US strikes Iraqi group about to launch drones on Israel

American forces launched an airstrike on Tuesday targeting an Iraqi militia that was about to launch attack drones on Israel.

The attack on the base of the Iraqi Shia movement Hashd ash-Shabi (Popular Mobilisation Units) was the first US strike in Iraq for six months and followed a series of attacks on American units in the region.

According to Middle Eastern intelligence sources, it was carried out based on intelligence that the movement was about to launch drones from the base towards American bases and Israel.

At least five militants were reportedly killed in the attack, including a member of the Yemeni Houthi organisation that has been launching rockets and drones at Israel since the war in Gaza began. An Iranian officer and drone specialist of the expeditionary Quds Force, Ahmed Reza Afshari, was wounded in the strike.

The presence of the Iranian and the Yemeni indicates a training and targeting network throughout the Middle East in the use of Iranian attack drones, despite Iran’s protestations that organisations such as the Houthis have been attacking Israel of their own accord.

Similar drones and training have been provided by Iran to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine.

Ah - the old IRA Brighton bomb routine - but the reports suggest they only hit one room - sounds a bit unlikely to me

If they were able to hide a bomb in there previously, it's not unlikely that they planted bugs in the area as well.

we won't know for sure for years- and if ever there was a marked man it was Haniyeh - they've been after him for years

problem is it takes a lot of effort to catch one guy these days - and it doesn't really solve the underlying issue - Israel and the US (and the Russians as well) have been taking out Islamic terrorist leaders for a generation now and it doesn't change the constant flow of new recruits and attacks.

https://understandingwar.org/backgro...-august-2-2024

Iran Update, August 2, 2024

....CTP-ISW defines the “Axis of Resistance” as the unconventional alliance that Iran has cultivated in the Middle East since the Islamic Republic came to power in 1979. This transnational coalition is comprised of state, semi-state, and non-state actors that cooperate to secure their collective interests. Tehran considers itself to be both part of the alliance and its leader. Iran furnishes these groups with varying levels of financial, military, and political support in exchange for some degree of influence or control over their actions. Some are traditional proxies that are highly responsive to Iranian direction, while others are partners over which Iran exerts more limited influence....

Iran and its Axis of Resistance may target US forces in Syria as part of a retaliatory strike for Israel killing several Axis of Resistance leaders, including Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh. Euphrates Post reported that Iranian-backed Iraqi militias Kataib Hezbollah, Sayyida al Shuhada, and Harakat Ansar Allah al Awfiya deployed fighters to eastern Syria on July 31 “with the aim of targeting the International Coalition bases in Hasakah Governorate. Euphrates Post sources in Homs Governorate reported that unspecified Iranian-backed fighters have moved “heavy equipment” and rocket launchers from militia warehouses in Jabal al Mazar into the desert east of Palmyra.......

Iran is likely considering its ability to maintain nuclear deterrence against Israel as it plans its retaliatory strike against Israel. Iranian nuclear deterrence against Israel most likely requires that Iran demonstrate a reasonable ability to strike Israeli territory with a delivery device capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Iran’s April 2024 attack on Israel demonstrated it is not capable of effectively penetrating Israeli air defenses. The Iranians may shape this attack deliberately to try to establish that they can, indeed, get a nuclear-capable missile to a target in Israel. That course of action would require strike planning to focus on ensuring that the ballistic missiles succeed in hitting at least some of their targets and would not be satisfied if only drones or small missiles penetrated Israeli and partner air and missile defenses.

Anonymous Western intelligence sources told Sky News Arabia that Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah may attack Israel on the Jewish holiday Tisha B’Av on August 12-13 in retaliation for Israel killing Ismail Haniyeh.[8] Tisha B’Av commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples and is widely considered a day of sadness and tragedy. An Iranian-Hezbollah attack on this date would come about 12-13 days after Israel killed Haniyeh on July 31. Iran similarly waited 13 days before retaliating against Israel in April 2024 for killing senior IRGC commander Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi.

US and UK officials have engaged Israel to affirm support and coordinate defensive action in preparation for an Iranian-led attack on Israel. US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone on August 1 and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to supporting Israeli security. Biden discussed US efforts to support Israel ”against ballistic missiles and drones,” including new defensive US military deployments.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on August 2 and discussed the United States’ ongoing and future defensive force posture changes in support of Israel. The US Department of Defense announced that Austin had not yet decided which forces to deploy.

Israeli officials also engaged with their UK counterparts on August 2. Gallant met with UK Secretary of State for Defense John Healy to discuss creating a coalition of states in Israel’s defense against Iran and Iranian-backed militias. IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and UK Army Chief of Staff Admiral Tony Radakin conducted a joint assessment and discussed UK-Israeli cooperation in the region.....

https://news.usni.org/2024/08/02/car...against-israel

Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln Heads to Middle East as Iran Threatens Strikes Against Israel

West Coast carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) is setting sail to the Middle East from the Pacific to relieve the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and its strike group. Meanwhile, the Navy is sending additional ships to the region following threats from Iran,

Pentagon officials announced on Friday evening.“To maintain a carrier strike group presence in the Middle East, the Secretary has ordered the Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to replace the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, currently on deployment in the Central Command area of responsibility,” reads the Pentagon statement.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, “has ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the U.S. European Command and U.S. Central Command regions. The Department is also taking steps to increase our readiness to deploy additional land-based ballistic missile defense.”......

According to the Wall Street Journal; U.S. and Arab diplomats have been attempting to hold back-channel negotiations with Iran, in hopes to prevent a large-scale attack against Israel and a resulting regional war.

They have received response only an “Angry Silence” from Iran and Hezbollah, with an Iranian official stating the attempted negotiations are pointless given Israel’s recent attacks in Beirut and Teheran.

"There is no point. Israel has crossed all our red lines…our response will be both swift and heavy.”

Iran is playing a very dangerous game. Their ability to outsource terror while keeping their hands clean is getting harder and harder. They dodged a huge bullet when none of the ballistics missiles they fired made it through. If one had hit an apartment block with the likely high level of casualties, Iran’s military infrastructure would be totally destroyed and the regime likely decapitated.

I think we are at an inflection point. Either there is a major back down by Iran or there will be a full on Middle East war. What Biden wants is now pretty much irrelevant.

Interesting times ….

Not sure if this just a blame game or a bit of a purge after the recent presidential election…..

Iranian Channels are claiming that the commander of the Iranian police Special Units, Hassan Karami, has been arrested by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on charges of spying and collaborating with the Israel intelligence service, Mossad.

Ouch.
 

I think the interrogation. will not be pleasant. It may, however. be protracted.

It could well be that Mossad was able to “pin the tail on that donkey” for the authorities to arrest him. They are hungry for a scapegoat.

It's an ill-wind etc etc - no-one likes to see a good opportunity go by unused................

They would provide a good coalition to respond to Iranian action.

Saudi Arabia has reportedly told Iranian officials, that it will not allow Iran to use Saudi airspace to launch an attack on Israel, and that any missiles, drones, or aircraft that enter its airspace will be seen as a violation of Saudi sovereignty, stating that, “we are defending ourselves, not Israel.”

So the same Saudi that refused to contribute to the defence of the vital maritime trade route that they depend on, suddenly gets religion🙄

Colour me not impressed…..

LBC news reports US Airbase in Iraq hit by rockets.

12 x F-22A from 90th FS & 525th FS based at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska arrived at RAF Lakenheath this evening prior to an onward move to a location in the Middle East - announced by US DoD a few days ago.

Accompanying KC-46A went into RAF Mildenhall.

From 36:47 (6 aircraft) and 1:39:12 (6 aircraft) here

Reference the bomb, smuggled in on the same day. Sensible, otherwise it would have been found by a routine sweep.

https://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/657...l#post11712058

The 12 x F-22A from 95th FS and 525th FS that staged through RAF Lakenheath, UK have arrived at Al Udeid, Qatar in the US CENTCOM AOR

To fly from Elemendorf Alaska to Qatar, would it not have been quicker to go westward, rather than eastwards through the UK?

The great circle from Alaska to Qatar goes almost over the North Pole slightly on the Russian side. I don't think an Asian routing would be very easy as there are not many USA friendly air bases. Coming via the UK gives lots of alternates if things go wrong.

You'd just have t o lose one F-22 to make the shorter route a VERY expensive option

More attacks on shipping. (The Guardian)

Yep, great circle route ain't going to happen going over Russia, and so they'd have to route via Japan or Phillipines to also skirt around China, so a quick check shows going west would likely mean a 10,000 miles routing, whereas coming east via UK, is around 8000 miles, so significantly shorter, with many more friendly diversion options along the way.

Dont believe a word of it. Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Jarida is reporting that on Friday the first hotline ever between Washington and Tehran was established to allow direct communication between the United States and Iran in order to prevent a full-scale regional war and to allow for de-escalation; with senior U.S. officials claimed to have already used the line to demand that any kind of Iranian retaliatory strike against Israel be postponed by at least two weeks, which is said to have been Aareed to by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin has ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and Carrier Strike Group 3, which departed Guam yesterday, to expedite their deployment to the Middle East.

The group was planned to replace that of the USS Theodore Roosevelt but is, in at least the short term, to provide reinforcement. The Roosevelt has already deployed at least one of her squadrons to Jordan*.

USS Georgia (SSGN-729), a conventionally armed Ohio class armed with Tomahawk SLCMs, has been ordered to reposition from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and Gulf.

* https://simpleflying.com/armed-f-a-1...ornets-jordan/

I refer you back to post #1286 which said intelligence predicted a coordinated Hezbullah/Iranian attack on Israel tonight.

https://www.pprune.org/military-avia...l#post11709379

Lebanese media is reporting that Hezbollah has evacuated its headquarters and offices in Beirut, due in anticipation of large scale Israeli strikes following an Iranian/Hezbollah attack.

Truckloads of electronics, furniture, and documents said to have been moved out of the city to locations in the countryside, while senior military and political leaders have gone into hiding.

So nobody will know where they are :rolleyes:

Video…#Iran 🇮🇷: "Jaish al-Adl" militants ambushed and killed Iranian Head of the Khash City's Intelligence Department in #Sistan & #Baluchestan.

The attack was carried out by three militants who were armed with a #Chinese 🇨🇳 Type 56-1 assault rifle and two AKM-pattern assault rifles.

As forecast….

https://www.defensenews.com/news/pen...bollah-attack/

Two US aircraft carriers to stay in Middle East after Hezbollah attack

The Pentagon has extended the deployment of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group after a largely failed attack by the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah on Israel over the weekend.

Choosing to keep the second carrier in the Middle East means there will now be two carriers and their warships available for U.S. Central Command amid the threat of a full regional war erupting.

The TR arrived in the Middle East in early July, while fellow carrier Abraham Lincoln steamed into the region last week.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the decision in a statement over the weekend.

Theodore Roosevelt replaced the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose deployment to the region had itself been extended multiple times, earlier this summer.

In addition to Lincoln, another fighter jet squadron, and other assets have also been rushed to the region. The Georgia, a ballistic missile submarine, is still on its way to CENTCOM, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Monday.

Ryder didn’t say how long the Roosevelt would be extended or exactly when the decision was made, only saying Austin chose to do so over the weekend……

What the heck are they doing talking about that kind of submarine in the press?

It's an SSGN, not an SSBN, and in order to deter Iran from launching any action the threat it represents needs to be publicised.

Revealing the fact it is approaching the CENTCOM area does not in any way locate or endanger the submarine or it's operations.

Got it, thanks. :ok: Sloppy reporting.

Guess he won't see sunshine for a while....

https://theaviationist.com/2024/08/2...parts-to-iran/

US-Iranian National Charged for Attempting to Export Military Aircraft Parts to Iran

The US DoJ (Department of Justice) charged a US-Iranian citizen for attempting to illegally export “four types of aerospace components” into Iran, some of them meant for the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.

According to the DoJ, Jeffrey Nader, associated with the California-based company Pro Aero Capital, was trying to smuggle nearly three dozen of such aircraft components since early-2023.

Nader falsely identified himself and Pro Aero Capital as the end-users of the parts and upon acquiring the parts, attempted to send them to his business associates in Iran by transshipping them through the UAE (United Arab Emirates).

“The items discussed in the indictment, however, were detained by a Special Agent with the Department of Commerce, and none were successfully exported from the United States,” the DoJ said in a statement........

I wonder if he's related to Ralph Nader.
On the other hand, this story tells me that the Phantoms are still flying.
Impressive!

Carrier Group Commander comments
 

Navy commander who oversaw carrier strike group in Red Sea says US command rejected suggestions to hit the Houthis harder over concerns about Iran (msn.com)

• Rear Adm. Marc Miguez said US leaders declined more aggressive strategies with the Houthis.
• High command was concerned about Iran at the time, Miguez said in a recent video interview.
• Miguez was in charge of a carrier strike group that defended commercial ships in the Red Sea for months.

A US Navy commander who oversaw most of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group's eight-month deployment in the Red Sea said officers had suggested more aggressive strikes on the Houthis, but high command declined them.



Rear Adm. Marc Miguez said in an that the US National Command Authority had to consider Iran's response.

"There are definite strategies that were put forward, but our National Command Authority decided that those — I would call more aggressive postures and more aggressive strikes — was not something we wanted to challenge," Miguez said in the interview published Monday.

"We all know Iranian-backed groups like the Houthis, where that threat's emanating from," he said. "And so that is the calculus that's handled at echelon zero, at the National Command Authority, with NSA, and everybody else."

"Those are things that I don't dabble in," he added.

Miguez told Carroll that the carrier strike group launched seven dedicated attacks on Houthi targets during its twice-extended deployment from October 2023 to June 2024.

The group, which includes the aircraft carrier Ike, was previously reported to have launched more than 500 munitions to hit the Yemeni rebels directly and intercept their drones and missiles as they attacked commercial ships in the strait.

Since the Eisenhower group departed, the Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln carrier strike groups have moved into the Middle East as regional tensions continue to soar.

Miguez indicated that he believed the US should adopt a more aggressive posture with the Houthis.

"Moving forward, we are going to have to continue to deal with this," he said. "It'll be up to our National Command Authority to probably be more aggressive with our strike groups and all of our assets, not just Navy."

The Houthis have said they only target ships linked with Israel over the war in Gaza. But the group has also launched attacks on vessels from other countries that have no apparent ties to Tel Aviv.



More recently, the rebel group attacked a Greek-flagged oil tanker that caught fire and was left drifting in the Red Sea.

Miguez said that to stop the attacks, the US needed to marshal all of its resources more aggressively, including diplomacy and economic policy.

"If we can get that focus with a whole-of-government approach, I think that's what's going to result in a freedom of navigation in that critical strait, which impacts about 20% of the global commerce," he said.

Miguez was appointed as the Navy's chief of legislative affairs in July.

Since leaving command of the Eisenhower carrier strike group, he's been vocal about the US needing more training to fight drones after seeing how extensively the Houthis used them in the Red Sea.

The Pentagon's press service didn't immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Interesting video on the military infrastructure capability of the Iranians. I had no idea they were so advanced in terms of built infrastructure.

A full-on joust with the Iranians is going to be much more complicated that I had thought. Their bunker system and network of tunnels is impressive.

They've been digging for over 30 years - it's their best defence against Israeli and the American air power