new to support shia militias including the hezbollah brigades who were targeted in 5 u.s. is strikes last week after they fired rockets at a us base he survived many attacks on his life inside iran and abroad but it would be in iraq where shia militias trained by his could force killed hundreds of americans that the u.s. indeed has writing age 62 charlotte ballasts al-jazeera. this is al jazeera. and i'm going to clock this is an hour special coverage here on al-jazeera live from doha a dramatic escalation in regional tensions as the u.s. kills one of iran's top military commanders. the same sort of money lead the revolutionary guards elite could force we'll have reaction to his death through around the region and around the world.

so then across the middle east on this friday it is a tense morning after the u.s. killed iran's top military commander major general seem sort of money the attacks happened at baghdad airport iran is calling it an assassination the pentagon says it president told trump ordered the attack to quotes protect u.s. personnel abroad meanwhile the u.s. embassy in baghdad has issued an alert all americans to leave iraq immediately iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei has cooled for 3 days of national mourning and many warned of harsh revenge and said the attack would double tehran's resolve to resist the united states iraq's prime minister says the strike will spark a devastating war we'll speak to our correspondents in the region shortly but 1st this report from zain by. in the early hours of friday shortly after arriving at baghdad international airport major general customs and iranian war hero who led

the charge against isis in iraq and syria was killed in a u.s. airstrike. his close ally the deputy head of hostile xabi an iranian backed iraqi militia. was also killed along with other members of his group. u.s. missiles hit their convoy as they left the airport. so the money was commander of the quds force a unit of iran's revolutionary guard responsible for foreign operations for iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei so the money was a trusted confidant a member of his inner circle his killing in a targeted u.s. strike is the most extreme escalation in tensions between to her own in washington in recent years how many warned there will be retaliation the cruelest people on earth assassinated the honorable commander who courageously fought for years against the evils and bandis of the world sulaimani is martyrdom will make iran

more decisive to resist america's expansionism and to defend our islam values with no doubt iran and other freedom seeking countries in the region will take his revenge into her own senior leaders met in an emergency meeting of iran's national security council many iranians see the u.s. attack as an act of war across the region there will be implications anywhere where there is an american military presence. american should should leave those countries immediately but if i was in the emirates i would leave now and if i was an american in iraq i would leave now if i was an american any part in southwest asia i would leave immediately the united nations high commissioner for human rights described the killings as a likely violation of international law the fact that the united states designated . on its own you know laterally as a foreign terrorist does not give the united states in law or in practice even the

right to kill him it in u.s. law gives the united states there the right to seize his assets and not to kill him in washington reaction was split along party lines republican support of the strike senior democrats called it reckless. so lemony was a matter of but this reckless move escalates the situation with iran and increases the likelihood of more deaths and a new middle east conflict our priority must be to avoid another costly wall. u.s. secretary of state might pump aoe tweeted a video showing iraqis celebrating the attack while still the money enjoyed widespread support for leading the charge to displace eisel from iraqi strongholds some iraqis blame iran for instability and interference in their country and so the money directly for the deaths of more than 500 iraqis in violent antigovernment protests which began in october feared by his enemies inside iran has for years

been one of the most popular national figures in the country the international face of iranian resistance to american pressure he remained largely untouched by the waning popularity in recent years of the country's elected government over economic issues oh you fuck them up here no matter how much you will stop this war but we will be the ones to impose its and therefore you have to be careful about insulting the iranian people and the president of our republic many iranians looked on so the money a someone who could protect them cut down at the height of his popularity by a u.s. strike his death marks the lowest point in iran u.s. relations in decades zain bus ravi al jazeera. well we've got correspondents covering this story from all angles my kind are is in washington d.c. those and you bar is in tehran but 1st let's speak to simona fulton in baghdad. semana 1st of all tell us more about the reaction that we're getting that from baghdad to this incident. well of had an official statement from the iraqi

government and specifically caretaker prime minister. the whole con then and this attack in the strongest terms possible calling it a violation of iraq's sovereignty a violation of the rules of engagement of the u.s. led coalition which is here to train iraqi troops and to help them fight i saw he called both italy money and 100 martyrs who had basically a contribution to the defeat of here in iraq and he also said that specifically the killing of hundreds who is the 2nd in charge of the popular mobilization forces constituted and against the iraqi state now of course the iranian backed popular mobilization forces are officially integrated into the security apparatus so this is essentially the estimation of an iraqi security official we've also had

reactions from other groups most importantly we've had an reaction from. the he is the leader of. which is one of the groups under the popular mobilization of forces and one that actually led an insurgency against american troops in the wake of the 2003 american invasion and what he said is basically he called on his followers to mobilize and to basically begin an armed struggle to see the complete removal of u.s. troops from iraq you saw there around $5000.00 u.s. troops that are here at the invitation of the government and cries of karzai who is now of course a particularly important leader of in the popular mobilization forces because of the assassination of the 2nd in command. is basically calling on the armed struggle we've also heard mark that a sudden who is an influential shiite cleric and who has an armed group of its own

called sort i. also calling on his followers to mobilize and to basically reinstate the so-called mahdi army which was another group that orchestrated and their insurgency against the americans but he also called for a little bit more restraint calling on all those involved to exercise wisdom and we've also heard more recently for from the representative of grand ayatollah ali sistani he is the supreme religious shiite off already he also condemned this unilateral strike and called on all sides to respect iraqi sovereignty and called on restraint meanwhile the u.s. citizens are being advised to leave the country not to go to the u.s. embassy all this demonstrates just how serious a position is. well this announcement comes of course following the last days when the crowds of members and supporters of the popular

mobilization forces managed to penetrate the fortified green zone where the u.s. embassy is located attacked the u.s. embassy burned its outer gate and then lay today siege to the embassy this was an unprecedented basically infringement of. the green zone and it was something that we haven't seen before here in baghdad to have the iranian backed basically right at the gates of the u.s. embassy in this was before this latest strike so one can only imagine the reaction of these same crowds there is another call for a funeral procession tomorrow and it remains to be seen how those crowds will react whether they will once again try to lay siege to the u.s. embassy whether they will once again try to attack it so not only were there for the moment thanks so much to do some manifolds in there and let's cross now to dorsetshire bari who joins us from tehran and also just 1st want to get

a sense of just how popular this man was within iran and what his death means the people what's the sense on the streets. well there was a lot of anger and disbelief many iranians that we've been speaking to say they're just really shocked that the united states would carry out this act he's seen as a nationalistic figure a national hero who has managed so far to keep the likes of eisel away from iranian soil money was not only the head of the force but he was in charge of iran's interests in the middle east and many here credit him to maintaining the security and stability that iranians have at the moment inside their country now the money was also very close friend and confidant to the supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei the 2 were involved in the overthrow of the former shah and the regime in 1979 and assuring in the islamic revolution then the general also fought during the

iran iraq war and he quickly rose up within the ranks of the revolutionary guards and then he was appointed as the head of the courts force in the early 1990 s. and his death is being taken very personally here people are very emotional about how he was killed he wasn't killed on the battlefield he was not killed in uniform he was killed on the way out of the airports or into the airport we still don't know that's not clear but iranians believe that this was an act of war. the money is a very revered figure many people we've spoken to get emotional just hearing the news and we know that the supreme national security council is going to hold an emergency meeting and we are being told that the supreme leader himself ayatollah ali khamenei will be chairing that emergency session this session will determine how iran will respond to the united states and its actions that took place in baghdad this council is tasked with iran's foreign policy decisions and we are now

waiting for that meeting to get under way it's a historic meeting an emergency meeting that's been called and being chaired by the supreme leader himself and the authority talking about revenge about a harsh response but they will know that all out war would be catastrophic from sides. certainly but i think this action by the united states has. taken things to a whole different level we've heard from various high ranking officials from the defense minister to the foreign minister to the president to the former head of the besieged force that's the volunteer force of the revolutionary guards he said that the united states should start sending coffins for all the soldiers and troops they have in the middle east because that is where things are heading we believe that iran will respond quite strongly it's just a matter of how and when the president hinted that on not only will iran respond

but also its neighbors that are its allies so this fight is not only going to be carried out by iran but also by its allies in the region are those events very much the picture in tehran dosage of bari reporting that would cause some sort of money is death has exacerbated tense relations between iran and the united states and its raise concerns of retaliation by the revolutionary guard as we've been hearing president donald trump has not made any further comments about the strike but other u.s. politicians have responded let's join my kind of who's live for us in washington d.c. tell us more about the response to. well there's a sense of deep concern across the united states and they could be commentators to a person are pointing out the fact that this is a dangerous action a possible tipping point in the events in the region but on the political front of the reaction is split once again on the deeply partisan basis republicans almost unanimously who those who have commented are welcoming the attack democrats are

highly critical offered to give you some sense of the division here's a tweet by republican senator lindsey graham he says the action by president trumpet our military was in direct response to a reign you know aggression orchestrated by general sort of money and his proxies if iran continues to attack america and our allies they should pay the heaviest of prices which includes the destruction of their oil refineries now former vice president joe biden a democrat has this to say president just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinder box and he owes the american people an explanation of the strategy and plan to keep safe our troops and embassy personnel our people and our interests both here at home and abroad iran will surely respond we could be on the brink of a major conflict across the middle east importantly too there's been a statement from the house speaker nancy pelosi who points out that president trump

did not get authority for military action and also importantly that he did not consult congress at any time so reaction here one of deep concern deeply split along political lines. would it seem that this attack stems from a previous presidential order to target silly money or would it have been made overnight if it was a speculation or. well the signs that we saw was that this was a building but not necessarily over the period of time in the past 24 hours we had a very strong statement from the secretary of defense mark s. but this in the wake of the u.s. air strikes in iraq in the wake of the demonstrations that happened in response to those strikes the secretary of defense saying that the game has changed now immediately said that it was very clear that some instructions were coming from president trump to take some kind of further action so you did in the way you have

the secretary of defense laying the line for what was going to happen next but this has been something building up over a period of time the actual action itself one could speculate is war a gradual process but the decision being taken probably within the last 24 hours 48 hours but one must remember to nick that this was also a moment of opportunity as far as the u.s. administration is concerned the fact that general sort of money was in baghdad at that particular point in time the fact that he was met by some popular militia members all of this was a moment of opportunity that is something that cannot be planned that is something that is acted on at the time or it might thanks very much to my kind of reporting that. correlates to speed on this a breaking story iran's top military commander seems to money has been killed in

a u.s. airstrike in iraq's capital baghdad the pentagon said the president trump ordered the attack to protect u.s. personnel abroad amid escalating tensions between the 2 countries citizens have been urged to leave iraq iran's leaders are condemning the attack which they are calling an assassination and a warning of severe revenge against the united states. well ramifications are being felt right across the region iraq's caretaker prime minister called the attack a massive breach of sovereignty and says it will spark a devastating war lebanon's hezbollah leader is vowing to punish those behind sort of killing china's foreign ministry has called for calm and has all sides to exercise restraint while israel has put its military on high alert the country's prime minister has cut short a trip to greece to deal with the fallout. has this look at the life of the money now the man loved by iranians the general who the u.s. and israel called an enemy for years. major general custom solomon a was

a senior commander of iran's islamic revolutionary guard corps and the hit it's a late could force he graduated to the role 20 years ago was regarded as the mastermind of iran's military strategy in the region he really spoke in public but gave this interview in october saying iran's i.o.c. had expanded islamic resistance to half a 1000000 square kilometers connecting iran through iraq and syria to lebanon on. the codes for us runs a runs foreign military inclined to stein operations the us attributed it to campaigns in iraq lebanon syria germany kenya bahrain in turkey so money delegated iranian diplomats to meet with u.s. officials after the september 11th attacks and they briefly worked together against the taliban but the relationship soon deteriorated during the iraq war the us sit around through the could schools and shia militias killed more than $600.00

american service members 17 percent of all u.s. deaths in the war the us and iran's priorities aligned once more in the fight against eisel but didn't devolve possible actual field in april last year the u.s. designated the islamic revolutionary guard corps as a terrorist organization with this designation we are sending a clear signal a clear message to iran's leaders including his band of thugs that the united states is bringing all pressure to bear to stop the regime's outlaw behavior we ask that our allies and partners around the world do the same. but salomone had the full support of iran's government he received iran's highest military award last year as tensions between the u.s. and iran solomonic continue to support shia militias including the hezbollah brigades who were targeted in 5 u.s. is strikes last week after they fired rockets at a us base he survived many attacks on his life inside iran and abroad but it would

be in iraq where shia militias trained by his could force killed hundreds of americans that the u.s. indeed his writing age 62 shall not ballasts out his era we're going to hear from mark kimmitt now who's the former assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs under president george w. bush earlier he gave his perspective on how the u.s. might respond to any retaliation from iraq. well the roadmap for the united states government is that they will respond forcefully to any further actions by the iranians what the american government is saying is they're fed up after 40 years of revolutionary movements inside of the middle east being propagated by the iranian regime. i was struck by the ferocity of the attacks both against the khatab hizbullah bases and also the drone strike attack which killed. qassam sort

of mani in and of the hondas it demonstrates to me that the us government is not going to do this half measure is the expression we've used in the us they seem to have taken the gloves off and at this point the united states seem to be committed to this and we're going to have to see in the days weeks ahead the response that's coming from the iranians the united states if it goes to war will typically use its conventional capabilities. iran if it goes to war will use its unconventional capabilities it learned in the war against iraq in the 1970 s. and 1980 s. what a conventional war looks like against the iraqis and i don't think they're ever going to fight that way again so i think what you'd see from the iranians is targeted assassinations you'd see kidnappings you'd see drone strikes she'd see cyber operations but you wouldn't see tanks and artillery on the battlefield the way that you would expect in a conventional force the united states wouldn't put boots on the ground in iran and

i think that's the difference than the conflicts that you talked about the boots on the ground operations that we've run have a tendency as you would say would get us bogged down but if you take a look at what's happening inside of libya we ran the nato air campaign without putting u.s. troops on the ground and we don't have any troops on the ground now so i think the way that the united states would fight the iranians would be a conventional operation but we primarily a campaign of air. strikes cyber operations naval strikes but i don't think you'd see infantry division's infantry battalions going across the border and attacking into the country well it's big now. is the director of a think tank called the house of iraqi expertise foundation he joins us live now from baghdad mr steele welcome to the program what's your sense of what's happened here is a very dangerous difficult situation on the ground in iraq anyway and now this what's the way forward for the government well it looks like that the escalation

will go on and it will not stop on the toy as we all know that what's happened yesterday and today that the there are cars on the on how did i only have been captured that may be fun to fight off his now outside iraq that's what. that's what we hear when backed out of the most important thing is that there is a very weak response from the iraqi government the other he just pushed the ball to the parliament saying that you must you must have an immediate session about what's happened in iraq and you must take the decision it's not my problem which is a very weak position and tomorrow i think there will be a session in a way to another there will be no consensus about. withdrawal of the american forces outside iraq where now that we need a new prime minister and we need a new cabinet because we have a resigned prime minister cabinet so i think there will be some sort of a dispute tomorrow and cited the parliament for those 2 things because those 2

things is. in the minds of the mind set of the pieces governing on a way in another to speak about tomorrow so you think the conversation weighed more about the leadership tomorrow rather than the what kind of reaction there should be to this incident. yeah it's a matter of leadership in a way another it's a mark of leadership tomorrow we will see how the parliament will act about what's happened in those 4 days and at the same time there is a huge pressure on the on the parliament about the candidate for the prime ministry and i think wall at least in this 24 hours will make some sort of a statement about what's happened and also about the candidate of the prime ministry because i think iraq needs now to focus on that issue rather than other issues ok well that's one thing the government reaction will learn more tomorrow when they convene what about on the streets what's your sense of the mood there and where that's going to lead us. well i was i was wondering in baghdad there is not

nothing actually the situation very calm even the green zone it's pretty calm there's nothing really happen in the on the streets there's no demonstrations only did the only demonstrations that we all know that and so we don't know what's going to happen on the streets now but there are some sort of claims is that there will be some sort of. security breach or something like that i don't think it will happen on that way because the majority are told told us is that we need to calm down we need to control ourselves and the iraqi government should do something at the same time the leaders until now didn't manage to say any hard issues except of course the shia leaders especially hall on the militia row you saying you say there's not been any reaction on the streets of his sorry to jump in there you say there's hasn't been any reaction the streets but we have seen images of people several of them right now of people celebrating these killings and on the other side who wields

a lot of power as you well know they were extreme he's called on his followers to be ready to take action. yes celebrations yes but nothing about security breach about i think it's normal he's responding security about what's happening what's happened and that's not forget is that it has a huge conflict with the us and with that with the base of the lobby and so on so they are 2 enemies you know the other actually working a good one against the other for the for the 2 months on health so i think he just starting to raising. the sense of security not because of the american forces it's more because because of the conflict and maybe he will take control of the whole situation in next 24 hours what is your sense of how iran is going to respond to this and then after that how the united states will respond to that and the fact that this is all could well take place on iraqi soil. well i don't

think iran will stay calm we all know that the there will be some sort of response from iran because he's been what he's the best leader or let's say he's been very active leader off of the solar or the the revolutionary guard guard in the whole area so you can imagine what the response can be think it will be huge because they are people who are supporting iran who are supporting our not only in iran in the whole middle east so they are getting but they will get benefit from that this is the 1st issue the 2nd issue is that what lindsey graham said about targeting refineries targeting the oil industry in iran and so on so you can imagine is that what what the united states dool if something happened for the u.s. interests in the area so that means we are talking about u.s. interests in baghdad in beirut in yemen everywhere in the middle east and what

about the position of the popular mobilization forces. was killed as well his 2nd in command of the problem of mobilization forces and. the response from them is going to be critical in all this is not. yeah it's right it's will be very critical but of the same time let us not forget they have a conflict with it which means that there are now there are open so many fronts in front of their faces so i think they are very become very careful because it's not only the united states it means that. on the on the local ground on the ground there will be another militia maybe they go to targeting. in a way or another but they are not trusting each other so 'd maybe they are now united no one knows but according to my knowledge they are not united they will not

be united because 'd these 2 months actually made a huge conflict between them made a huge dispute between them. appreciate that thanks very much indeed for your time . your most ok we can have a look at the live pictures this is coming to us from iran you can see the sense of shock on the streets here in the terms of the sheer numbers of people who have turned out fragile an emotional time in the country right now big questions about the way forward from here at the supreme leader saying that harsh revenge will be taken that will certainly see how things pan out as the hours and days unfold. all right so let's recap on this breaking news story iran's top military commander seems on the money has been killed in a u.s.

air strike in iraq's capital baghdad the pen's going said that president trump ordered the attack to protect u.s. personnel abroad and made escalating tensions between the 2 countries citizens have been urged to leave iraq iran's need is a condemning the attack which they're calling an assassination and a warning of severe revenge against the united states ramifications are being felt across the region iraq's caretaker prime minister called the attack a massive breach of sovereignty and says it will spark a devastating war lebanon's hezbollah leader is vowing to punish those behind sun in men's killing china's foreign ministry has called for calm and says all sides to exercise restraint by the united kingdom's front sector he says all parties need to deescalate with that conflict it nobody's interests as embedded ravi has more on the day's events and they're often in the early hours of friday shortly after arriving at baghdad international airport major general cost money and iranian war hero who led the charge against isis in iraq and syria was killed in

a u.s. airstrike. his close ally the deputy head of hostile xabi and iranian backed iraqi militia the a 100 was also killed along with other members of his group u.s. missiles hit their convoy as they left the airport. so the money was commander of the kurds force a unit of iran's revolutionary guard responsible for foreign operations for iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei so the money was a trusted confidant a member of his inner circle his killing in a targeted u.s. strike is the most extreme escalation in tensions between to her own in washington in recent years come and he warned there will be retaliation. the cruelest people on earth assassinated the honorable commander who courageously fought for years against the evils and bandis of the world sulaimani is martyrdom will make iran more decisive to resist america's expansionism and to defend our islam values with

no doubt iran and other freedom seeking countries in the region will take his revenge into her own senior leaders met in an emergency meeting of iran's national security council many iranians see the u.s. attack as an act of war across the region there will be implications anywhere where there is an american military presence. american should should leave those countries immediately but if i was in the emirates i would leave now if i was an american in iraq i would leave now if i was an american in any part in southwest asia i would leave immediately the united nations high commissioner for human rights described the killings as a likely violation of international law the fact that the united states designated . on its own you know laterally as a foreign terrorist does not give the united states in law or in practice even the right to kill him it in u.s.

law gives the united states there the right to seize his assets but not to kill him . in washington reaction was split along party lines republican support of the strike senior democrats called it reckless. silliman he was a murderer but this reckless move escalates the situation with iran and increases the likelihood of more deaths and a new middle east conflict our priority must be to avoid another costly war. u.s. secretary of state mike pump aoe tweeted a video showing iraqis celebrating the attack while still the money enjoyed widespread support for leading the charge to displace eisel from iraqi strongholds some iraqis blame iran for instability and interference in their country and solute money directly for the deaths of more than 500 iraqis in violent anti-government protests which began in october feared by his enemies inside iran has for years been one of the most popular national figures in the country the international face

of iranian resistance to american pressure he remained largely untouched by the waning popularity in recent years of the country's elected government over economic issues oh you come up here no matter what you will stop this war but we will be the ones to impose its and therefore you have to be careful about insulting the iranian people and the president of our republic. many iranians looked on so the money a someone who could protect them cut down at the height of his popularity by a u.s. strike his death marks the lowest point in iran u.s. relations in decades zain bus ravi al jazeera. only got correspondents covering the story from all angles we'll get to those jabari who's in terence shortly but 1st let's get more reaction from iraq with some have been javid who joins us from baghdad and what picture are you getting from the streets around the country is people digest this news. well nic a tense calm prevails in iraq right now as news spreads in the early hours of the

morning of course of. this is death we've been hearing from various iraqi leaders most importantly from the iraqi prime minister calling this attack an attack a flagrant violation of iraqi sovereignty condemning it in all its forms and seeing that a brotherly country should not have been targeted on iraq because foil this is something that we've been hearing from the iraqi government saying that it does not want to get bogged down in a regional conflict as tensions have been escalating between iran and the united states we've also heard from of the heads of various factions of the popular mobilization forces we've been hearing from the mouth of a southerner who holds the largest bloc in parliament saying that this is this has to be condemned in all its forms saying that his mehdi army and other militias are going to be on high alert as iraq awaits reaction after this so it is

a tense few hours before after we've heard from these various leaders urging calm saying that there is going to be consequences we also heard in friday's sermons from the last astonied saying that there is going to be consequences hard days ahead for all countries concerned and condemning this attack it is a major blow not just to iran but also to iraq because i've met the. was a key figure in this in this in the fight against isis in the lead up to where iraq is now and he was seen as somebody who was pulling together all of the strings of various factions in the popular mobilization forces he was somebody who had worked very closely with customs and in money in the fight against isis and that's why he was with him when both of them were killed as ahmed thanks very much is open javid reporting from baghdad let's move over to iran now where people there. capitola been reacting with anger and sadness to

a general sort of man's death. because. i heard it on the radio in the taxi this morning i was waiting for the names of those killed when i heard general salim i need a name i said oh god he was martyred unconsciously i started to cry and also realized some rationale shall be figures were killed as well i'm calling on our government to consider the punishment on the us to take revenge on them. and with a foreigner. unfortunately it's clear that wherever the u.s. enters it is after domination for its own interests general saloon money was one who stood up gravely especially fighting i saw we all know how much effort he put into fighting them and it is very painful for us and we hope we can take revenge i express my condolences to the people and his family. that he was a key figure 100 percent they were targeting him they knew where he was should be

around won't leave it on answered i will do something i was surprised when i had at the smalling one of my colleagues informed me i was surprised that it was possible he said his father has been crying in front of the television since 4 am i'm amazed it's possible for this to happen to someone so important it's very strange well let's cross to those who joins us from tehran endorsers we've been hearing a lot of anger on the streets one wonders now how that's going to translate into action as far as the authorities concerned. well we're waiting for an emergency session of the supreme national security committee to take place in the capitol being chaired by the supreme leader himself ayatollah ali khamenei is going to determine how iran will respond next but just a few short minutes ago we also heard c.t.v. reading a statement issued by the supreme leader appointing the new head of the police force of the revolutionary guards and that is going to be the deputy the commander

that was. me he has now taken over for the late work at their general so they money he will be the new head of the force of the revolutionary guards and now what we know about this commander is that he was appointed as the deputy commander of the police force in 1907 and he was very close to the us himself in money over the years they always travel together and we've seen them together many many occasions he is now going to take over in that position as the head of the courts force according to the commander in chief the supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei now he would also said the supreme leader in the statement also said that the new head of the police force will continue to follow in the same path that's awesome so the money was on and that will not change with this new appointment or with still the money's death we've also been seeing images from kerem on city and province where the money for is from there has been people gathering on the streets in the

thousands commemorating the late commander and his work there have been tears and people devastated at the loss of one of the most important figures in the islamic republic also going through much of the reporting there from tehran. well israel has bolstered its military presence along its border with lebanon syria meanwhile lebanon's hezbollah leader has issued a statement following to pursue the punishment of those who are behind sort of moneys killing time as well as says it is the responsibility of quote all flights is around the world he went on to say that they will work day and night to achieve his goals it's make him have a new joins us live from beirut and mohammed tell us more about so what hassan nasrallah had to say. mickey i'm just going to read a bit more of the statement that was released by of hezbollah's leader hassan the this is more of what he have to say my condolences to our dear brothers the officials of the islamic republic of iran especially the leadership of the islamic

revolutionary guard and the great and resisting iranian people he went on to say later in the statement this is how we see the scene and the situation as for us who remained we will complete so they mounties path and work night and day to achieve them so they moneys goals and we will carry his flag in all arenas fields and fronts now that is a statement that is causing quite a bit of concern amongst many people that i've been speaking with the past few hours because it leads to many questions about what exactly is going to happen next when you talk about arenas and feels many people in lebanon which is quite fraught right now for lots of reasons wondering if there will be retaliation that would be emanating from lebanon wondering if violence would be revisited in lebanon and at a time like this when there have been anti-government demonstrations and going on for almost 2 and a half months when so many people are calling for

a complete overhaul of the political system here it makes them wonder if this is going to or rather how much of this is going to complicate the formation of a much needed new government in this country we must remember that there is only a caretaker government here because the caretaker prime minister saad how did he resign not too long after the protests began now you have a sunni politician ascend the who is the prime minister designate in lebanon and for the past couple of weeks he has been trying to put together a governing coalition he's been trying to put together a cabinet this this what happened with the killing and possibly money really complicates that because already you have so much infighting in a very divided political arena here you have sunni politicians the. i do not want his bowl officials to be as close to iran as they are you have his boat that is backing the prime minister designate it it's a very complicated situation and this just makes it even more complicated so now

when it looked like perhaps lebanon which is on the brink of bankruptcy by the way when it looked at perhaps like lebanon was maybe able to try to form a government and start digging itself out of the hole that it's in financially and otherwise now the killing of the money and perhaps the reaction going forward from hezbollah which of course is an ally of iran is backed by iran everybody is wondering what that is going to mean for the future of this country at this very very critical moment nic our that's a picture in beirut mohammed reporting the. well we're hearing as far as israel is concerned we're hearing from local media that prime minister benjamin netanyahu has cut short his trip to greece let's join across one of imran khan who is in the western front tell us more about the. well he cut short his visit to greece he's arriving back in israel at some point on friday now

there's already been a security cabinet meeting by the israelis a number of decisions were taken that the key decisions are that they would bolster the the diplomatic israeli missions abroad they would also bolster the security on the border with lebanon and with this syria and also we are hearing that promise of benjamin netanyahu was actually briefed on either as the attack on customs of the money was happening or just immediately afterwards by the u.s. or certainly he was in the loop for all of this israel's real concern is that border however with syria with lebanon in lebanon you clearly have hezbollah which is already reacted to the death of qassam so the money that's a concern for the israelis also you have iranian backed militias inside syria so any kind of proxy action may well happen there the israelis have to say this is a fence standard response for them by bowstring the border they also off flying force reconnaissance missions allegedly over. the territories of southern lebanon

so the north particularly of this country is on high alert in the center in jerusalem in the capital. we are getting a little political reaction albeit kind of meathead because promise to benjamin that you know i was as i've said as of people not to speak out until he actually returns whether he gives a statement or not remains to be seen but what's key is that israel is in an election cycle this is the 3rd election coming up in march in as in as many in a year and the coalition government has been forced and not speculation here on social media on. to this whole media as to whether prime minister benjamin netanyahu may use this as an election hearing issue if they dart him or leave the car reporting from west jerusalem. more on our breaking news now iran's top military commander of money has been killed in a u.s.

air strike in iraq's capital baghdad at the pentagon and said president trump ordered the attack to protect u.s. personnel abroad amid escalating tensions between the 2 countries citizens have been to leave iraq iran's leaders are condemning the attack which they're calling an assassination and they're warning of severe revenge against the united states or ramifications are being felt right across the region iraq's caretaker prime minister called the attack a massive breach of sovereignty and says it will spark a devastating war lebanon's hezbollah leader is vowing to punish those behind so the money is killing china's foreign ministry has called for calm all sides to exercise restraint while the united kingdom's foreign secretary says that all parties need to deescalate with further conflict in nobody's interests jamey is also urging prudence and de escalation. we're also getting reaction from a key former adviser to president double trump and my kind of joins us now in washington d.c. with more on that mike. well that be the former national security advisor

john bolton who left office last september after ongoing disagreements with the president about a number of issues now bolton has just tweeted congress to all involved in eliminating eliminating customs of the money long in the making this is a decisive blow against iran's malign quds force to pretties worldwide hope this is the 1st step to regime change in tehran now it must be noted that john bolton was essentially fired from his post following disagreements with the president on a number of issues north korea afghanistan and very importantly iran there were many at that stage within the trumpet ministration who saw bolton's continuing urging for a naked regime change as something that could be a destabilizing factor so there he clearly here you see john bolton by the nature of that tweet feeling himself that indicated in his position just months after he

was fired for advocating such harsh action in iran and elsewhere now that action is being taken in effect by the killing of a senior iranian military leader meanwhile all personnel in iraq could be u.s. personnel in iraq are being advised to leave the country as fast as possible indeed the state department has just issued a travel advisory are all americans to leave iraq as soon as possible obviously there's an ongoing troop deployment underway now this deployment was ignored or triggered following those demonstrations it was a staged deployment of troops from the u.s. but this is now ongoing and likely most observers say to be increased troops coming from 82nd airborne for a rapid reaction that would battalion and that is clearly going to escalate in the days ahead. mike thanks very much dave my kind of in washington d.c.

let's take this all we can speak now to our senior political analyst small one bashar and he joins us here in the studio mo and donald trump's maximum pressure campaign is what has entered a new stratosphere isn't it. absolutely but what's also clear and just picking up on what mike hanna was saying earlier clearly this american president is too eccentric and too unconventional to be acting according to anyone's. schedule agenda or would say sentiment like john bolton because in the past 3 years we've spoken about throne being influenced by michael flynn the 1st national security adviser then john bolton and now we're saying but hopes he's influenced by the radical pale but clearly his timeline differs from anyone else's so while he might be listening to prime minister netanyahu it while he might be listening to john bolton or might bump a 0 but he acts according to his own timeline and his own timeline at this point in

time of course has several or several consideration one is that he is in the middle of impeachment 2 he is in the middle of a populist election year 3 he was just confronted with a very tricky situation in iraq where the american embassy was attacked and there was a bit of a reminder of what happened to the american embassy in tehran or the american embassy in libya that basically forced president trump to act in a way that is probably not exactly conducive conducive to his statement only 3 for you 4 days ago when he said i don't want war with iran i don't want troubles with iran well guess what this is a declaration of war with iran and as we're speaking you can see very clearly the emotion on the streets these are pictures coming to us from the hometown of iran's customs of money who was killed in the u.s. air raid back that airport this is come on in iran and people expressing their.

sadness and dismay with events more and what happens now is politics in the united states is one thing but perhaps more importantly right now is what the reaction of iran is going to be and then the reaction of the united states to what they do here what's your assessment of where we are absolutely and. the. history is is any. anybody has any bearing on what goes on we know from the last 40 years. of . iranian american conflicts it's been a severe conflict you know expressed in the most volatile and extreme language between the 2 capitals washington to iran but with no really see in a war break out between the 2 countries we've seen skirmishes we've seen americans attack iranian. targets for example in 1088 and other times but we've never seen any open ended. war between the countries the question is is this

a catalyst for any such eventuality i doubt it personally i don't think the iranians are interested in an open war with the united states for the simple reason that as soon as the 2 militaries go up against each other america can crush iran and if iran even is going to carry the most symbolic of symbolic acts like attacking no u.s. embassy in iraq or some u.s. installation in the gulf an american reaction as we've heard from senator lindsey graham who's actually kind of the unofficial government voice if you will is that maybe the america they are indian to find that he is would be attacked and america has incredible number of possibilities to respond to an iranian retaliation because america has incredible military superiority when it comes to iran so you

could only expect in this scenario that iran will respond in any number of ways that does not involve open military confrontation that could be. a whole series of assassinations and counted as a situation that could involve low intensity warfare in iraq and other places in the gulf and it could involve a covert operation in proxy conflicts as we've heard from our various correspondents in lebannon in iraq and elsewhere that iran has tools in the region it has all eyes has clients in the region that it could use against various u.s. allies and targets trumps team presumably or would they would that have weighed the effects would be worthwhile in the fact that you know what you're talking about there is u.s. personal dying somewhere down the line in response to these attacks and they would have waited that was ok given what they're trying to achieve well look i mean i have a theory that's a bit out of the box 30 at this point in time you know judging from all of the

smoke that's coming out of this thing and my theory is the following president obama president obama president trump is thinking unlike president obama is thinking like a business man on this on this on this issue and the 2nd rule of business after the 1st tour which is make profit the 2nd rule of business it doesn't matter what audio the losses in the past what matters is how much can you reduce your losses in the future. and i think president trump probably has come to the decision that there is no point of america betting on iraq and the longer that america's involvement in iraq or in syria or in afghanistan mix no sense to american national interest america does not need the oil because it produces or and more than anyone else in the world it does not need the gas and certainly does not need the headache so in us fight as the american president who is who is now in the middle of negotiations

. basically an exit from afghanistan after 18 years of war and who is basically redeployed out of syria except for a small presence around the oil. wells there that he might be thinking that you know what straw that we spent trillions of dollars in iraq and you know treasure on blood as it were in iraq but at this point in time it makes no sense for my administration or for my country to be involved more and more to bleed resources and soldiers in iraq so perhaps. the american president is making the decision that i'm going to make this a pretext for no war with iran but growing america from iraq now a lot of the foreign policy establishment even the pentagon would look at this and say this man is crazy because we cannot afford to withdraw like this syria is a bit of as a bit of a comma in the larger middle east. geopolitics but iraq is an

indispensable player that america invested hugely in it the american president does not think so apparently he thinks that america needs to start redeploying out of the middle east because the middle east only brought trouble to america and briefly what about within iran itself what impact will this have on the revolution the loss of this iconic leader so innocent i mean i've watched the images that you we showed from iran and i've heard all kinds of commentary and you know the the very heated rhetoric but let's all remember that iran is facing incredible difficulties at this point in time the sanctions are working the economy is crippled the exports have been reduced have been reduced dramatically and so while slim annie is considered a hero by many a lot of the unions want to move on for more of the same tensions with the united states tensions in the region and the whole idea of

a proxy war in proxy conflict and they want to focus on the economy and they want to focus on normalization like we've seen after 2013 so iran i think is divided as not as much as the united states is divided some one to see a global role a regional role and some would like to see more build up a nation building within iran not in iraq or more and thanks very much indeed senior political analyst. well a quick recap of our rolling coverage of what can be seen as a major escalation in the middle east iran's top military commander of the money has been killed in a u.s. air strike in iraq's capital baghdad the pentagon said president ordered the attack to protect u.s. personnel abroad amid escalating tensions between the 2 countries citizens have been urged to leave iraq iran's leaders are condemning the attack which they're calling an assassination and a warning of severe revenge against the united states. has this look now at his life major general qassam solomonic he was a senior commander of iran's islamic revolutionary guard corps and the hit of its

elite could force he graduated to the role 20 years ago was regarded as the mastermind of iran's military strategy in the region he really spoken public but gave this interview in october saying iran's i.o.c. had expanded islamic resistance to half a 1000000 square kilometers connecting iran through iraq and syria to lebanon on. the could force runs a runs foreign military and claimed to stein operations the us attributed it to campaigns in iraq lebanon syria germany kenya bahrain in turkey solomonic delegated iranian diplomats to meet with u.s. officials after the september 11th attacks and they briefly worked together against the taliban but the relationship soon deteriorated during the iraq war the us sit around through the could force and shia militias killed more than $600.00 american

service members 17 percent of all u.s. deaths in the war the us and iran's priorities aligned once more in the fight against eisel but didn't devolve past the battlefield in april last year the u.s. designated the islamic revolutionary guard corps as a terrorist organization with this designation we are sending a clear signal a clear message to iran's leaders. including cousins with a mommy and his band of thugs that the united states is bringing all pressure to bear to stop the regime's outlaw behavior we asked our allies and partners around the world do the same but salomone had the full support of iran's government we received iran's highest military award last year as tensions between the u.s. and iran so the money continue to support shia militias including the hizbollah brigades who were targeted in $5.00 u.s. is strikes last week after they fired rockets at a us space he survived many attacks on his life inside iran and abroad but it would

be in iraq where shia militias trained by his could force killed hundreds of americans that the u.s. into his writing age 62 charlotte bellus al-jazeera. well across the middle east on this friday it is a particularly tends morning after the u.s. killed the ron's top military commander major general custom so loni it acts happened at baghdad airport and iran is calling it an assassination the pentagon says president donald trump ordered the a tactical protect u.s. personnel abroad meanwhile the u.s. embassy in baghdad has issued an alert urging all americans to leave iraq immediately well iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei has called for 3 days of national mourning for many warned of quote harsh revenge and said the attack would double down on terrans resolve to resist the united states rox prime minister

says the strike will spark a devastating war what will speak to our correspondent.