The reports that #IRGC Quds commander Qassem Sulaymani and his Iraqi deputy, Jamal al-Ibrahimi (Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis), have been killed by a drone strike [apparently American] in Baghdad are now coming from Iraqi politicians close to #Iran/#Hashd and #Hizballah outlets, FWIW.
Add to the reports from #Iraq and sources close to #Iran's agents in the country: it's now coming from the #US side, too, that Qassem Sulaymani and his Iraqi deputy, Jamal al-Ibrahimi (Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis), have been killed tonight in Baghdad.
As @Doranimated says, now we wait
As @Doranimated says, now we wait
Oh my God -
An official in #Iraq has announced on television that the head of #Iran's #IRGC-Quds Force Qassem Sulaymani and his Iraqi deputy, Jamal al-Ibrahimi (Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis), are dead.
(H/T @Joyce_Karam)
An official in #Iraq has announced on television that the head of #Iran's #IRGC-Quds Force Qassem Sulaymani and his Iraqi deputy, Jamal al-Ibrahimi (Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis), are dead.
(H/T @Joyce_Karam)
Killing #Iran's external operations chief, Qassem Sulaymani, the man charged with the export of the Islamist revolution, is far more significant strategically than the killing either of Al-Qaeda's Usama bin Laden or IS's Ibrahim al-Badri (Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi).
This would also be big news.
Actually in shock; physiological shock. If "black swan" has any meaning, Trump killing Qassem Sulaymani is it - and by the looks of it, it is a decapitation strike for the Iranian revolution's entire imperial apparatus. It has reshuffled the deck in a serious way for the region.
Al-Arabiya has deleted the tweet, suggesting this is untrue:
There are good logistical/logical reasons to think this is true. And it is useful to have the rumour out there in any case.
I have been saying this all night: the Trump presser about Sulaymani's demise will rob the moment of any dignity or gravitas, but it will stamp it in an unalterably Trumpian way and, of course, be amusing, probably unintentionally.
The Bolsheviks competing fiercely with the Obama bros, NIAC, and Barb for the title of Most Distressed by the head of #Iran's spy-terrorist apparatus, Qassem Sulaymani, being killed tonight in Baghdad.
Pentagon statement says it killed the head of #Iran's expeditionary Quds Force, Qassem Sulaymani, as part of its force-protection efforts and to deter future attacks.
I'm surprised they didn't claim it was part of the anti-ISIS mission. But who gives a damn? Sulaymani is dead.
I'm surprised they didn't claim it was part of the anti-ISIS mission. But who gives a damn? Sulaymani is dead.
*Competition for the worst takes intensifies*
Once we add the Realists, Right and Left, to the Bolsheviks, Obama bros, NIAC, and Barb, we are getting close to discovering the secret.
Once we add the Realists, Right and Left, to the Bolsheviks, Obama bros, NIAC, and Barb, we are getting close to discovering the secret.
I spoke much too soon about where the worst takes on Qassem Sulaymani's demise would come from.
I had not factored in the United Nations, which in the stakes for calamity and contributions to disaster and evil has a record few can parallel
I had not factored in the United Nations, which in the stakes for calamity and contributions to disaster and evil has a record few can parallel
An extremely powerful entry here.
Advantage Bolshevism, in the Sulaymani takes stakes.
Advantage Bolshevism, in the Sulaymani takes stakes.
Bolsheviks opening up a decisive lead now in the Sulaymani takes stakes.
Deeply upsetting: peace with the clerical theocracy dedicated to erasing Western influence in the Middle East and the Jewish state seemed so close at hand. If only the US had not killed the lead instrument of its expansionist policy of massacre and mayhem
Surveying the damage that can be done to #Iran's theocratic imperialism with even the minimum application of American power and resolve ...
The Obama officials are so upset because their legacy-making realignment of the Middle East, which would allow the US to leave, relied on Qassem Sulaymani and his Quds Force, the most zealous and blood-drenched part of the zealous and blood-drenched regime in #Iran. Now it's over
And there's still no solid guarantee he has the distinction mastered.
In a region that is especially notable for a disconnect between public and actual state policy, this is a useless metric.
When it comes to #Iran, some people have lost their damn minds. They've managed to wrap their partisan affiliations and/or ideological ones up with the interests of the Islamic Republic, including regurgitating its half-baked messaging against US allies.
The Iraqi Defence Ministry mourns the loss of "the hero [and] martyr" Jamal al-Ibrahimi (Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis), the head of the Hashd al-Shabi (the Iranian-run Shia militias that are formally part of Iraq's state), and the deputy to Qassem Sulaymani.
The son of Qassem Sulaymani [on the right, as you look at the picture] weeping in Tehran at the demise of his father. #Iran
Weakness has costs, too.
Statement from #Turkey's Foreign Ministry expresses worry about the "escalating tension between the #US and #Iran" and says the killing of Qassem Sulaymani "aggravate[s] insecurity and instability", but stops well short of condemning the US. mfa.gov.tr/no_2_-kasim-su…
The Islamic Centre of England, a Shia seminary in Paddington, London, releases a statement of "condolence" for the "martyrdom of the honourable Islamic Commander" Qassem Sulaymani. Praises his work against the "diabolic powers of the world." ic-el.com/en/show_news.a…
Hadi al-Ameri was being shopped around by certain Obama officials as a plausible Iraqi Prime Minister not that long ago, and to this day arguments are made that Al-Ameri and Badr are not "really" instruments of #Iran |
Grotesque, not to mention stupid. #Turkey had put out a perfectly good Foreign Ministry statement that avoided exactly this kind of nonsense.
