In this Tuesday, July 4, 2011 photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, then chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force Gen. Ghasem Soleimani, third right, sits next to the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Mohammad Ali Jafari, third left, in a meeting of the commanders of the Revolutionary Guard with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran. Gen. Soleimani, a powerful Iranian general, has emerged as the chief tactician in Iraq’s fight against Sunni militants, working on the front lines alongside 120 advisers from his country’s Revolutionary Guard to direct Shiite militiamen and government forces in the smallest details of battle, militia commanders and government officials say. (AP Photo/Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader)
Can we say that President Donald Trump doesn’t play around and is very serious?
It surely seems like he’s about cleaning house in Iraq, if this incoming news is correct.
Reports are that more airstrikes targeted a pro-Iranian militia convoy north of Baghdad, killing several people.
MORE: Two of three vehicles making up an Iran-backed militia convoy were found burned north of Baghdad, as well as six burned corpses, an Iraqi army source said. The strikes critically wounded three and took place at 1:12 a.m. local time, he added https://t.co/Hz4DCG6TCB pic.twitter.com/CAMnAv3As9
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 3, 2020
There are conflicting reports about who was in the convoy.
The Iranian-backed PMF says it included their medics.
A trusted source from the PMU told me that the reason of the conflicting news about the identity of those who were killed in Al-Taji strike is that the corpses are fully charred.#Baghdad #Iraq
— Feras Kilani فراس كيلاني (@FerasKilaniBBC) January 3, 2020
UPDATE: “The recent air strike north of Baghdad that killed six hit a convoy of medics, not senior leaders,” Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi said via @Reuters.#Iraq https://t.co/ucJPcXy9eb https://t.co/Hzz6qO9Q1c
— Baxtiyar Goran (@BaxtiyarGoran) January 4, 2020
Other reports suggest there was a high target among the convoy.
Other than a sustained campaign of strikes initiated over an extended period, the other possibility is that the Trump administration is pulling off a Michael Corleone hit: settling all its business by moving swiftly & decisively against the entirety of Iran's proxies in Iraq.
— Ranj Alaaldin (@RanjAlaaldin) January 3, 2020
Al-Jazairi just made a phone call and told a journalist that he is alive. But No news of Al-Zaydi for now.
— Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) January 3, 2020
For the sake of clarity:
UPDATE: Given the stakes rumors are flying high.
Hamad al-Jazairi is definitely alive – confirmed himself.
Likewise, Shubul al-Zaidi is also alive.
BUT – the same reports suggest someone high-level was in the targeted vehicles near Taji, #Iraq.
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) January 4, 2020
BAGHDAD (AP) – An Iraqi official says an airstrike has hit two cars carrying Iran-backed militia north of Baghdad, one day after U.S. attack on top Iranian general Gen. Qassem Soleimani. The official said five members of the militia were killed.
— Carlo Cecchetto (@CarloNews8) January 3, 2020
#BREAKING
First image reported from the U.S. airstrike scene north of Baghdad.Credit: @no_itsmyturn pic.twitter.com/xUAP1mtumt
— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) January 3, 2020
The strike comes only one day after a strike that that took out Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, as well as Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, the head of the Iranian-linked Popular Mobilization Forces.
Two other leaders were reportedly arrested as well after the Soleimani strike, Qais Khazali (Leader of Asaib Ahl al-Haq) and Hadi al-Amiri (Head of Badr Organization) who reportedly had a hand in the embassy attack and visited the White House under Obama.
This is developing and we will update as more comes in.
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