The Department of Defence said in a statement on Tuesday evening that the Iranian military retaliated against the Trump administration’s assassination of Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani last week, launching “more than a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq.”
According to the Pentagon, at least two bases where U.S. military personnel are stationed were targeted—the Ayn al Asad airbase in western Iraq and a military base in Erbil. Details were light, but the Pentagon said that the bases were on high alert against possible retaliation and that it was still working on “initial battle damage assessments.” NBC reporter Cal Perry tweeted that there was a third strike on U.S. assets, but there is no official confirmation of further attacks at this time.
A U.S. official told CNN it had no reports of casualties.
It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran & targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. military & coalition personnel at Al-Assad & Irbil.
We are working on initial battle damage assessments.
— Department of Defense ???????? (@DeptofDefense) January 8, 2020
Donald Trump is preparing to address the nation tonight, two U.S. officials told CNN. Senior Defence officials are reportedly gathering at the White House.
In the meantime, disinformation is circulating online about the scale of the attacks; a thread by a former CIA staffer on Twitter purported to show that images of the attack sent out by semi-official Iranian sources like the Fars News Agency were reused from prior incidents, including a pipeline explosion in southern Iran.
This one is from Gaza in November last year. (See related AFP story from November: https://t.co/bUEedMFYEF) pic.twitter.com/gcU35CXvSP
— Cindy Otis (Pre-order TRUE OR FALSE now!) (@CindyOtis_) January 7, 2020
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.