2nd Airstrike Carried Out In Iraq Just Hours After Trump Claimed He Doesn't Want to 'Start A War'

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Jan. 03, 2020

Is this how you "de-escalate" the situation?

Trump, reading a statement in Mar-a-Lago, claims assassinating Soleimani was "to stop a war."

"We took action last night to stop a war. We do not take action to start a war." pic.twitter.com/jkqmz0gQhq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 3, 2020

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and I discussed the decisive defensive action @realDonaldTrump employed in Baghdad to protect American lives. I emphasized that de-escalation is the United States’ principal goal.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 3, 2020

BREAKING: Five leaders in Iraq's pro-Iranian PMF militia have been killed in an airstrike on their convoy north of Baghdad
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) January 3, 2020

Asaib Ahl al-Haq media outlet releases photos shows the aftermath airstrikes on Hashd al-Shaabi vehicles near Taji.#Iraq pic.twitter.com/MO1yqnttjF
— Baxtiyar Goran (@BaxtiyarGoran) January 3, 2020

From Newsweek, "Iraqi Militia Leader May be Among Six Killed in Another U.S. Drone Strike in Baghdad":

Six members of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an official Iraqi militia organization with ties to Iran, were killed in another U.S. drone strike in northern Baghdad on Friday, multiple officials told Newsweek. The strike comes one day after President Donald Trump approved an operation that killed an elite Iranian general.

Pentagon officials told Newsweek Friday evening the operation was targeting Imam Ali Brigades with a "high probability" the strike resulted in the death of its leader, Shubul al-Zaidi. The U.S. operation that targeted Zaidi was a part of the same strategy Trump approved Thursday morning, which killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani.

Speaking Friday from his Florida resort in Mar-a-Lago, Trump said that the strike that killed Soleimani was ordered "to stop a war" and prevent attacks on American personnel.

According to Reuters, Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Force says the strike "hit a convoy of medics," not their senior leaders.

UPDATE: The recent air strike north of Baghdad that killed six hit a convoy of medics, not senior leaders, Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces says https://t.co/gCa56PDixt pic.twitter.com/hrsNduIMzA
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 4, 2020

UPDATE: One anonymous US official is denying that the US was behind the strike.

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