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| An Iranian missile was targeting a military base in Arbil, north of Iraq, but it landed in an empty area (Anatolia) |
Iranian television announced that preliminary information indicates that 80 American military personnel were killed by missile strikes on Ain al-Assad base in Anbar, western Iraq, which was denied by a US official, while the Iranian Revolutionary Guards threatened to expand its strikes to include the UAE, Israel and American bases in the region in the event that Washington retaliated militarily.
The Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that today, Wednesday, dozens of missiles were fired at the base of Al-Assad, which includes American forces, as part of an operation that bore the name "Qassem Soleimani", commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, who was assassinated by the American army last Friday dawn by a drone plane shortly after his arrival at Baghdad airport.
He added that the "eight hundred kilometers" ballistic "Qim, Zulfiqar" missiles designed to strike American bases were used, and the Revolutionary Guards described the operation as a success.
While Iranian television reported a preliminary outcome of the supposed losses among Americans, the Revolutionary Guards said that it would announce later today, the outcome of the American losses, whether in lives and materiel, and later the Iranian government said that it had no outcome in this regard.
On the other hand, a US official denied the American deaths in Iraq, and was reported by CNN that the American forces had received a warning prior to the Iranian strikes, and that the soldiers entered the shelters before they occurred.
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Another US official said that the potential losses due to the Iranian bombing, if any, are very slight. He confirmed the fall of ten rockets on the base of Ain al-Assad and one missile on a military base in Erbil, while two rockets landed near the city of Heet in Anbar and four others outside Erbil.
As for the Iraqi government, it said that Iran officially informed it after midnight that the response to the assassination of Soleimani had begun or would begin shortly, and that the strike would be limited to the whereabouts of the American army in Iraq without specifying their locations, noting that the Americans had also informed them that their sites were being bombed.
The Iraqi Security Media Cell reported that the headquarters of the international coalition in the country were exposed at dawn today to 22 missiles, 17 of which landed on Ain al-Assad base without recording losses among the Iraqi forces, while two Iraqi security sources said that one of the missiles that hit Ain al-Assad probably hit a plane, which led to a fire Fire, and no injuries were reported.
For its part, the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) confirmed that Iran launched 12 missiles at two Iraqi bases used by American and international coalition forces in Ain al-Assad in Anbar and in Erbil in the Kurdistan region.
The Pentagon said it is assessing the losses that may have been recorded in the two bases, and is studying the response to the Iranian missile attack.
As for US President Donald Trump, he said in a tweet on Twitter that the damage assessment was positive, and that "everything is fine", apparently indicating that the Iranian bombing has not resulted in loss of life.
But Iranian television said that Trump's tweet aims to play down the damage caused by Iranian missiles.
Trump had a meeting with his top aides and the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the White House, and he was scheduled to make a speech, but it was canceled.
Missile strike
The Iranian Fars News Agency has published a video showing the first moments of the rocket fire into Iraqi territory.
A video clip showed that clouds of smoke rose from the base of Ein al-Assad, which includes multinational forces, confirming that it was hit, while Denmark, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Canada announced that none of its soldiers there were injured in the bombing.
In Erbil, Iraqi security sources confirmed that an explosion was heard, while military sources indicated that a missile landed near the airport of the capital of the Kurdistan region without exploding, and another occurred in the neighboring agricultural lands without any casualties.
The Ministry of Interior of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has denied registering injuries in the missile strikes on Erbil.
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Shortly after targeting two bases in Iraq, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said that it monitored 100 targets for America and its allies in the region, and threatened to hit these targets in the event of any American aggression, as he put it.
The Revolutionary Guards also threatened US allies that receive American bases to target those bases if they launched an attack against Iranian sites. In this context, he threatened a third wave that would destroy Dubai and Haifa if Washington responded to the missile strikes.
He said that in the event that US aircraft depart from Al Dhafra base towards Iran, "Dubai should bid farewell to the economic recovery."
The Revolutionary Guards also called on the United States to remove its military forces from Iraq "to avoid the fall of more American forces," the same position that was expressed later today by the leadership of the Iranian army.
America's prestige
Later in the day, a leader in the Revolutionary Guards said that part of the objectives of the Iranian response was to break the American prestige while it was at its height.
In this context, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces said that striking American bases in the region is only part of Iran's ability to respond to the United States.
As for the political aide to the Armed Forces Commander's Office, he said that if Washington committed what he described as foolishness, it would endanger Israel.
Days after the assassination of Soleimani and other Iranian officers, in addition to Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Committee, Tehran indicated that 35 American targets had been identified to strike it in retaliation, at which point the US President responded that Washington would respond by hitting 52 goals.
Yesterday, the Secretary-General of the National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said that the council had proposed 13 scenarios for revenge for Soleimani, who was buried today after the launch of the missiles into Iraq.
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