8:01 AM EST on January 7
US intelligence had observed Iran moving military equipment, including drones and ballistic missiles, over the last several days. US officials said the movement may have been an Iranian effort to secure its weapons from a potential US strike, or put them in positions to launch their own attacks.
"There were indications that we needed to monitor the threats" even more closely than is already being done, one of the US officials said, referring to Monday night's state of heightened alert. The second official described it as "all Patriot batteries and forces in the area on high alert" against an "imminent attack threat."
CNN
"The brave soldiers of IRGC's aerospace unit have launched a successful attack with tens of ballistic missiles on Al Assad military base in the name of martyr Gen. Qasem Soleimani,"
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
“At approximately 5:30 p.m. (EST) on January 7, Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq. It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. military and coalition personnel at Al-Assad and Irbil.
We are working on initial battle damage assessments.”
Assistant to the US Secretary of Defense
The Iranian missile attack on the US bases was choreographed and
showed live on its TV. Though the 12+ missile did minimal damage to the US bases and so far, no casualties are reported still a Redline is crossed.
By launching the missiles from inside, Iranian have made a grave mistake as American retribution could hit targets inside Iran. Mr. Trump is huddling with his security team to come up with a 'proportionate' response. But some analysts fear that America may choose to wipe out Revolutionary Guard’s headquarter.
There are times when you are right but still it makes sense to take a step backward. But Iranian Mullah never learned that. For decades, Iranian have been living under extreme conditions which left to recent unrest in the country. Some estimate that more than a thousand people have died in those unrests. And recent events will make things a lot worse for Iranians.
This choreographed attack was more for
internal consumption than anything else, still, I wish they have made some other choices instead.
Let's hope & pray that cool heads prevail.
At least two airbases housing US troops in Iraq are hit by more than a dozen ballistic missiles.
www.bbc.com