International

US drone strike in Baghdad kills Iraq-based militia leaders

Published

3 months ago

February 8, 2024

US drone strike in Baghdad kills Iraq-based militia leaders

On Wednesday evening, the United States launched a drone hit in Iraq’s capital, killing three Kataib Hezbollah militia members, including a top commander.

Washington’s Central Command (CENTCOM) has claimed credit for the attack.

This comes after the US government admitted that it failed to alert officials in Baghdad about airstrikes on Iraqi soil last Friday, despite initially saying they had been notified in advance. A top US spokesperson said there was no “intent to deceive,” attributing the mishap to a simple misunderstanding.

A car in which the trio was travelling was struck in the Mashtal neighborhood of Baghdad, at around 9:30 pm local time. Local outlet Sabereen News described the attack as “American aggression.”

Photos circulating on social media showed the remnants of what seems to have been a Hellfire missile, commonly used by US attack drones.

Two of the dead have since been identified as Haj Arkhan Al-Alawi and Wissam Mohammed ‘Abu Bakr’ al-Saadi, who was in charge of Kataib Hezbollah’s operations in Syria, RT reports.

In a statement posted on X, (formerly Twitter), CENTCOM said it had carried out “a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on US service members, killing a Kataib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region.”

READ ALSO:

The US has blamed Kataib Hezbollah for last month’s attack that killed three US soldiers at a base on the Syria-Jordan-Iraq border. Following a series of retaliatory US airstrikes, the group announced it would “suspend” attacks.

Local media in Baghdad have reported that crowds of protesters gathered at the strike site chanting slogans branding the US “Greater Satan.”

Al-Saadi is the most senior Kataib Hezbollah member to have been killed in Iraq since the January 2020 drone strike that killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Tehran had responded to that assassination by bombarding US bases with ballistic missiles.

Shia militias have attacked US bases in the region with rockets and drones at least 150 times since last October, following Israel’s declaration of war on Hamas in the aftermath of the militant group’s deadly raids from Gaza.

The White House has blamed Tehran for the attacks but has stopped short of attacking Iran as some members of Congress have demanded. The US has continued to station troops in Iraq even after the government in Baghdad explicitly requested them to leave. The Pentagon’s presence in Syria is illegal under international law.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby corrected a prior statement about the “pre-notification to Iraqi officials” before last week’s air raid, which targeted more than 85 sites across both Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

“I deeply apologise for the error, and I regret any confusion that it caused. It was based on information we had or that was provided to me in those early hours after the strikes. Turns out that information was incorrect,” Kirby said, adding, “I hope that you’ll understand there was no ill-intent behind it, no deliberate intent to deceive or to be wrong.”

US drone strike in Baghdad kills Iraq-based militia leaders

International

Iran’s President Raisi confirmed dead in helicopter crash

Published

57 mins ago

May 20, 2024

Trends Admin

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi

Iran’s President Raisi confirmed dead in helicopter crash

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has died in a helicopter crash at the age of 63, as reported by Iranian news outlets.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also among those killed, along with seven others.

His death comes at a fraught moment in the Middle East, with war raging in Gaza.

The helicopter crashed weeks after Iran launched a drone-and-missile attack on Israel in response to a deadly strike on its diplomatic compound in Damascus.

Hardliner Raisi became president in a historically uncompetitive election in 2021. Previously the chief justice, he oversaw a period of intensified repression of dissent in a nation convulsed by youth-led protests against clerical rule.

Raisi was the second-most powerful person in the Islamic Republic’s political structure after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini. The Iranian Constitution mandates that, in the case of the president’s death, the first vice president assumes office with the approval of the Supreme Leader.

Iran was thrown into uncertainty Sunday as search and rescue teams scoured a fog-shrouded mountain area after President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter went missing in what state media described as an “accident”.

Fears grew for the 63-year-old ultraconservative after contact was lost with the aircraft carrying him as well as Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in East Azerbaijan province, reports said.

The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged Iranians to “not worry” about the leadership of the Islamic republic, saying “there will be no disruption in the country’s work”.

READ ALSO:

“We hope that Almighty God will bring our dear president and his companions back in full health into the arms of the nation,” he said in a nationally televised address as Muslim faithful prayed for Raisi’s safe return.

Expressions of concern and offers to help came from abroad, including Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russia, and Turkey, as well as from the European Union which activated its rapid response mapping service to aid in the search effort.

International

JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands

Published

16 hours ago

May 19, 2024

Trends Admin

JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands

A helicopter carrying Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, has been involved in an plane crash on Sunday.

The incident happened while he was visiting neighbouring Azerbaijan, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on X on Sunday according to CNN.

“Some of the president’s companions on this helicopter were able to communicate with Central Headquarters, raising hopes that the incident could have ended without casualties,” it added.

READ ALSO:

It is unclear what the exact status is of Raisi’s helicopter.

The helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters. Two of those helicopters were carrying ministers and officials who arrived at their destination safely, according to Tasnim.

“Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem, Tabriz’s Friday Prayer Imam, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were also reportedly on the helicopter with the president,” Tasnim said on X.

JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands

International

Biden may face pro-Palestine protests during address of US black voters

Published

17 hours ago

May 19, 2024

Trends Admin

Joe Biden

Biden may face pro-Palestine protests during address of US black voters

Joe Biden is likely to be greeted by protesters calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during his speech at the former university of Martin Luther King Jr in the United States president’s latest bid to attract Black voters.

Biden’s graduation speech on Sunday at Morehouse College in Atlanta in the election battleground state of Georgia is aimed at encouraging Black and young voters to help him win later this year against former President Donald Trump.

Those were two groups that helped him win the presidency in 2020, but have been increasingly dissatisfied with him due to the handling of the war on Gaza, which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians so far, mostly women and children.

The protests at Morehouse, a historically Black college, come after students called on the school to cancel Biden’s speech over his support for Israel despite the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The White House last week sent a senior official to meet students and faculty members at Morehouse to discuss the objections to Biden’s speech, according to US broadcaster NBC News.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday said Biden sought to use the speech as “an opportunity to lift up and to give an important message to our future leaders”.

READ ALSO:

Bernice King, the civil icon’s daughter, told Bloomberg in an interview last week that Black voters are “very disgruntled right now with the president” and that Biden risks losing a considerable share of their votes.

The civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) had said Biden should not speak at Morehouse.

“His team should have made the decision that this is not the right time to take the spotlight from Morehouse students to the president and his bad policy on Gaza,” CAIR’s Edward Ahmed Mitchell said.

The controversy over the Morehouse speech is coming after weeks of major protests at US universities, including the Atlanta college, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from Israel.

Biden said “order must prevail” on campuses, and police have made thousands of arrests across the US while attacking student encampments.

Protesters were arrested during a violent police crackdown in New York’s Brooklyn on Saturday, while hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Washington, DC to demand an end to bloodshed in Gaza and the arming of Israel by the US.

The protests, which have spread globally, are continuing amid the Israeli ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, along with a deadly incursion into Jabalia in the north.

Meanwhile, Israel is allowing very little aid into the enclave, and the US is proceeding with a much-criticised plan to deliver humanitarian assistance via a temporary floating pier.