AFP/ AHMAD AL-RUBAYE
With Iran promising revenge, Soleimani's killing was the most dramatic escalation yet in spiraling tensions between Washington and Tehran
President Donald Trump warned Saturday that the US is targeting 52 sites in Iran and will hit them "very fast and very hard" if the Islamic republic attacks American personnel or assets.
In a saber-rattling tweet that defended Friday's US drone strike assassination of a powerful Iranian general in Iraq, Trump said 52 represents the number of Americans held hostage at the US embassy in Tehran for more than a year starting in late 1979.
Trump said some of these sites are "at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!"
Late Saturday night, the president tweeted again, this time warning Iran that the US will hit Iran "harder than they have ever been hit before!"
Trump followed up with another tweet, saying the US would use its "brand new beautiful" military equipment "without hesitation" if the Iranians retaliate.
AFP/File / JIM WATSON
"We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war," US President Donald Trump said
Trump spoke out after pro-Iran factions ramped up pressure on US installations across Iraq with missiles and warnings to Iraqi troops -- part of an outburst of fury over the killing of Qasem Soleimani, described as the second most-powerful man in Iran.
With the Islamic republic promising revenge, his killing was the most dramatic escalation yet in spiraling tensions between Washington and Tehran and has prompted fears of a major conflagration in the Middle East.
In the first hints of a possible retaliatory response, two mortar rounds hit an area near the US embassy in Baghdad on Saturday, security sources told AFP.
Almost simultaneously, two rockets slammed into the Al-Balad airbase where American troops are deployed north of Baghdad, security sources said.
The Iraqi military confirmed the missile attacks in Baghdad and on al-Balad and said there were no casualties. The US military also said no coalition troops were hurt.
With Americans wondering fearfully if, how and where Iran will hit back for the assassination, the US Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin that said "at this time there is no specific, credible threat against the homeland."
AFP / Ahmad AL-RUBAYE
Many fear the American strike that killed Iran's military mastermind Soleimani would set off a wider conflict with Iran, and have braced for more attacks
However on Saturday the website of the Federal Depository Library Program, a little-known US government agency, was breached by a group claiming to be linked to Iran, who posted graphics displaying the Iranian flag and vowing revenge for Soleimani's death.
Separately, US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that information given to Congress by Trump, a Republican, "prompts serious and urgent questions about the timing, manner and justification of" the strike.
"The Trump Administration's provocative, escalatory and disproportionate military engagement continues to put service members, diplomats and citizens of America and our allies in danger," said Pelosi, a Democrat.
Another prominent democrat, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called the president a "monster", for "threatening to target and kill innocent families, women and children".
In a tweet, she said: "This is a war crime."
- 'Direct war' -
While no one claimed Saturday's attacks in Baghdad, a hardline pro-Iran faction in Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi military network shortly after urged Iraqis to move away from US forces by Sunday at 5:00 pm local time (1400 GMT).
The deadline would coincide with a parliament session which the Hashed has insisted should see a vote on the ouster of US troops.
AFP / SABAH ARAR
Qasem Soleimani has been described as the second most-powerful man in Iran
Washington has blamed the vehemently anti-American group for a series of rocket attacks in recent weeks targeting US diplomats and troops stationed across Iraq.
Many fear the US strike that killed Iran's military mastermind Soleimani would set off a wider conflict with Iran, and have braced for more attacks.
"This is no longer a proxy war," said Erica Gaston, a non-resident fellow at the New America Foundation.
"What you have is America attacking an Iranian general directly, and groups are now openly fighting for Iran to avenge him. This is a direct war," she told AFP.
The US strike on Baghdad international airport early Friday killed a total of five Iranian Revolutionary Guards and five members of Iraq's Hashed.
AFP / Ahmad AL-RUBAYE
Tens of thousands of Iraqis, including Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, attended a mass ceremony to honor Soleimani
Among the dead was Hashed's deputy head Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a top adviser and personal friend to Soleimani.
As head of the Guards' foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, Soleimani was a powerful figure domestically and oversaw Iran's wide-ranging interventions in regional power struggles.
Trump has said Soleimani was planning an "imminent" attack on US personnel in Baghdad and should have been killed "many years ago".
- 'Act of war' -
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised "severe revenge" for Soleimani's death and Tehran named Soleimani's deputy, Esmail Qaani, to succeed him.
AFP / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE
Supporters of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi force protested outside the US embassy in Baghdad earlier this week
Tens of thousands of Iraqis, including Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, political leaders and clerics attended a mass ceremony on Saturday to honor Soleimani and the other victims.
Tehran has slammed the strike as an "act of war" and Abdel Mahdi said it could bring "devastating" violence to Iraq.
The attacks on Saturday evening appeared to be precisely the reaction Iraqis had long feared: tit-for-tat strikes between the Hashed and the US on Iraqi soil.
Earlier, the Hashed claimed a new strike hit their convoy north of Baghdad, with Iraqi state media blaming the US.
But the US-led coalition denied involvement, telling AFP: "There was no American or coalition strike" on Saturday.
5 Jan 2020
AFP/File / Abdirazak Hussein FARAH
Al-Shabaab last month detonated a car-bomb in Mogadishu, killing 81 people
Jihadists from Somalia's Al-Shabaab group on Sunday attacked a military base used by US and Kenyan forces in Kenya's coastal Lamu region, a government official said.
"There was an attack but they have been repulsed," Lamu Commissioner Irungu Macharia told AFP.
He said the attack took place before dawn at the base known as Camp Simba, and that "a security operation is ongoing", but did not indicate if there had been casualties.
"We are not sure if there are still remnants within," he said.
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying they had "successfully stormed the heavily fortified military base and have now taken effective control of part of the base."
The group said there had been both Kenyan and American casualties, however this could not be immediately verified.
Al-Shabaab said the attack was part of its "Al-Quds (Jerusalem) shall never be Judaized" campaign -- a term it first used during an attack on the upscale Dusit hotel complex in Nairobi in January last year that left 21 people dead.
The Somali jihadists have staged several large-scale attacks inside Kenya, in retaliation for Nairobi sending troops into Somalia in 2011 to fight the group, as well as to target foreign interests.
Despite years of costly efforts to fight Al-Shabaab, the group on December 28 managed to detonate a vehicle packed with explosives in Mogadishu, killing 81 people.
The spate of attacks highlights the group's resilience and capacity to inflict mass casualties at home and in the region, despite losing control of major urban areas in Somalia.
The Lamu region, close to the Somali border, has been plagued by attacks from Al-Shabaab, with frequent strikes along the frontier notably targeting security forces with roadside bombs.
In their November report, a UN panel of experts on Somalia noted an "unprecedented number" of homemade bombs and other attacks across the Kenya-Somalia border in June and July last year.
On Thursday at least three people were killed when suspected Shabaab gunmen ambushed a bus travelling in the area.
According to the Institute for Security Studies, the United States has 34 known military bases in Africa, from where it conducts "drone operations, training, military exercises, direct action and humanitarian activities."
5 Jan 2020
fars news/AFP / HOSSEIN MERSADI
People chanted "death to America" as they carried the casket of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani upon arrival at Ahvaz International Airport in Tehran
A tide of mourners packed the streets of the Iranian city of Ahvaz Sunday to pay respects to top general Qasem Soleimani, days after he was killed in a US strike.
"Death to America," they chanted at a mass gathering in the streets of the southwestern city, where Soleimani's remains arrived from Iraq before dawn, according to semi-official news agency ISNA.
They beat their chests to the sound of Shiite chants and held up portraits of the general, seen as a hero of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and for spearheading Iran's Middle East operations as chief of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force.
Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike Friday near Baghdad international airport that shocked the Islamic republic. He was 62.
The assassination, which was ordered by US President Donald Trump, ratcheted up tensions between the arch-enemies and sparked fears of a new war in the Middle East.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed "severe revenge" and declared three days of mourning following the news of his death.
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