By J.M. Phelps (One News Now)
Experts on national security are sharing their insights following a U.S. drone attack that killed the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, resulting in threats from the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran that a “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the United States.
President Donald Trump and his team of advisers orchestrated the targeting killing of General Qassem Soleimani early on Friday. The general was the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, which was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) on April 15, 2019.
Phil Haney is a founding member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He suggests “there must be some pretty awesome intel on the ground in and around Baghdad.” He suspects that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) could have had some involvement.
“Clearly, someone was following Soleimani’s communications – a Farsi-speaking ally, perhaps,” he suggests, adding that “the next step – the next chess move – will take place in a couple arenas away from Iran itself.”
Iran mourns Soleimani’s death, America awaits threatened retaliation
OneNewsNow spoke to Clare Lopez, vice president of research and analysis for the Center for Security Policy. She expects that after a three-day period of mourning in the Middle East country, the United States might actually experience retaliation – and “Iran has a lot of options,” she states.
“[Iran] has proxy terror forces all over the region of the Middle East,” she warns, noting that the region is home to many U.S. military bases and diplomatic facilities that “have been explicitly targeted – or at least threatened – by the Iranian regime in the past.”
The U.S. military, diplomats, and her allies are on high alert across the Middle East, Lopez notes – “and we need to be mindful that Hezbollah has many operational cells inside the United States,” she points out.
She considers Hezbollah within the United States a “real threat” and one she is convinced “is very under-acknowledged by our national security
that may or not even know they are here – [yet] they have been for a very long time.”
Considering the threat of retaliation from Iran, she advises, “we need to take a very serious look at the threat [Hezbollah sleeper cells in America].”
But Lopez points out “the taking out of Soleimani was a direct U.S. hit against a senior Iranian regime official.” As a result, she tells OneNewsNow, “retaliation from Iran may likewise be a direct hit against the United States – not necessary [an attack] via proxy [forces].”
The Iranian regime’s response for “credibility or merely the sake of their own attempt at retaliation might be an attempt at something direct,” she emphasizes.
“[Iran] certainly has a lot of proxy forces in the region,” the former CIA operations officer attests, noting the consistent threats to Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah. “The Quds force that Soleimani commanded has worked with Al Qaeda for a long time, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and a host of other Shiite terror proxies in the region – especially in Iraq,” she adds.
While the strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of the Iranian-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah, which is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Lopez admits the threat from many other Shiite terror militias cannot be ruled out.
“But would [Iran] attempt something indirectly via proxy forces?” she wonders. “Or would their retaliation be direct?” The answer to her inquiry remains to be determined.
J.M. Phelps is a Christian activist and journalist based in the Southeastern U.S. He is also editor and publisher of the website Lantern of Liberty.
Originally published by One News Now on Friday, January 3, 2020.
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