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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announced Sunday that it was responsible for the ballistic missile attack on an Israeli “strategic center” in Erbil Kurdistan, a region in northern Iraq, which was seen as a clear message to the U.S. and Israel about its military capabilities.
The missiles were fired from Iran and hit near a U.S. Consulate that was being developed in Erbil, The Jerusalem Post reported. There were no reports of injuries. The paper pointed out that the Kurdistan Region is an autonomous area and the U.S. has forces there.
Middle East Eye, which first reported on the Revolutionary Guard claiming responsibility, reported that about a dozen missiles struck Erbil at 1 a.m. on Sunday. The IRGC said its target was a “strategic center for conspiracy and mischiefs of the Zionists.”
The Trends Journal has been reporting on tensions between Israel and Iran-backed forces in Syria. Haaretz reported that there has been a covert drone war between Iran and Israel for months. (See “ISRAEL KEEPS BOMBING SYRIA,” “ISRAEL CONDUCTS SERIES OF DEADLY AIRSTRIKES IN SYRIA” and “ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES KILL 3 SOLDIERS IN SYRIA.”)
Iran accused Israel of killing two Revolutionary Guard officers and said the strikes were retaliatory.
Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said the U.S. will support Iraq, which has condemned Iran for the attack.
“The United States of America stands behind the full sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Iraq,” he said. The Associated Press reported that the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq has been a source of contention for Iran.
Iran-aligned militias have been blamed for attacking U.S. military sites in the country but have denied the claims.
Reuters pointed out that the last time Iran launched missiles at U.S. military targets was shortly after the drone assassination of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. Ain Al Asad airbase in the western region of Iraq was targeted and dozens of U.S. forces suffered brain injuries.
Rep. Liz Cheney took to twitter to condemn the Iranian attack and said the Biden administration must end its nuclear deal negotiations “immediately.”
Reuters reported that 49 of 50 Republicans in the U.S. Senate said they would not back a new nuke deal between the U.S. and Iran. Sen. Rand Paul was the only member to decline signing the statement and said, “Condemning a deal that is not yet formulated is akin to condemning diplomacy itself, not a very thoughtful position.”
The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board wrote that the missile attack was a significant departure from norms in the region. “Iran typically commits mayhem through proxy militias, but this time Tehran took credit,” it wrote.
TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has long reported on how hypocritical it has been for the U.S. to ever lash out at other countries over missile strikes given Washington’s history of killing thousands of innocent civilians abroad.
As we have noted:
“After being silent for nearly 10 years, last week the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held its first hearing about the U.S. military’s use of drones in the Middle East and the number of civilians who have died in bombings.
“Sen. Dick Durbin, the chairman of the committee, said up to 30,000 civilians have been killed in U.S. drone strikes since the last meeting occurred in April 2013. (See: “BIDEN PRESIDENCY= OBAMA 2021.”)
“These are not just numbers,” Durbin said, according to Middle East Eye. “These are real people.”
The U.S. once again finds itself in the crosshairs because of its insatiable drive to position troops where we have no business to be. One of the key reasons Russia invaded Ukraine was because of U.S. missile systems popping up in Baltic States.
TRENDPOST: Also not mentioned, is President Barack Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, was a master at mass drone murders. Back in 2014, with the nation in a vacation state of mind as it celebrated July 4, the White House released its tally of civilians killed in drone strikes outside battle zones such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria from when Obama took office in 2009 until 2015.
From the man who spends his “Terror Tuesdays” signing a “kill list” and was quoted in the book “Double Down” that “I’m really good at killing people,” Obama launched over 10 times as many drone strikes as former murderer-in-chief, George W. Bush.
Although the administration put the number of civilians killed between 64 and 116, human-rights organization Reprieve said over 4,000 innocent men, women and children have been killed by Obama drones: “What little the Obama administration has previously said on the record about the drone program has been shown by the facts on the ground, and even the US government’s own internal documents, to be false,” Reprieve said regarding the White House report.
“It has to be asked what bare numbers will mean if they omit even basic details such as the names of those killed and the areas, even the countries, they live in,” the group wrote.
Considering all males between ages 18 and 80 blown to death by US Hellfire missiles automatically are deemed “combatants” and are not counted as civilians killed—and considering that Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria were not included in the White House report—human-rights organizations had brought the death tally much higher.