Source: Headline Media Account [Iron and Blood War History 1927], the original text has not been deleted.
At 4 p.m. Eastern time on February 2, the US military suddenly took off a large number of warplanes and strategic bombers aimed at the direction of the Middle East, fired more than 125 precision-guided munitions in a salvo, and launched large-scale air strikes on more than 85 targets in Iraq and Syria, including the targets of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Corps and its affiliated armed forces.
Lieutenant General Douglas Sims II, chief of operations of the US Joint Staff, said that the B-1B bombers involved in the air strike arrived from the US mainland without stopping, and relied on tanker support throughout the whole process. This means that a single flight is more than 10,000 kilometers, and in addition, he said that fighter jets in the CENTCOM jurisdiction were also involved in the air strikes, most likely from bases in the Middle East.
U.S. B1B strategic bombers bombed more than 85 targets
Sims also said that the strength of strategic bombers lies in the fact that the US military can strike anywhere in the world at a time of their choosing, as in this case, not only to use fighters in conflict zones, but also to home-grown bombers. It is worth mentioning that early on February 2, some American locals spotted that the B-1B bomber was taking off from the base and flying all the way east across the Atlantic. In addition, an anonymous U.S. official said some of the bombers had taken off from a base in Britain on an unspecified mission. The US military deployed 4 B-1B bombers in the UK, and apparently these aircraft were also involved in the air raid mission.
B1B bomber
In fact, at the end of last month, an insider said on social media that the US military would dispatch six strategic bombers, including B-1B or B-52H, to attack the Middle East. Now, all the bombers on duty are B1bs. It is at least 12,000 kilometers from the United States to the Middle East, and it takes nearly 10 hours to fly even at Mach 1. Judging from the description of the US side, the B-1b bomber may have taken off from the mainland at about 6 a.m. that day and arrived in the Middle East at 4 p.m. to launch an attack, which is almost 10 hours, and the B-1b is fully capable of doing this at a maximum speed of Mach 1.25. Its range is 12,000 kilometers, in fact, it can fly directly to the Middle East without a tanker, and the use of a tanker can leave time in the air, and second, it can carry more ammunition, and its maximum bomb load is 57 tons.
White House spokesman John Kirby said: The US military carried out airstrikes on seven sites, including three in Iraq and four in Syria, and the attacks lasted about half an hour; Drone depots and logistical and ammunition supply chain facilities were all targeted with precision, targets carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties, and all were associated with the attack on the U.S. Tower 22 base, and it is unclear how many U.S. troops were killed, but all U.S. planes that participated in the airstrikes returned safely to their bases, knowing that Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps members would be killed.
Large fleet of US troops
Although Iran had been distancing itself from the U.S. airstrikes before the U.S. airstrikes, saying that the attack on Tower 22 that killed three U.S. soldiers had nothing to do with Iran and that Iran had no knowledge of it, the U.S. insisted that Iran had provided weapons to the militants and that Iranian-made drones killed U.S. soldiers, and that Iran was responsible. While U.S. officials stressed that the U.S. military currently has no plans to strike Iranian soil, the facilities that Iran has spent 10 years building and cultivating in Iraq and Syria have been dealt a fatal blow, with unconfirmed reports of two commanders of Iranian-backed PMF forces being killed. In addition, the U.S. military appears to have a plan to strike at Iran itself, but the plan may not have been submitted to President Joe Biden, or it has not yet been approved, and John Kirby declined to give details about the plan.
Although after the killing of three American soldiers, Iran and its affiliated forces began to evacuate. But U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the U.S. airstrikes are just the beginning, and there will be more retaliation to come, and that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its affiliated forces must pay the price for the death of U.S. soldiers, and the specific time and place of implementation will be chosen by the U.S. military. The implication is that even though Iran has evacuated its personnel, the U.S. military will definitely find them. Although Iran has withdrawn many people to its homeland, if Iran sends more people, it will be retaliated by the US military, unless Syria and Iraq are abandoned. In addition, the Jordanian army will participate in the subsequent retaliatory actions of the US military, after all, the base of Tower 22 is next to Jordan, and the two are allies.