jumps on story easily down to the misinformation from the journalism it's about telling the stories of those human beings i think the listening post on al-jazeera . a dramatic escalation in regional tensions as the u.s. kills one of iran's top military commanders. live from doha also coming up in the program. revolutionary guards and force we'll have reaction to his death from around the region and indeed around the world.

it is $1400.00 g.m.t. across the middle east it has been a tense day in the wake of the death of iran's top military commander major general accustoming salim money so money died in a u.s. airstrike early on friday it took place on a road at baghdad airport iran is calling it an assassination the pentagon says president donald trump ordered the attack to quote protect u.s. personnel abroad meanwhile the u.s. embassy in baghdad has issued an alert all americans to leave iraq immediately iran supremely leader ayatollah ali khamenei has called for 3 days of national mourning the many warned of harsh revenge and said the attack would double tehran's result 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. as i say we have correspondent covering the story from all regions this go to. will go to also shortly before us to his alma binge of aid who joins us from baghdad

tell us more about the reaction there in iraq. well nic now it's about the sun is about to set in what has been a rapidly developing day here in baghdad early hours of the morning we got confirmation from the iraqi government that qassam silly money as well as i will be the element on this the 2 top commanders of iran's. force as well as the popular mobilisation forces here in their op were killed as they tried to leave the airport with an escort of the popular mobilization forces there. were targeted by u.s. misao as we've heard through the day condemnations and something which has come up with a rare a huge force short of unity amongst iraqis from all political sides saying that the this is a violation of sovereignty this is not the mandate of the u.s.

forces who are present in iraq and on saturday the parliament has been called for an emergency session to discuss the rules of engagement that they have in the agreements that they have with the u.s. government we heard from the iraqi prime minister and the iraqi president calling for calm in the wake of these attacks and saying that they're ready for some sort of repetitions and that as this has put not just iraq but the whole region on tenterhooks we've also heard from various commanders off of the political movements as well as militia commanders here in iraq we've heard from various leaders saying that they have put their forces on alert but they've also urged calm so it appears to be a cycle of wait and see because there is going to be a funeral procession the 4 of them have the in the hundreds who is the 2nd in command of the popular mobilization forces in baghdad on saturday as well as a joint session of the parliament so there's been

a very tense dave you heard friday prayers and sermons calling this a violation of their out sovereignty a show of a by the occupying forces as many clerics called the u.s. forces here in iraq and a lot of empty u.s. sentiment again resurfacing in the wake of these events is it difficult serious situation in iraq any when there's been a lot of calls lately for political reform where businesses. but make this comes off for a beleaguered iraqi government a government which is an interim government which has already been forced out by months of protests and those are the protesters we saw early in the day celebrating in the how do you square at after the news of silly money is death confirmed because they see iran's influence as a destabilizing influence in iraq where they have been protest against rampant corruption lack of opportunities lack of jobs in this see the whole political elite

to be aligned with iran they see that not not a lot of changes have been possible inside iraq because iran has been reeling a lot of influence but that is just one section of society and there's another part of society which belongs to the popular book is asian forces forces which are instrumental in the fight against isis and forces which were key to iraqi government success against isis and their support to iran they are backed by iran ideologically as a military as well as militarily you saw in that in the last few years how awesome silly money was instrumental in making sure whether it was to create whether it was mosul or have major how he was rallying those troops how you was able to come together tired all of these loose ends and make these ideological fighters into a cohesive force which in turn defeated eisen and at the same time was working closely with the united states with the help of intermediaries so the thought of reform in iraq would probably take a backseat at least for the coming days as the beleaguered iraqi government tries

to deal with what it's been presented but not just with the iranian government but with the with its obviously an enormous point in its relationship with the u.s. it will have to explain how the breach of sensitive data about the whereabouts of these leaders was given to the united states and again it has to face both the protesters who are anti iran as well as those who support iran. and of course the news from united states is that all u.s. citizens have been advised to leave iraq immediately just goes to show you the seriousness of the situation absolutely in their early hours there was there was talk about retaliation from iran there was talk about how things could turn take an ugly turn you have to remember just 48 hours ago we saw those scenes of violent protests outside the u.s. embassy in baghdad where militia men and very people belonging to the popular mobilization forces event end of it out any opposition from iraq to security forces

and they're very close to the u.s. embassy still so all of that has not happened but it does not mean that it will not happen in the coming hours and days so it is going to be a difficult period for the iraqi security forces we've also heard from the governor and of buster the oil rich reason region where many off american. professionals who are working in the oil fields have left via bus or airport after the call from the united states embassy here in baghdad asking u.s. citizens to leave immediately but according to iraq's oil ministry oil production remains as normal you have to remember that iraq is the 2nd largest producer of oil in opec countries so a lot at stake not just for iraq and iran but overall for the wider region here as well as always thanks very much indeed that's a picture in baghdad let's cross over to terror on where we can join dorsett jabari who's in the iranian capital endorsers authorities have been talking about this

harsh response revenge at what point will be officially get an idea of what might happen. well we are waiting right now for this meeting to take place that is being chaired by the supreme leader himself ayatollah ali khamenei is going to be chairing the meeting of the supreme national security council to discuss scuse me iran's response to this attack this body is made up of the president and the head of the judiciary as well as the speaker of parliament we are waiting for them to issue a statement about how they're going to respond to this attack that has killed us in southern money we've heard very strong reaction from all levels of government and officials the most recent one being from velayati who is the national senior advisor to the supreme leader on international relations he said that this is a new chapter in iran relations with the united states he said the united states should

be aware that they are no longer safe anywhere in this region not from being on any bridges or streets or any areas in the middle east are u.s. troops safe that was a very stern warning from a senior advisor to the supreme leader we've also been hearing from the president the defense minister the foreign minister all having the same reaction that there will be revenge at the cessation of us until the money will not go unanswered and the rains have said that there will be a response both from iran and also from its allies in the region so we're waiting to find out exactly what they will do in the next few days and also we've seen a widespread up or agree for right across the capital give us a sense of just how popular sunni money was. well to give you an idea if you tell an ordinary iranian on the street if they know

who was himself the money is they will tell you exactly his rank his position and what he's done for iran whereas if you ask who is the head of the revolutionary guards it's not the same reaction you would get that's because by some silly money has been synonymous with the close force and the revolutionary guards for over 2 decades now it is believed that in the early 1990 s. he was appointed to the head of the police force which is tasked with clandestine operations outside of iran so he's been very instrumental in securing iran's position strategically in the middle east and many here believe that he's been solely responsible for preventing eisel from reaching the streets of tehran so many know his background his military skills is very much in the forefront and very common knowledge among iranians it's also his personal a personality that it has created this aura of mystery about him he did not speak in public very often he did not give interviews there's only one known interview

that he gave just last october about they has followed war with israel and that's been the only official interview he's given so very much private person he's not like a lot of fanfare but he was very close to the supreme leader and spent many many years as its close friend and confidant and they worked very closely together and the 1st person to actually react and issue a statement was the company issuing a very stern warning to the americans that there will be revenge that they will pay for the assassination of us and so that money are dull so thanks very much. reporting that tara was speaking to us media sector state might propose that these drug justify was justified and legal under u.s. law he said it prevented so the money from launching an imminent attack and he says the killing save us lives in the risk of doing nothing was enormous. we'll do our best to release everything that we know that's appropriate that we can that doesn't

put anyone at risk what will do our best we want the world to understand that there was in fact an imminent attack taking place the american people should know that this was an intelligent telegin space and usman that drove this let's cross now to an end fisher at the pentagon our correspondent there and pump egg swift to defend u.s. actions. exactly but there's a contradiction in what he says he also says that because of the action that has been taken by the president then americans are a lot safer today yet we're seeing the american administration are doing all americans in iraq to leave the country as quickly as possible because of threats from iran and elsewhere it's not entirely clear whether congressional leadership was informed before this attack normally before something like this happens you would have the leader of the democrats in the house in the senate and also the head of the republicans in the house and the senate in fall it kevin mccarthy who is the

head of the republicans in the house appears to have been alive or donald trump's private estate in florida where he has been spending christmas and new year break here appears to have been there last night and tweeted out his approval of what the president had done the president himself initially just a tweeted out cryptically an american flag he has since elaborated saying that iran has never won a war but never lost a negotiation he then went on to say that general solomon he had been responsible for the death of hundreds of americans the engineering of thousands of americans and should have been taken out years ago but there are those in congress who will be asking the question 1st of all was this legal because it's congress that the clear is war so is this seen as an act of war is the united states essential to saying they want to go to war with iran donald trump himself has said over the last couple of days that he prefers peace and believes iran does too but they also want

to know why they weren't informed the important thing here is going to be the evidence that might pompey or and mark esper who is the defense secretary keep talking about they're saying look we took this action because we believed there was an imminent threat to americans and so we had to do this well there will be senior figures on both sides who will want to see what that evidence is me. not become public for very obvious reasons because some of it may have been gathered covertly or by the intelligence services but there will be those in senior positions in congress who will want to know what this evidence was that led the united states to take such dramatic action and has so many people talking about an escalation in military action in the middle east one other thing to see donald trump by instinct does not like confrontation he has campaigned and did so 4 years ago and will again this time on pulling americans away from conflict zones he's already talking about

taking thousands of troops possibly out of afghanistan we know we were true american troops out of syria as well this goes against his instincts but of course we've seen just in the last couple of days 750 men from the 82nd airborne being sent to kuwait to reinforce operations in iraq there if needed and we are told there could be more troops heading in that direction in the coming hours but we're not expecting a public briefing from the pentagon at any point on friday and again that is something that will concern senior congressional leaders because when america takes a military action it does so in the name of its people. the u.s. administration will be expecting reprisals of course where and how might they expect that to happen. well of course they have no idea so everywhere you're seeing increased security but here is a concern that many democrats haven't spoken to me about this in the past. or why

did that donald trump is very much a reactive president so here he is told look there is a threat to americans the intelligence services recommends and he will strike he agrees to that and that goes forward but it was described to me once as there are north chess players in this administration yes you can take the bishop but how are you protecting the board they don't see what the next 235 steps are so there is concern that while the united states has taken this action the money may not have fully thought through the implications of that action and we're any retaliatory strike me take place of course we don't know where that's going to happen but we do know everywhere is on heightened alert to the even in the building i am in at the moment the pentagon there is increased security and there will be particularly across the middle east and any place where the united states has a presence in that region because they will be concerned at the reach of iran and iran's proxies thanks very much indeed reporting there let's cross to new york

james by james bays is standing by james tell us more about the diplomatic reaction that you're hearing. well here at the united nations absolutely no comment so far from the u.n. secretary general and i think that shows you that they're thinking very carefully about his words because this makes the already very dangerous situation in the region even more complex with regard to the u.n. security council they are meeting in an hour's time that is a meeting that was planned in advance it's a meeting to discuss a country where iran is heavily involved and that is syria although the subject is syria and the escalation in libya in recent days clearly in the margins of the meeting i think ambassadors are going to be talking about what's happened and what what happens from now with regard to that and i think a lot of the focus will be on the legality of what took place certainly if you look

at the u.n. charter which is the document that is international law on this it says that there only really are 2 ways that an action like that could be legal this took place on iraqi sovereign territory so if the government of iraq had asked for the attack then that would make it probably legal if it was an act of self-defense then that is no other way that potentially could be seen as legitimate and that perhaps is why secretary of state might pompei or is saying that they had intelligence that iran was planning something i think it's certain the u.n. security council even if it doesn't discuss this today will discuss this soon and we're telling you in a week's time nic there is a meeting actually about this document the u.n. charter which is nearly 75 years old and up holding the u.n. charter and lots of people will be coming to that meeting foreign ministers from some countries we know that one of those planning to attend is the iranian foreign

minister mohammed job and the reef clearly if he does come to the meeting then his comments in the security council chamber i think it's going to be even stronger than. they were going to be but it is worth telling you that the latest i have from iranian diplomats is that he has not yet been granted his visa to come to the un by the u.s. authorities and james nerve fishel comment as yet but one does wonder you know how much concern there must be at the united nations and the delegates there and the potential instability that might be caused by this action. the instability in the middle east in countries where the u.n. security council certainly is very interested in places like afghanistan like yemen like lebanon but also the dynamics of the regional relationships and of the big power players in the world how is russia which is close to iran going to respond

how is turkey going to respond it's on the opposite side from iran in the war in syria but despite that relations between turkey and iran are pretty good how are some of these countries going to respond how the u.s. is own allies going to respond remember that the other western nations still support the iran nuclear deal we've seen perhaps some differences between those countries that support the nuclear deal with the government in the u.k. potentially i think being a little tougher on iran could we see a split among the allies remember 2003 and the war against saddam hussein well france and germany were opposed to that could we see a difference of opinion from those 2 with the u.s. all of these things we have to watch very closely in the coming hours and days and they james thanks very much james bass reporting there from new york while in texas on further note his mates were no war who's retired jordanian air force general joins us now from amman surf what's what's your reaction to this news were you

surprised by what happened. i think it was a very significant strike though they used decore planes 1st to hit 3 times in the airport while the exiting the sleigh manny and maddy was exiting from the southern gate so there's 2 plane involved here this attack but it's a big blow to their indian remember still a man who was in charge of an article 3000 miles from the military me and see syria who. see oman see babel mendip ritzy sorts a big area and his was a response 482280000. militia within this arc's so he's very influential and i think also the iranian was

expecting this sort of attack on soleimani that's why we saw an immediate replacement for him as a leadership so that's what the what's sure. can exhaust you about what you were saying the beginning the 2 planes you say involved in the attack and detroit attack was was there as well it all sounds very coordinated name would have taken. a great deal of cooperation and indeed intelligence they must have been a serious intelligence leak. yes absolutely human intelligence. great throng on that but what's amazing is who controlled the sky of iraq they have this joint. command center let's say the which control sort it's a bit iraqi and the american and the is there was the iraqi involved about this i mean informed about this or what so it's a haze a situation where we have

a year or did they inform the government or what the question we should have an answer for them but yes the play in the plan was i think. a high standard plan will executed because of the sort of money and how do you think the united states did find out about the fact that these men were traveling where they were traveling and at that time would you please repeat the question i was just asking about the intelligence leak if you know any more about that or can speculate any more about that and how the united states would have known that these men were traveling at the time that they were. well they have. good intelligence i think and i think they have some agent somewhere in the ground and forming all this kind of travelling for soloman he saw they got to then

but having said that i think. the the hazardous xabi or is very angry now even the iraqi people are angry but let me say this iraq is a failed state and if the american get involved in that field the state it's going to be very difficult for them. to get a victory and to be honest american been fighting in this area for the last 20 years in. iraq they never want to but but they would draw from the. defeat it's going to be very difficult for the american i think variant of the get out of spawn back on them but we never know nobody would know where and when it's going to have been but ok. i see it's. your time your perspective thanks very much indeed for hillary mann leverett is

a former white house national security official and she says united states has completely underestimated iran and its military capabilities. the fact that the united states designated. on its own unilaterally 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 the right to seize his assets but not to kill him and i think here again we're looking at u.s. government under president trump and unfortunately even under just under president trump prior presidents have been under this dissolution as well that somehow we can control the situation in and with iran that has just been flagrantly not true for 40 years we have underestimated that country it's an enormous country 80000000 people sophisticated educated it has a very significant conventional military force it has a significant asymmetric military force it knows every inch of where the americans

are and have been around the middle east and has done so 2 in a deliberate way i think since president bush 1st designated the entire country of iran as part of the axis of evil back in 2002 so my concern is the united states is yet again underestimating the islamic republic of iran and and what it can do the prior killings of others designated as terrorists and as vile as their their their acts have been did not give the united states in those cases either launch to kill them there just was no popular u.s. response to it because those figures are so reviled and they were so reviled around the world i think what you've done with some soul in miami though is of an order of magnitude different this is a person who was widely respected inside iran as the as one of the key architects for defending that country and also was someone who had wide contacts

throughout the region so as the united states goes on this path of killing someone . we don't like the idea that iran is not going to respond is wishful thinking that will make the debacle of invading iraq look like a walk in the park i do not think that president trump really understands what he's gotten the united states into going up against iran i would argue that going to war with iran will be the most significant adversary that the united states has encountered since world war 2 they are certainly the most capable adversary that we have encountered since world war 2 and the legality of how people may argue what the united states in this case is going to look like a minor footnote in history. still ahead here in algeria. because. one of your own.

it's. hello there plenty of snow flurries around northern sections of asia about that cold air in place quite a bit of cat is being streamed through in the last few hours and sunny plenty of cloud as well as you can see here coming through the interior of the china so as you have 1st of all across the korean peninsula some clouds but it should be mostly dry not about across into honshu it's really a kind of where we're going to see the chance of some snow flurries over the next couple of days and also mostly dry along these coastal areas of china more rain on the way as we head through sunday and begin to work its way toward shanghai so he could see some showers late in the day and i might by then see one or 2 showers into well central and northern areas of honshu but on a cold day in tokyo a high of 11 degrees celsius still very unsettled across much of indonesia

particular calls across into java those flooding rains it's. to battle south of a fight is a must drive pick those you can say perhaps to the eastern end of job. and also some scattered showers across much of so march on the monday peninsula but sunday is a much dried day but that is when we could see more in the way of rain again into most southern and eastern sections of java meanwhile in india we have 4 calls to andhra pradesh across into addition but really the main story time which is heating up into new delhi not bad 20 celsius. for. you out on the streets protesting weather on line you feel the weight of the system when you walk through each and every layer further and further into the jail or if you join us on the tension has to start from day one whether again you and attention or your own car this is a dialogue everyone has

a voice the story 6 o'clock rush coverage will be varying accounts but i want to give people the reason for joining the global conversation on out is iraq more than 7 decades ago a country was split into really big but did anything and now at the time come. to be my page all it took was a pan a map of the collapsing empire when the british had to draw a line they pulled 72 had never been to india before al-jazeera examines the violence of india and pakistan and asks what the future holds for these neighbors partition borders of blood.

but again you're watching al-jazeera a reminder the top story this. has been an outpouring of grief in the us some sort of moneys birthplace of come out and with thousands of march through the streets there been similar scenes from the country. iran supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei says that those who killed the custom sort of money should await revenge. but us has this look now it can seem so the money's life. major general custom solomon a was a senior commander of iran's islamic revolutionary guard corps and the hit of its a late could force he graduated to the role 20 years ago and 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 codes force runs a runs foreign military and claimed to stein operations the us attributed it to campaigns in iraq lebanon syria germany kenya bahrain and 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 say to run 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 asked 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 heightens between the u.s. and iran so the money continued to support shia militias including the hezbollah brigades who were targeted in 5 us 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 what are lebanon's foreign ministry has condemned the killing and has asked for the country to be spared from any repercussions.