Times of Israel – The leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization said on Sunday that the United States’ killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike in Iraq marked the start of a “new war” on the US in the Middle East. He called on Shiite militias to attack US military assets throughout the Middle East — including suicide bombings — and predicted that the Americans will leave the region in “coffins,” taking Israel with them. “This was not a separate assassination operation. This is the start of a new US war in the region,” Hassan Nasrallah said, according to a translation by the Lebanese Naharnet outlet.
Nasrallah said the January 3 airstrike will remain a “date separating two phases in the region… it is the start of a new phase and a new history, not just for Iran or Iraq but the whole region.” He claimed that Israel had requested that the US kill Soleimani. Early Friday, a volley of missiles hit Baghdad’s international airport, striking a convoy belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iraqi paramilitary force with close ties to Iran. Just a few hours later, the Revolutionary Guard Corps announced Soleimani “was martyred in an attack by America on Baghdad airport this morning.” READ MORE
