The first missiles hit in the small hours, the sky over the Iraqi desert still dark. By the time the salvo ended on 8 January 2020, Iran had struck two bases where American troops sleep, Al Asad and Erbil, and had managed to kill no one.
That zero is the whole story. Days earlier, a U.S. drone killed Qasem Soleimani, the Quds Force commander, outside Baghdad airport. Tehran answered with what the Revolutionary Guards called an effort to crush the air base at Al Asad, and the Tasnim news agency said the missiles flew with cluster warheads.
Iraq’s military counted 22 missiles: 17 aimed at Al Asad, five at Erbil. State television traced the misses, two falling short in the Hitan area without exploding, two more in a village near Erbil and a third farther out. President Donald Trump said U.S. forces suffered no casualties and the bases took “only minimal damage,” declaring that “Iran appears to be standing down.”
By nightfall the argument had shifted from what happened to whether it was meant to. A Pentagon official told CNN that Iran “deliberately chose targets that would not result in loss of life.” General Mark Milley, the top U.S. military officer, saw the opposite: the attack, he said, was meant to kill. Matthew Smith, a defence analyst, settled on “almost a de-escalatory response.”
Analysts read the restraint as a signal: resolve, without a war. Iran’s missiles range from short-range rockets to weapons that reach 2,000 kilometres, and Tasnim reported the salvo used Fateh-313 and Qiam missiles fitted with cluster warheads, weapons Iran has fielded before.
Sources
- Iran's attack on Iraqi airbases 'almost de-escalatory'
- Iran missile attack: Did Tehran intentionally avoid US casualties?
