IRGC:

No missiles intercepted in attack on US bases, casualties reported

This still image from an IRIB video shot on January 8, 2020, shows missiles launched from ‎Iran agAynst the US military base in Ayn-al Asad in Iraq.‎

News ID: 448448

Date: 08 January 2020 - 23:02

RNA – Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says none of its missiles were ‎‎intercepted during Wednesday's heavy strike that targeted two US bases inside Iraq to ‎avenge ‎the United States’ assassination of its senior commander, Lieutenant General Qasem ‎Soleymani.‎

There have been initial reports of casualties.‎

Shortly after the strikes, Iranian officials advised US commanders against embarking on any ‎new ‎military action, warning that a more crushing will be awaiting them. They have been ‎urging Us ‎forces to swiftly leave the region.‎

In a live televised speech on Wednesday, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed ‎Ali ‎Khamenei, highlighted the need for the US military presence -- the source of all corruption ‎in the ‎region -- to come to an end.‎
‎
“A slap was delivered last night, but what is important is that the seditious presence of ‎America ‎in the region should be ended,” Ayatollah Khamenei said on Wednesday.‎

Also speaking on Wednesday, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad-‎Hoseyn ‎Baqeri called for the US armed forces to withdraw from the region immediately.‎
‎
“The time has come for the evil rulers of the United States to withdraw their terrorist army ‎forces ‎as quickly as possible from the region.”‎

The reprisal was staged in the early hours of Wednesday, hitting Ayn al-Asad Airbase in the ‎‎western Iraqi province of Anbar and another outpost in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-‎‎autonomous Kurdistan region.‎

The attacks were launched at 1:20 a.m. local time, the exact moment the US military ‎launched ‎drone strikes on Friday that led to the martyrdom of General Soleymani, the ‎commander of the ‎Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ (IRGC)
Quds Force, and the second-in-‎command of Iraq’s ‎Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) anti-terror group, Abu Mahdi al-‎Muhandis, among others, in ‎the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.‎

The missiles were launched shortly before the burial of General Soleymani in his hometown ‎‎Kerman, which came in the wake of days of enormous funeral processions held in several ‎cities ‎across Iran and neighboring Iraq.‎

According to Press TV, General Soleymani was cooperating with the PMU and the Iraqi government against the most ‎‎deadly terrorist outfits to ever afflict the region, including the Daesh Takfiri group.‎

The Islamic Republic has denounced the assassinations as “an act of state terrorism.”‎

Tehran had vowed vengeance for the blood of its commander, with Ayatollah Khamenei ‎warning ‎of a “harsh revenge” in a speech that followed the assassinations.‎

112/940‎