On 8 January 2020, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) conducted Operation Martyr Soleimani (Persian: عملیات شهید سلیمانی), launching over 12 ballistic missiles against the United States Armed Forces at al-Asad Airbase in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq, as well as another airbase in Erbil, in response to the assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani by a U.S. drone strike.
The strike was the largest ballistic missile attack ever against U.S. forces abroad. Initially, the U.S. was not willing to concede the seriousness of the attack. While it initially assessed that none of its service members were injured or killed, the U.S. Department of Defense ultimately said that 110 service members had been diagnosed and treated for traumatic brain injuries (mainly concussions) from the attack. Some of them were later awarded the Purple Heart.
Iran reportedly informed the Iraqi government of an imminent attack shortly beforehand. The United States secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the attack was intended to kill, however some analysts suggested the strike was deliberately designed to avoid causing any fatalities in order to dissuade an armed American response. The U.S. said it was able to avoid fatalities because the United States Space Force provided early warning.
In the months following the attack, the U.S. deployed Patriot and other missile defense systems to some of their Iraqi bases. Additionally, the high alert of Iranian forces after the attack may have caused the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 shootdown.
Background
According to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, in 2021 Iran had "the largest and most diverse ballistic arsenal in the Middle East, and a substantial inventory of close-range ballistic missiles, short-range ballistic missiles, and medium-range ballistic missiles that can strike targets throughout the region up to 2,000 kilometers (1243 miles) from Iran's borders".
In the lead up to the attacks, Iranian officials had said Iran would retaliate against U.S. forces for the killing of General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad on 3 January 2020. U.S. president Donald Trump warned that any retaliation would result in the targeting of 52 significant Iranian sites, including cultural ones, by U.S. forces. Reportedly, following the Baghdad strike, U.S. intelligence agencies detected Iran's heightened readiness but it was unclear at the time if they were defensive measures or an indication of a future attack on U.S. forces.
Al-Asad Airbase, located in Al Anbar Governorate, western Iraq, hosted between 1,500 and 2,000 U.S. troops. On 3 December 2019, an Iraqi military statement said five rockets had landed on al-Asad airbase, with no injuries. Later, a "security source" inside al-Asad airbase and a "local official at a nearby town" told Reuters that reports that the airbase was under attack at that time were false. These reports on Twitter temporarily caused a rally of U.S. and Brent crude oil futures.
On 4 January 2020, two rockets hit the Balad Air Base located near Baghdad. Two mortars also hit Baghdad's Green Zone. These attacks resulted in no casualties or damage.
Thirteen revenge scenarios
The Thirteen revenge scenarios document was written by Iran's Supreme National Security Council in the wake of the death of Quds force commander Qasem Soleimani by US airstrike on 3 January 2020. It was announced by Secretary Ali Shamkhani on 7 January 2020 as a form a tribute to a departed comrade-in-arms whose final funeral was in his birthplace Kerman. Shamkhani warned that the scenarios would "bring a historic nightmare for America."
The document was created as a result of the threat by Ayatollah Khamenei of "hard revenge" loosed mayhem in the political corridors of Iran. In fact, The New York Times reported on 6 January that Khamenei "personally weighed in on how Iran should respond - insisting Iran directly retaliate for the killing". At least 13 scenarios for revenge have been discussed in SNSC meetings. Said Shamkhani to the Fars News Agency:
If all Council members agree even on the weakest scenario, it will bring a historic nightmare for America... [It will] not be just one single operation... The U.S. knows they are vulnerable to Iran's reaction. That's why a number of their patrols have reduced and forces are mainly concentrated at bases... The response is likely to be triggered by medium-range and long-range missiles... If the forces want to take shelter in the bases, we will destroy the bases in addition to the forces... If American forces do not leave our region on their foot and vertically, we will do something that their dead bodies go horizontally.
Shamkhani was aware of 19 US military bases "in the region", including 11 bases located east or west of the Iranian border, and eight north or south of the Iranian border.
Attacks
On 8 January 2020, shortly after midnight, Iraqi prime minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi reportedly received a message from Iran indicating that the response to General Soleimani's death had "started or was about to start". Exact locations were not disclosed, but U.S. officials later confirmed their troops had adequate advanced warning of the attack and had taken shelter. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force, later clarified that half an hour before the missiles were fired, Iran informed the Iraqi Prime Minister that they would strike a base in Iraq without saying which base was the target. Hajizadeh said the Iranians gave forewarning to the Iraqi government out of "respect".
Sometime between 1:20 a.m. and 1:35 a.m. local, Iran began launching multiple ballistic missiles at select Iraqi bases hosting U.S. forces. According to Iranian media, the attack began around the same time of day Soleimani was killed five days prior, and just a few hours before his burial. The code used to launch the missiles was reportedly "Oh Zahra", referring to the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. According to U.S. troops at Al-Asad, the first missiles landed at 1:34 a.m. and were followed by three more volleys, spaced out by more than 15 minutes each. The attack lasted roughly three hours and was over by 4:00 a.m.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) took responsibility for the attack against the al-Asad Airbase about half an hour after the attack began and announced that it was carried out in response to the killing of Soleimani. The IRGC added that if the U.S. retaliated, they would respond in kind. It also declared that the attack was intended as a warning that applied to any regional actor that provides basing for U.S. military personnel. The Fars News Agency subsequently released video of the missile launches.
The Pentagon confirmed that both the al-Asad airbase and an airbase in Erbil, built by the South Korean Zaytun Division in 2004 during the Iraq War, were hit by Iranian surface-to-surface missiles. According to a U.S. military spokesman for United States Central Command (CENTCOM), the attacks unfolded in two waves, each about an hour apart. Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of Central Command, monitored the attack from his headquarters in Tampa, Florida and communicated with Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and President Donald Trump.
The exact number of missiles launched is disputed. A spokesman for U.S. Central Command said fifteen missiles were fired; ten hit the Al-Asad airbase, one hit the Erbil base, and four failed to reach their targets. U.S. defense secretary Mark Esper later gave a similar estimate, saying 16 short-range missiles had been launched from three locations within Iran, with 11 striking al-Asad (instead of the prior estimate of 10). Kurdish security officials told CNN that at least two targeted Erbil: one hit Erbil International Airport and did not explode, the other landed about 20 miles west of Erbil. According to the Iraqi military, 22 missiles were fired between 1:45 a.m. and 2:15 a.m. local, 17 toward Al-Asad base and 5 at Erbil. In an initial report, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) said Iran launched "tens" of missiles. The day after the strike, IRGC aerospace commander Amir Hajizadeh stated that they fired a total of 13 missiles and that they targeted the Al-Asad airbase.
Tasnim News Agency reported that the IRGC used Fateh-313 and Qiam ballistic missiles in the attack and wrote that U.S. forces failed to intercept them because they were equipped with cluster warheads. Fox News reported that no missiles were intercepted because the bases lacked a missile defense system. According to U.S. defense secretary Mark Esper, the missiles carried between 1,000-and-2,000-pound (450 and 910 kg) warheads.
According to CBS, the attack was the largest ballistic missile strike against American forces in history.
Damage
The U.S. military initially assessed that there were no casualties, which was later echoed by the president. President Trump stated that the damage sustained was minimal. The U.S. defense secretary said the damage was limited to "tentage, taxiways, the parking lot, damaged helicopter, things like that, nothing I would describe as major". Some soldiers lamented losing all their personal belongings—clothing, books, pictures of their families, and mementos they had carried through more than a decade in the military.
Senior Iraqi officials said there were no Iraqi casualties. Among the coalition forces present in the two bases, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Norway, and Poland confirmed that their personnel were unharmed. OPEC's secretary-general Mohammed Barkindo, while on conference in Abu Dhabi, announced that Iraqi oil facilities were secure.
While damage assessments were still underway, Iranian state-run Mehr News Agency wrote "over 80 American troops were killed and some 200 wounded", citing an unidentified IRGC source. Later, a hoax Pentagon memo claiming 139 American troops were killed was spread on social media. Mike Pregent, a former U.S. intelligence officer, attributed the forged memo to an IRGC disinformation attempt.
According to The Military Times, a U.S. commando said Al Asad Airbase suffered the brunt of the missile barrage. Satellite photos provided by Planet Labs showed extensive damage to the base, with at least five structures damaged in the attack, showing that the missiles were precise enough to hit individual buildings. David Schmerler, an analyst with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, which evaluated the photos, said the attacks seemed to have hit buildings that stored aircraft, while buildings used for housing staff were not hit. Two U.S. defense officials told Newsweek that eighteen missiles, which used on-board guidance systems, landed in al-Asad airbase, three of them on the runway, while another hit and damaged an air control tower. One Black Hawk helicopter was destroyed, ten tents were "destroyed", and an MQ-1 Predator drone was alleged to have been damaged, although al-Asad hosts only U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reapers and Army MQ-1C Gray Eagles, as MQ-1 Predators were phased out from USAF service in March 2018. Damaged structures also reportedly included a special forces compound, and two hangars, in addition to the U.S. drone operators' housing unit. Craters up to 30 feet (10 m) wide were left by the impacts.
U.S. soldiers stationed at al-Asad later confirmed that they had received advanced warning of the missile attack before the Iraqis notified them, and that by 11:00 p.m. (local), several hours before the first missiles landed, most of the American section of the base was in lockdown while other troops had been flown out. Only essential personnel such as tower guards and drone pilots remained unsheltered as they were protecting against a ground assault which base commanders expected would follow the missile attack. The base did not have structures in place to defend against a missile attack of the kind launched by the IRGC, with many taking cover in concrete indirect fire bunkers designed to withstand only 60 pound warheads and pyramid-like hardened aircraft shelters that were built during the Iran–Iraq War. Troops re-emerged from their shelters at the break of dawn. During the attack, the U.S. Army was flying seven UAVs, including MQ-1C Gray Eagles, across Iraq to monitor bases with U.S. troops. Fires caused by the attack on Al Asad burned through fiber-optic cables at the base, causing the 14 UAV pilots there to lose contact with the drones, rendering them unable to locate the drones and monitor the ongoing attack. After the attack, soldiers had to replace 500 meters of melted fiber cables which connected to radios which then connected to aircraft. US forces had to reprogram satellites in order to reconnect to the unaccounted-for drones, subsequently having to land them one-by-one at the damaged airbase until finishing around 9:00 a.m.