Old Zhou
Abstract: On January 20, the U.S. military was attacked by 20 ballistic missiles and rockets at the al-Assad airbase in Iraq. On the same day, at least 10 people inside a missile attack on a small four-story villa building in the Syrian capital, Damascus, killed at least 10 people, including five members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, including three brigadier generals. Iran responds by vowing revenge!
On 20 January, two more serious incidents occurred in the Middle East, which had become a mess.
First, the U.S. military was hit by 20 ballistic missiles and rockets at the al-Assad airbase in Iraq. The air defense system at the base intercepted 19 of them, and only one rocket, as well as the wreckage of the intercepted missile rocket, fell into the base, injuring at least two American troops and seriously injuring one Iraqi security personnel. It was also the worst attack on Assad's base since the Kazakh-Israeli conflict began three months ago.
The al-Assad airbase is located near the town of Baghdadi, about 110 kilometers west of Ramadi, the capital of the province of Anbar in western Iraq, and about 180 kilometers from the capital, Baghdad. Founded in the 1980s, it was the second largest base of the Iraqi Air Force at that time, and three squadrons of the Raq Air Force were stationed with MiG-21 and MiG-25 fighters. During the 1990 Gulf War, Iraqi Air Force fighter jets stationed at the base took to the skies to intercept coalition fighter jets in an air strike on Baghdad.
In 2003, the United States took over the Assad base after launching the Iraq War, which was refurbished to accommodate large transport and tanker aircraft, and was the most important fuel supply hub for U.S. forces in Iraq during Operation Iraq. In December 2011, the U.S. military handed over the Assad base to the Iraqi government. But three years later, in 2014, U.S. troops re-stationed at the Assad base as the main military base for the multinational coalition against ISIS.
On January 3, 2020, the MQ-9 Reaper drone that beheaded Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Qassem Soleimani took off from Assad's base.
The Assad base has two main runways with a length of 4,300 meters and 4,000 meters, respectively, which can take off and land large transport aircraft. It is one of the most important bases of the US military in Iraq. At present, there are 1,500 US troops, including not only aviation and ground personnel, but also many communications and intelligence analysts. The main deployment is F-18 "Hornet" fighters, F-16 "Fighting Falcon" fighters, C-130 "Hercules" transport aircraft, HH-60G "Pave Hawk" helicopters (a modification of the "Black Hawk" helicopter), MQ-1C "Gray Eagle" UAV and MQ-9 "Reaper" UAV.
There is no doubt that Assad Air Base is one of the most important military bases of the US military in Iraq, and it is naturally regarded as a thorn in the side of anti-US forces, since 2021, Assad Air Base has been repeatedly attacked by missiles, rockets and drones, although no group has claimed these attacks against US troops.
At present, the US military has assembled a huge military force in the Middle East, stationed in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Egypt, Israel, and other countries, with a total strength of up to 70,000 troops, and has also deployed one aircraft carrier battle group and one amphibious assault ship battle group in the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, which is also the largest military build-up of the US military in the Middle East since the Gulf War in 1990.
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Among them, 2,500 in Iraq and 900 in Syria are clearly the most dangerous, having been attacked 141 times in more than three months, almost every day, and more than 70 U.S. troops have been injured since the outbreak of the Kazakh-Israeli conflict on October 7 last year.
This attack on Assad's base will further deepen the tension and complication of the regional situation.
The second incident was a missile attack on a four-story villa in the Maizah neighborhood of Damascus, the Syrian capital. Located in the western part of Damascus, the Maizai community is an upscale neighborhood where the United Nations office in Syria and embassies from several countries, including Iran and Lebanon, are located.
Judging by the photos from the scene, the villa that was attacked was almost completely destroyed and basically razed to the ground, and it was initially reported that 2 military advisers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed. But soon there was definite information that at least 10 people, five of whom were members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and five members of pro-Iranian armed groups, were holding talks when the missiles struck, five of them members of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and five members of pro-Iranian armed groups. The five Revolutionary Guard officers killed were three brigadier generals, one major and one captain, including Brigadier General Saad Omiladwar, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence service in Syria, and his deputy.
The Brigadier General of the Revolutionary Guards is quite high, and the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards is no more than a major general, and Soleimani, who was beheaded by the United States in January 2020, is a major general. So the death of three brigadier generals at a time was definitely a heavy blow to the Revolutionary Guards.
The full name of the Revolutionary Guard Corps is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which was established in May 1979, shortly after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. However, it has gradually developed and grown into an armed force with three armed forces, including the army, navy, air force and missile forces, and now has a total strength of 130,000 troops, which has the same status as the regular Iranian army, but has a higher priority than the regular army in terms of funds and equipment, and is one of the two major components of the Iranian armed forces.
In the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, the Revolutionary Guards were extremely eye-catching, known for their tenacious will and strong combat strength, and were the "firefighting team" on the battlefield, often used in the most difficult and critical combat directions.
The Revolutionary Guards are not only militarily powerful, but also have a large intelligence organization, support and support pro-Iranian organizations in the Middle East, and have always adhered to an anti-American and anti-Israeli stance, so it was listed as a terrorist organization by the United States in 2019.
The timing of the beheading was precise, as it was a meeting between senior Revolutionary Guard generals and pro-Iranian groups. There are 3 brigadier generals of the Revolutionary Guards here, so the level of the person to talk to will not be low. And the blow was also very accurate, only destroying this small building, and the surrounding buildings were intact and there was no damage. Such a high-level decapitation operation can only be done by Israel. Although Israel has not yet publicly acknowledged it, it is clear to all that it must have been Israel's doing.
This is the second heavy blow to the Revolutionary Guards in less than a month, following the beheading of Brigadier General Mousavi, Iran's top adviser to Syria on December 27 last year, who was also Soleimani's most important deputy.
After this incident, Iranian President Lai Greece publicly stated that Iran would swear to avenge the victims, and would definitely return blood for blood and make Israel pay the corresponding price.
At present, the Middle East is already full of wars, Kazakhstan and Israel are still fighting in Gaza, the US military in the Red Sea has carried out three rounds of military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, Iran has successively attacked targets in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan, and Pakistan has also attacked targets in Iran with missiles and drones......
Now that the US military base has been attacked again, and the important generals of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have been beheaded, the situation has become more turbulent and complicated, and it seems that the fuse of the big powder keg in the Middle East has been lit and sneered!
(The picture in this article comes from the Internet)
Lao Zhou, whose real name is Zhou Ming, once used the screen name Guangting, has been engaged in the study of military war history for a long time, and has served as a guest on military columns on Phoenix Satellite TV and Shanghai TV many times. He has published more than 20 military books, which can be consulted and purchased on the micro-store "Zhibingtang Bookstore" and a treasure online store "Zhibingtang Bookstore". Now there is a personal column "Lao Zhou Military" on Himalaya, which produces military audio programs. The "Old Zhou New Observation" video account has been set up on major video platforms to interpret military hot spots, please support.