US Confirms Air Strike Against Iranian General, Threatens More

(Source: US Department of Defense; issued Jan. 2, 2020)

Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division deploy from Pope Army Airfield, N.C., Jan. 1, 2020. Elements of the Immediate Response Force deployed to the Middle East in response to increased threat levels against U.S. personnel and facilities. (DoD photo)

At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.

General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more. He had orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months – including the attack on December 27th – culminating in the death and wounding of additional American and Iraqi personnel. General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that took place this week.

PM @AdilAbdAlMahdi: The assassinations violate the conditions governing the presence of US forces in Iraq whose role is to train Iraqi forces and assist in the fight against Daesh as part of the Global Coalition, subject to the supervision and approval of the @IraqiGovt.

— Government of Iraq - الحكومة العراقية (@IraqiGovt) January 3, 2020

Confirms strike conducted by JSOC MQ-9. Unconfirmed reports of follow-on JSOC raids capturing Iraqi MP Hadi al-Amiri, named as an Iranian asset, and former Special Groups leader Qais al-Khazali. https://t.co/pYDlnjYcOB

— Leigh Neville (@LeighJNeville) January 3, 2020

This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans. The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world.

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U.S. forces in Iraq were attacked Dec. 27 near Kirkuk by Kataeb Hezbollah, a group with links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force. The attack, which involved 31 rockets fired, killed one American civilian contractor and injured four American service members as well as two partners in the Iraqi security forces, Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper said.

"The U.S. military responded, and took defensive actions by striking KH bases in western Iraq and western Syria, striking a combination of the command and control [center] or weapons caches with considerable effect," Esper said during a press gaggle in the Pentagon today. "The attacks were quite successful."

In the wake of the KH attack, the defense department has deployed an infantry battalion — about 750 soldiers — from the Immediate Response Force of the 82nd Airborne Division to the U.S. Central Command area of operations. Additional forces from the IRF prepared to deploy over the next several days, the defense secretary said.

"They are deploying to the region to, on order, reinforce our facilities and to protect our personnel in the region as called upon, and obviously they have the capability to perform other missions as well, as need be," Esper said.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark A. Milley described the forces from the 82nd Airborne as a "general-purpose unit," on a defensive mission, adding that such a unit exists precisely for the types of situations it was called upon to respond to.

"It's going over there, it's going to be in Kuwait, and they may have follow-on missions in other places," Milley said. "But their purpose is defensive in nature, to defend U.S. personnel, equipment and facilities."

Battalion of 82nd Airborne Div troops arrive at Ali Al Salem airbase, Kuwait 2 Jan, a response to the situation in Baghdad that US SecDef Esper termed necessary "to ensure we can provide additional defensive support to the embassy in Baghdad or elsewhere in the region as needed." pic.twitter.com/pFYsrcvSqL

— Chris Cavas (@CavasShips) January 3, 2020

The chairman said other U.S. forces have been alerted, though no decision has yet been made to deploy those forces. "But there are a variety of forces that are alerted and prepared if necessary depending on the situation, as we move forward," Milley said.

Esper said "provocative behavior" by Iranian-backed Shia militias has been ongoing for several months. The Dec. 27 attack was the latest, he said, adding that while he believes the attacks may continue, the U.S. is ready.

"They've been shooting rockets, indirect fire, any type of things, attacking our bases for months now," the defense secretary said.

"In the last two [months] alone we've [had] nearly a dozen attacks against U.S. forces, against our coalition partners. So do I think they may do something [else?] Yes. And they will likely regret it. And we are prepared to exercise self-defense, and we are prepared to deter further bad behavior from these groups, all of which are sponsored, and directed and rescued by Iran," Esper said.

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