Donald Trump and Gen. Qassem Soleimani (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

By Associated Press, Published Jan 3:

Pentagon says Trump OK’d airstrike that killed top Iranian general:

Attack likely to inflame tensions, potentially spark new conflict in Middle East.

BAGHDAD — The United States killed Iran’s top general and the architect of Tehran’s proxy wars in the Middle East in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday, an attack that threatens to dramatically ratchet up tensions in the region.

The targeted killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, could draw forceful Iranian retaliation against American interests in the region and spiral into a far larger conflict between the U.S. and Iran, endangering U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria and beyond.

The Defense Department said it killed Soleimani because he “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” It also accused Soleimani of approving the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad earlier this week.

Read: Oil prices skyrocket, stock futures sink after top Iranian general killed by U.S. airstrike

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that a “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the U.S.

Iranian state TV carried a statement by Khamenei also calling Soleimani “the international face of resistance.” Khamenei declared three days of public mourning for the general’s death.

Also, an adviser to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani warned President Donald Trump of retaliation from Tehran. “Trump through his gamble has dragged the U.S. into the most dangerous situation in the region,” Hessameddin Ashena wrote on the social media app Telegram. “Whoever put his foot beyond the red line should be ready to face its consequences.”

Later commentary on Iranian state TV called Trump’s order to kill Soleimani “the biggest miscalculation by the U.S.” in the years since World War II. “The people of the region will no longer allow Americans to stay,” the TV said.

Also see: GOP lawmakers celebrate Soleimani’s death: ‘He was an evil bastard who murdered Americans’

The airport strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, and five others, including the PMF’s airport protocol officer, Mohammed Reda, Iraqi officials said.

Trump was vacationing on his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, but sent out a tweet of an American flag.

The dramatic attack comes at the start of a year in which Trump faces both a Senate trial following his impeachment by the U.S. House and a re-election campaign. It marks a potential turning point in the Middle East and represents a drastic change for American policy toward Iran after months of tensions.

Tehran shot down a U.S. military surveillance drone and seized oil tankers. The U.S. also blames Iran for a series of attacks targeting tankers, as well as a September assault on Saudi’s oil industry that temporarily halved production.

The tensions take root in Trump’s decision in May 2018 to withdraw the U.S. from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, struck under his predecessor, Barack Obama.

The 62-year-old Soleimani was the target of Friday’s U.S. attack, which was conducted by an armed American drone, according to a U.S. official. His vehicle was struck on an access road near the Baghdad airport.

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Nigerian ISIS branch kills 11 as retaliation for al-Baghdadi’s death: report

The Hill, 28 Dec 2019:

A Nigerian offshoot of ISIS on Thursday claimed responsibility for the killing of 11 people, calling the deaths a retaliation for the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in northern Syria two months ago, according to The New York Times.

The group released video Thursday of members cutting 10 people’s throats and shooting an 11th person, with a voice-over calling the killings a “message for Christians,” although Nigerian experts told the Times that based on the group’s previous tactics, some of its victims were likely Muslims.

The group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), split off from the terrorist group Boko Haram in 2016, citing issues with the group’s violence against other Muslims, according to the Times, but the group has likely been under increased pressure to publicly retaliate for al-Baghdadi’s death as other branches and affiliates have done.

“I think there’s a demand from IS Central: ‘ISWAP, where is your submission for revenge for Baghdadi?’” Abdulbasit Kassim, a co-author of “The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State,” told the Times.

Kassim added that ISWAP is likely attempting to both assuage the broader Islamic State and extract concessions and ransom from the Nigerian government.

“Those who you see in front of us are Christians, and we will shed their blood as revenge for the two dignified sheikhs, the caliph of the Muslims, and the spokesman for the Islamic State, Sheikh Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir, may Allah accept them,” a man depicted committing the killings says in the video. The man in the video made reference to an ISIS spokesman reportedly killed shortly after al-Baghdadi.

“These barbaric killers don’t represent Islam and millions of other law-abiding Muslims around the world,” Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement following the release of the video.

“We are appalled by the vicious ISIS-West Africa attack targeting Christians in Nigeria,” tweeted Tibor Nagy, the top State Department official for Africa policy.

We urge the Government of Nigeria to swiftly bring to justice those responsible for this heinous terrorist attack. (2/2)

— Tibor Nagy (@AsstSecStateAF) December 27, 2019

President Trump announced the killing of al-Baghdadi in Syria’s Idlib province in October, saying the ISIS leader detonated a suicide vest during a raid by U.S. forces. ISIS announced Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi had been named his successor later that month.