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US intercepts drones aiming to strike military forces in Iraq as Washington is on heightened alert for attacks by Iran-backed groups while Biden flies in to Tel Aviv amid soaring tensions over Hamas-Israel war
Daily Mail ^ | Oct 18,2023 | Paul Farrell

Posted on 10/18/2023 7:38:49 AM PDT by McGruff

The U.S. military thwarted an attack targeting its forces in Iraq early on Wednesday, intercepting two drones before they could strike, two U.S. officials said after the first such attack on U.S. forces in Iraq in more than a year.

The officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, declined to say who was suspected of the attack but Washington is on heightened alert for activity by Iran-backed groups amid soaring tension in the region over the Israel-Hamas war.

Last week, Iraqi armed groups aligned with Iran threatened to target U.S. interests with missiles and drones if Washington intervened to support Israel's conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

The one-way attack drones were intercepted as they attempted to strike Iraq's al Asad air base, which hosts American troops, the officials said.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Iran; Iraq; Israel; News/Current Events; Syria; War; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iran; israel; syria; waronterror

1 posted on 10/18/2023 7:38:49 AM PDT by McGruff
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2 posted on 10/18/2023 7:39:38 AM PDT by McGruff (Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*** things up - Barack Obama)
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To: McGruff

States better start speaking up now if they don’t want to be colonized by Palestinians. Make Bidenskyyyyy chose a blue city or state or “border town” for his new Palestinian colony.


3 posted on 10/18/2023 7:44:21 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Palestanians are not "refugeez". They are muslim terrorists. Remember 9/11/2001.)
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To: McGruff

“The officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, declined to say who was suspected of the attack...”

Gee, might it be the one nation in the region that is now mass producing drones thanks to Barack Obama handing one over to them?


4 posted on 10/18/2023 7:48:21 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: McGruff

Motor bike and paraglide attacks to follow along with the possible flash mob armed with AK’s and molotov cocktails.

Today could be a very interesting day in world history.


5 posted on 10/18/2023 7:48:53 AM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal (Jesus + Something = Nothing ; Jesus + Nothing = Everything )
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To: FlingWingFlyer

Dump all 2 million in NYC.


6 posted on 10/18/2023 7:50:32 AM PDT by Levy78 (Reject modernity, embrace tradition. )
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

Perhaps “Operation Millennium Challenge 2002” coming to fruition?


7 posted on 10/18/2023 7:50:32 AM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal (Jesus + Something = Nothing ; Jesus + Nothing = Everything )
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To: McGruff
I thought the US liberated Iraq? After one $trillion dollars and 4000k dead servicemen, aren't they thankful?


8 posted on 10/18/2023 7:51:16 AM PDT by JonPreston ( ✌ ☮️ )
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To: Levy78

You’re probably right. With New Yawkers deserting that joint in a mass stampede, they might need to recolonize that place with a different brand of humanoids.


9 posted on 10/18/2023 7:57:50 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Palestanians are not "refugeez". They are muslim terrorists. Remember 9/11/2001.)
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To: McGruff

why did brandon go to Israel...do they have better ice cream or something?


10 posted on 10/18/2023 7:58:41 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: FlingWingFlyer

Payback for what they did to my ancestors and their land 159 years ago.


11 posted on 10/18/2023 8:00:09 AM PDT by Levy78 (Reject modernity, embrace tradition. )
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To: McGruff

.


12 posted on 10/18/2023 8:20:03 AM PDT by sauropod (I will stand for truth even if I stand alone.)
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To: null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; AZ .44 MAG; Baynative; bgill; bitt; ...

P


13 posted on 10/18/2023 8:22:03 AM PDT by bitt (<img src=' 'width=50%>)
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To: JonPreston

Should have kept Saddam.


14 posted on 10/18/2023 8:52:49 AM PDT by cowboyusa (YESHUA IS KING OF AMERICA! DEATH TO MARXISM AND GLOBALISM! Trump 2024, NO more Mr Nice)
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To: McGruff

George Bush and Dick Cheney’s Neocon adventure is the gift that keeps on giving.


15 posted on 10/18/2023 8:56:24 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: cowboyusa

I thought Obama declared the Iraq war over and removed all US troops already 13 years ago, to fanfare of MSM propaganda and the cheers of his hope-and-change supporters?

More lies, I suppose.


16 posted on 10/18/2023 8:59:13 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: bitt

Do our soldiers use the right pronouns? That’s what matters.


17 posted on 10/18/2023 9:13:17 AM PDT by GOPJ ( FBI goons told Hillary naming reprogramming camps Auschwit Birkenau would shut cult members up?)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

Send them all to Minnesota...Omar’s district. We could watch the Hamas-Somali civil war...


18 posted on 10/18/2023 9:16:50 AM PDT by USAF1985 (Joe McCarthy is a hero...he was absolutely, 100% correct! (Let’s go Brandon!))
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To: McGruff

It would be interesting to know who likely launched it, and when/where it was made?

It takes a little time, but eventually you’ll hear about more drones hitting a ground target, a Verba bringing down one of our helicopters somewhere, or an RPG-7VR or 30, taking out an armored vehicle etc. As things settle in Ukraine but also Russia ramps up, expect them to return the favor.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/everything-front-russia-allots-third-2024-spending-defence-2023-10-02/

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-ramps-up-output-some-military-hardware-by-more-than-tenfold-state-company-2023-09-19/

It’s real simple really. You find someone that has a grudge against us and you arm them with some piece of key technology that poses a huge danger (can inflict a lot of damage). This is not new, The Soviets armed N. Vietnam, which wasn’t able to build an SA-2, MIG-21 or RPG-7 at the time.

https://www.historynet.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NVA-troops-with-RPG-7-rocket-propelled-grenade-WINTER-VIEP-23.jpg (Useless knowledge: Some of the RPG’s used in Vietnam came from Romania)

https://media.defense.gov/2009/Jun/05/2000558710/2000/2000/0/090605-F-1234P-016.JPG

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/Image/MagazineArchive/PublishingImages/2019/October%202019/006_Correll_MiG_vietnam.jpg

Of course we did this to them in Afghanistan, they did it to us with North Korea, and so on...

In Iraq you have many (~43 militia groups and MOST don’t like us): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_militias_in_Iraq Find one that has the will and means to get to us, and arm them.

Contrary to Obama and our corporate pro democrat lying MSM, we never left Iraq. We still have troops there (~5,000) up until recent when it dropped to about ~3,000 BUT you have a lot of private security forces and OGA operating there.

What folks don’t realize, is that we’re spread out thin. Yes we have a big military and enormous budget. Our OGA and Intel community is equally impressive and we have a lot of mercenaries that are unofficially on our government payroll. We do have a lot of help from others as well. But we are involved all over the place and in some places fairly exposed:

(2019): https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/1i0nm45rAx4MuHJTBjOZwe0RJ4c=/fit-in/1072x0/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/76/45/7645fe6c-a982-4828-bdff-7043074884b2/counterterrorismmapweb.png (This is still pretty much accurate but even it did not include Ukraine which in 2019 we were already aiding with advisors, military hardware, money, intel)

(2020): https://www.mapsofworld.com/answers/united-states/top-us-military-operations-across-the-world/#

That doesn’t include Central and South America, nor South East Asia and the Pacific Rim. It’s really just Africa and the Middle East, but the point being is that we’re all over the place, even though we don’t talk about it and it’s not in our MSM (we try to downplay our presence and our media went from watchdog to lapdog). What this also means is that we present a lot of targets.

Expect this to pick up over time, and expect it to become far more dangerous in the years to come.

Play stupid games (arm the enemies of your self created enemy, Russia), and you win stupid prizes (they begin to arm folks that want to kill your kids). Just like they are able to push back in Ukraine or even with the sanctions/economically and politically. The Russians simply aren’t some chump we can push around at will as with many other nations. We want and try that, plow over them, literally ignore them and just do what we want, as with Republic of Georgia, and Ukraine, but they can push back because they have the military means even though they are conventionally much smaller than us and especially with our allies. They do have something folks need in terms of resources (oil, gas, titanium, platinum, fertilizer, food). They do have some influence politically outside of organizations we entirely control (i.e. BRICS, OPEC+, bilateral agreements with many nations). They do have a military industrial base. While far smaller than the US and especially with all our allies, while often a little behind in many areas, what is interesting is that they domestically develop and manufacture. They do have a military capable of playing the proxy war games (logistics, intel and personnel that can train others) we decided to start back up again. They can project force (while much more limited compared to us) and they have a nuclear deterrent force that has parity.

***What we proudly did in Ukraine, was to reopen a chapter in world history that was mostly closed at the end of the Cold War.***

Expect the threat to come from these types of weapon systems in these low intensity guerilla type conflicts:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lancet (Drones)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-30 (advanced RPGs or ATGMs)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K333_Verba (advanced MANPADS)

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4030612 (Mortars, not much there so here’s more: https://qz.com/1617171/the-russian-army-is-getting-silent-mortars)

In the world on non-conventional warfare, there are so many twists and turns: NVG’s, hand held GPS systems, sniper rifles, explosive charges or even non military type equipment like IR barriers (https://theshopsite.co.nz/products/chime-door-bell off the shelf civilian stuff that can be repurposed) which can be used to make far more effective IEDs...

At a national level, expect actors like Iran, North Korea, etc. to potentially get their hands on more advanced systems regards IADS/SAMs, Anti-ship missiles, advanced comms, electronic warfare and GPS jamming equipment, etc. Examples:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-400_missile_system

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-300P_Bastion-P

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krasukha (more on this: https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-fall-and-rise-of-russian-electronic-warfare)

Bottom line is that it takes a little bit of time for the cause and effect to happen, but it will.


19 posted on 10/18/2023 5:11:05 PM PDT by Red6
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