There was fire everywhere," Din Mohammad Qassemi, an Iranian who lives near the crash site, told the Associated Press. Qassemi said he had been watching news broadcasts about the Iranian...

Bloomberg Trump’s Targeted Iran Killing Is Kim Jong Un’s Biggest Fear By Jon Herskovitz and Iain Marlow If Kim Jong Un needed another reminder about the risks of bargaining away North Korea’s nuclear weapons program to the U.S., President Donald Trump’s decision to kill one of Iran’s top commanders provides one.The killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani last week reinforces the North Korean view that the U.S. only takes such actions against states that lack a credible nuclear deterrent. More specifically, Trump’s choice of attack -- a covert drone strike against a high-level target -- feeds regime fears that any U.S. offensive against Pyongyang would start at the top.“The attack will only entrench the belief in Pyongyang that a nuclear deterrent, which Iran lacks, is essential for the physical survival of Kim Jong Un,” said Miha Hribernik, head of Asia risk analysis at Verisk Maplecroft. “Kim and other senior North...

  Trial Opens In Paris Over 'Jihadist Network' Linked To Charlie Hebdo Attacks RFI On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the trial of 24 suspected jihadists linked to the massacre that killed 12 people at the satirical weekly has opened in Paris. Only five of the suspects are expected to appear in the dock, with most presumed dead in Iraq or Syria.Known as the "Sevran network", the suspects allegedly became radicalised at a clandestine mosque in the Paris suburb of Sevran.The 20 men and four women, of French, Moroccan, Mauritanian and Algerian nationality, converted to jihadist ideology through mentors at the Sevran mosque, some swayed by the declaration of the self-proclaimed "caliphate” by the Islamic State (IS) armed group in June 2014.They are believed to have provided logistical support to Said and Cherif Kouachi, the al Qaeda-linked brothers who carried out the Charlie Hebdo...

The Wall Street Journal The Terrorist Horn Of Africa How were Kenyan and U.S. troops surprised by al-Shabaab? By The Editorial Board Militants from the al Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab terrorist group killed a U.S. service member and two Pentagon contractors Sunday during a raid on the Manda Bay Airfield in Kenya. The attack raises questions about America’s alertness in the region and is a reminder of the importance of the African counterterrorism mission. Two other Americans were wounded and six aircraft damaged during the predawn attack near the Kenya-Somalia border, according to a statement from U.S. Africa Command: “After an initial penetration of the perimeter, Kenya Defense Forces and U.S. Africa Command repelled the al-Shabaab attack.” The base is in a tough neighborhood, and the mystery is why U.S. forces were surprised. The group has terrorized bases in the past, killing scores of Africans. Addressing how al-Shabaab made it inside the...

Deutsche Welle Al-Shabab Attack On US Air Base In Kenya Signals Resurgence The Somali terrorist group al-Shabab overran a US military air base in Kenya on Sunday, killing several people. The group's bold offensive shows it is recovering after suffering high casualties from US drone strikes. The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militant group on Sunday attacked Kenya's Manda Bay Airfield, a military base that houses US and Kenyan troops. Al-Shabab claimed the attack destroyed US equipment, including aircraft and vehicles.The attack killed three American Department of Defense personnel, Kenya and US authorities said on Monday. Five attackers were killed, according to Kenyan military spokesman Paul Njuguna.It is the first time that al-Shabab has carried out an attack against US forces in Kenya. Read more: https://www.dw.com/en/al-shabab-attack-on-us-air-base-in-kenya-signals-resurgence/a-51905819...

NBC 15 New York Fort Rucker soldier killed in attack on U.S. base in Kenyaby Lindsey Bullard DOTHAN, Ala. (WPMI) — The Department of Defense confirmed that a soldier assigned to Fort Rucker died during an attack in Manda Bay, Kenya on January 5.23-year-old Spc. Henry J. Mayfield, Jr. was from Evergreen Park, Illinois. He was supporting Operation Octave Shield in Kenya.Mayfield was assigned to the 1st Battalion of the 58th Aviation Regiment, 164th Theater Airfield Operations Group at Fort Rucker.“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Specialist Henry "Mitch" Mayfield's family, friends and loved ones. Specialist Mayfield was a dynamic Soldier who inspired those he served with to excel both on and off duty. The 164th Theater Airfield Operations Group will miss his leadership and camaraderie,” said Col. William Garber, Commander, Air Traffic Services Command (ATSCOM) and 164th Theater Airfield Operations Group (TAOG). Read more: https://mynbc15.com/news/local/fort-rucker-soldier-killed-in-attack-on-us-base-in-kenya...

Reuters U.S. To Designate Iran-Backed Iraqi Militia As Foreign Terrorist Organization WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to designate an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia as a foreign terrorist organization, the State Department said on Friday, accusing the Asaib Ahl al-Haq group of being a violent proxy of Tehran.The announcement in a statement from the agency followed a U.S. air strike early on Friday in Baghdad that killed Iran’s most prominent military commander, Qassem Soleimani. The attack was a dramatic escalation of tensions between Washington and Tehran, for which Iran has promised vengeance.The State Department also said on Friday that it had designated Qais al-Khazali, leader of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, and his brother Laith al-Khazali, another leader of the group, as specially designated global terrorists. Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-security-usa-designation/u-s-to-designate-iran-backed-iraqi-militia-as-foreign-terrorist-organization-idUSKBN1Z220Y...

Iran’s Qassem Soleimani: Global mass killer Al Arabiya Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani was an “evil man” responsible for killing thousands, US Vice President Mike Pence said on Friday.Soleimani was “directly responsible” for the death of 603 US service members, in addition to thousands wounded, Pence said in a tweet. Soleimani wasn’t just directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of Americans, but thousands around the world.He was “one of the most notorious criminals in Iranian history, who had the blood of hundreds of thousands of the people in Iran and the region,” according to Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the US office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI-US).Soleimani’s legacy will include his kill record from the Middle East to South America.In Lebanon, Soleimani was suspected of being involved in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, according to...

Somali Terrorist Group Attacks Manda Bay Airfield, Kenya, Destroying U.S. Shadowy Surveillance Aircraft by David Cenciotti On Sunday Jan. 5, 2020, at around 05:30AM LT, the Somail terrorist organization al-Shabaab attacked Manda Bay Airfield, Kenya, also known as “Camp Simba”, a base used by both U.S. and Kenyan forces.The group posted 17 photographs showing their militants allegedly burning aircraft inside the base (one shows a fighter shooting a selfie next to a Dash 8 aircraft – more about this below), claiming 7 aircraft and 3 army vehicles were destroyed in the attack Both AFRICOM (U.S. Africa Command) and the Kenya Defense Forces acknowledged there was an attack on the base. Initially, the KDF just said that the attack was repelled: Kenya Defence Forces; This morning at around 5:30 am an attempt was made to breach security at Manda Air Strip. The attempted breach was successfully repulsed. Four terrorists bodies have...

Washington Examiner Al Qaeda-linked extremists destroy US aircraft and vehicles in attack on Kenyan military base by Tim Pearce American and Kenyan forces have repelled an attack on a military airstrip in Kenya by al Qaeda-linked extremists.Al Shabab, a terror group based in nearby Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday that destroyed several U.S. aircraft and other vehicles at Camp Simba near the Somali border. Joint U.S. and Kenyan forces killed at least four attackers and arrested five more, according to the Associated Press.U.S. Africa Command is conducting "an accountability of personnel assessment" to determine if and how many Americans were injured or killed in the attack. The U.S. military said that "initial reports reflect damage to infrastructure and equipment." Read more: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/al-qaeda-linked-extremists-destroy-us-aircraft-and-vehicles-in-attack-on-kenyan-military-base...

U.S. Kills Two Top Iranian Military Leaders, Bigger Than Bin Laden, Al-Baghdadi, Reports Say By  Ryan Saavedra - DailyWire.com U.S. military forces have reportedly killed two top Iranian military commanders involved in terrorism on Thursday night in Iraq in an airstrike in what analysts said was a significantly bigger deal than the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the Qods Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were the two Iranian military leaders who were killed. Al-Muhandis was in charge of the Iranian-linked Popular Mobilization Forces.BBC reporter Ali Hashem reported: “My sources suggesting that commander of IRGC Quds force Qassem Suleimani and Deputy chief of PMU Abu Mahdi AlMuhandes were in the convoy hit by the U.S. airstrike near Baghdad airport Iraq.” Read more: https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-u-s-kills-two-top-iranian-military-leaders-bigger-than-bin-laden-al-baghdadi-reports-say...

The Wall Street Journal Iran-Backed Kataib Hezbollah Has Long Targeted U.S. Forces By Sune Engel Rasmussen and Isabel Coles The Iranian-backed Iraqi militia targeted by U.S. airstrikes on Sunday was among the Shiite groups that joined in the fight against Islamic State. But for nearly two decades it has also attacked American forces and helped stoke sectarian strife in the Middle East. One of the most secretive and influential Shiite militias in Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah has close ties with the Quds Force, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard unit for international operations. The group was formed following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and gained a reputation from the outset for targeting U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq with roadside bombs and mortars. Kataib Hezbollah has said its main goal is to thwart the American project in the region and expel U.S. soldiers from Iraq. Little is known about the Kataib Hezbollah...

Reuters Al Qaeda Ally Claims Responsibility For Somalia Blast That Killed 90 People MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Islamist group al Shabaab on Monday claimed responsibility for a bomb blast in Mogadishu that killed at least 90 people over the weekend while Somalia said a foreign government that it did not identify helped plan the attack. The bombing was the deadliest in more than two years in a country wrecked by nearly three decades of Islamist violence and clan warfare.In an audio message, al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the bombing at the busy Ex-Control checkpoint northwest of Mogadishu.“The blast targeted a convoy of Turkish and Somali forces and they suffered great loss,” Ali Mohamud Rage, al Shabaab’s spokesman said in the message.The National Intelligence and Security Agency did not name the country that it said was involved in the blast. “A foreign country planned the massacre of the Somalis in...

Turkey rounds up at least 124 suspected of links to ISIS ahead of New Year's Eve celebrationsBy Travis Fedschun | Fox News Over 100 people suspected of having links to the Islamic State terror group were rounded up in raids across Turkey on Monday, in an apparent attempt to prevent any attacks on New Year's Eve.Of the 124 people who were detained, 33 were foreign nationals arrested in the capital Ankara in a joint operation conducted by anti-terrorism police and the national intelligence agency, the state-run news agency Anadolu reported.In the country's biggest city of Istanbul, 24 suspects were detained by officials, including four foreign nationals.Dawn raids were also conducted in the cities of Adana, Kayseri, Samsun and Bursa, while an operation in Batman led to the seizures of weapons and ammunition, along with 22 people taken into custody, according to Anadolu.Authorities have conducted raids of suspected terrorists in the...

Real Clear Politics U.S. Special Representative For Iran: Baghdad Embassy Protesters Are "Terrorists" Being "Orchestrated By The Iranian Regime" Posted By Tim Hains President Trump's "special representative for Iran" Brian Hook appeared Wednesday morning on CNN's "New Day" to discuss the confrontation between Iraqis protesting recent American airstrikes at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and U.S. security forces which took place earlier this week.Hook, also a senior policy advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, placed blame for the protests on Iran, saying the militia group involved, Kata'ib Hezbollah, were "terrorists" being "orchestrated by the Iranian regime.""We have seen recent protests in Iraq against the Iranian domination in Baghdad. So we have seen thousands of Iraqis rise up against Iranian domination," Hook said."Iran has been running an expansionist foreign policy for some time. President Trump is standing up to that. And the regime is not used to being told no,...

USA TODAY by John Bacon An uneasy calm enveloped the U.S. Embassy in Iraq on Thursday as new images from the scene revealed extensive damage following days of sometimes violent protests by Iranian-backed militia members and their supporters.The Pentagon said it was sending hundreds of troops to the region, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would delay a trip to Central Asia to focus on the situation in Baghdad."Secretary Pompeo must postpone his visit to Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Cyprus due to the need for the Secretary to be in Washington, D.C., to continue monitoring the ongoing situation in Iraq and ensure the safety and security of Americans in the Middle East," spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. "Secretary Pompeo’s trip will be rescheduled in the near future and he looks forward to the visit at that time." © Qassim Abdul-Zahra, AP Fire damage can be seen in...

Fox 10 Phoenix Trump deploys more troops to Mideast after embassy attack By Robert Burns and Ellen KnickmeyerAssociated Press WASHINGTON - Charging that Iran was "fully responsible" for an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, President Donald Trump ordered about 750 U.S. soldiers deployed to the Middle East as about 3,000 more prepared for possible deployment in the next several days.No U.S. casualties or evacuations were reported after the attack Tuesday by dozens of Iran-supported militiamen. U.S. Marines were sent from Kuwait to reinforce the compound.  Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday night that "in response to recent events" in Iraq, and at Trump's direction, he authorized the immediate deployment of the infantry battalion from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He did not specify the soldiers' destination, but a U.S. official familiar with the decision said they will go to Kuwait."This deployment is an...

ISIS beheads 10 Christian captives in Nigeria as retaliation for Baghdadi deathBy Barnini Chakraborty | Fox News ISIS released a video Thursday that purportedly shows militants in black masks beheading 10 blindfolded Christian men and shooting an 11th in Nigeria, as part of a grisly campaign to avenge the deaths of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the group's spokesman.The militant group's video was produced by its own so-called news agency, Amaq, and was released the day after Christmas.The 56-second video has Arabic captions but does not have audio.In the video, ISIS soldiers wearing beige uniforms and black masks are lined up behind the Christian men. One captive in the middle is shot while the other 10 are pushed to the ground and beheaded. Not a lot of details were given about the victims other than they were male, Christian and "captured in the past weeks" in Nigeria's north-eastern Borno...

100 Marines from Crisis Response Unit Sent to Secure US Embassy in Iraq Military.com | By Gina Harkins and Richard SiskAt least 100 infantry Marines from a crisis response unit designed to respond to emergencies at U.S. embassies have been dispatched to Iraq, where supporters of an Iran-backed militia smashed into an American diplomatic facility on Tuesday.The Marines are assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command, a ground-based unit spread across the Middle East, U.S. officials confirmed to Military.com. Video footage taken near the embassy shows some of the Marines arriving in Baghdad by helicopter.The California-based 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, is the infantry unit currently assigned to the crisis response task force. The unit -- one of several the Marine Corps created following the deadly 2012 attack on a U.S. post in Benghazi, Libya -- not only includes ground forces, but also air and logistics capabilities. Read...