witness on al-jazeera there are some of the media stories critical look at the global news media spread across the pond how does the government shut off access to social media. his reign of terror is over. donald trump says he acted to stop a war with iran not start one by ordering the airstrike that killed top iranian general custom so the manny. iran's supreme leader delivers his condolences to the money's family and warns severe revenge awaits those responsible. well again i'm piece it over you're watching al-jazeera live from doha also coming up yet another state of emergency declared in southeastern australia

a catastrophic bushfire conditions are back. plus $100.00 babies dead in a month we'll look at the reasons behind the unusually high child mortality rate at a public hospital in india. we begin with developments of iraq state t.v. is reporting new u.s. air strikes have targeted the commander of an iranian backed iraqi paramilitary group the attack happened near a camp in taji that's just north of baghdad the reuters news agency is reporting 6 people were killed after 2 of their vehicles were targeted is al jazeera osama bin laden with the latest updates from baghdad. 2 probably good and herman are completely and selections in the popular mobilisation courses that there has been a strike on iran north of baghdad people who work at least to me.

correlation pacifically they're not not u.s. forces they say this is this is a base that is home because you found him and other coalition members who. are in action pretty rocky courses that they physically applied to speak of a coup because the product of on that it is but clear who was in belgrade or of any people who were killed but there 'd is a lot of speculation that the members of. a fraction of the popular mobilization course of one of the militia cannot be a part of the record the president can come to court to appeal but it's going to be able to get more the provisions well a little earlier the us president donald trump said his forces acted to stop a war with iran not start one by assassinating the top iranian come on the major general customs and an army he added that the u.s.

is prepared for any reprisals so the money lead iran's elite could forces died in an air strike in baghdad alongside a commander of iraq's popular mobilisation forces the recent attacks on u.s. targets in iraq including rocket strikes that killed an american and injured 4 american servicemen very badly as well as a violent assault on our embassy in baghdad were carried out at the direction of selling maney cell m 80 made the death of innocent people his sick passion contributing to terrorist plots as far away as new delhi and london. today we remember and honor the victims of solemn a knees many atrocities and we take comfort in knowing that his reign of terror is over solemn a he has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilize the middle east for the last 20 years what the united states did yesterday should have been done long ago

a lot of lives would have been saved just recently salim 80 led the brutal repression of protesters in iran where more than a 1000 innocent civilians were tortured and killed by their own government we took action last night to stop a war we did not take action to start a war well iran's supreme leader the ayatollah ali khamenei has warned of severe revenge for in his words the criminals responsible for somalis killing iranians protesting tof to friday prayers chanting death to america horror on has told the u.n. security council that it was serves the right to self-defense so the millions killing iraq's prime minister says you sense the nation will light the fuse i think destructive war and as other leaders around the world expressed concern and condemnation the u.s.

has ordered all of its citizens to leave iraq immediately and its military personnel have been put on high alert that's going to laces from baghdad his simona 14. heartbreak in the upper ranks of the iranian military at the official announcement of the death of major general custom so in money the commander of iran's courts force the revolutionary guard unit responsible for foreign operations so the money was killed in a u.s. drone strike in baghdad. and a spontaneous outbreak of joy in iraqi cities over the passing of a man many see as the embodiment of iran's meddling here i sure wish i didn't have to listen to me i feel happy about killing solo money the reason is because of his foreign interference in iraq would you accept that our intervening in all the families issues everything has been trees. in the early hours of friday morning shortly after arriving at baghdad international airport a u.s. strike targeted a convoy of silly money and his close ally hondas the deputy head of the iraqi

popular mobilization forces an iranian backed part military group other members of the group were also killed for iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali common a solemn mani was a trusted confidant a member of his inner circle and he warned there will be revenge 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 well make iran more decisive to resist america's expansionism and to defend our values with no doubt iran and other freedom seeking countries in the region will take his revenge. while there is talk of revenge many iranians don't want to see war hero with us support them and it will definitely increase violence but i fundamentally disagree with violence and conflict i believe people moving toward peace in negotiations with the goals is

much better soleimani enjoyed some support when he led the charge to displace islip from iraq a strong. holds but many iraqis now blame iran for instability and interference in their country and soleimani directly for a violent crackdown on anti-government protests which began in october the us assassinations are the most extreme escalation in tensions between to hit on in washington in recent years and many in baghdad fear it will continue to play out on iraqi soil and if an indistinct has she you may say are we condemned this it's unacceptable for something like this to be happening in our country it's a tween america and iran and in the end we will be hurt our situation is already not stable many iraqis oppose iranian and american interventions alike. earlier this week mohandas himself let a crowd of popular mobilization forces supporters as they attacked and besieged the u.s. embassy in baghdad he walked alongside. another senior military leader of the pro

iran group who has now called on his followers to take up arms against the american presence iraq's caretaker prime minister abdullah abdullah the to condemn the u.s. strike as a violation of iraq's sovereignty and the rules of engagement of the american presence here he called the death of mohandas an aggression against the iraqi state . parliament is due to hold an emergency session on sunday but analysts say the government beleaguered and divided after 3 months of anti-government protests will struggle to mount a decisive response iraqi government is very weak for the time being there will be no more than statements coming out of the. caretaker prime minister or from the ministry of foreign affairs other than that i don't expect anything from the iraqi government but probably the iraqi parliament will. call for an immediate session and do will discuss the current. americans in iraq agreement and probably they

will ask for the department of the american forces from iraq. whether their response to u.s. presence in iraq will be political or military the assassinations have put an end to a precarious balance of power that had just far accommodated both u.s. and iranian interests in iraq the iraqi capital already a battleground for tensions between the u.s. and iran is bracing itself for the aftermath of the biggest escalation yet with both u.s. and iranian backed troops on the ground the country risks being caught in the middle of a military fallout between washington and tehran similar 14 al-jazeera but that well iran's foreign minister says america's actions hurt the entire region and appropriate retaliation is imminent. me in half the islamic republic of iran holds the right to respond any time and in any manner and it will we will not be

involved in america's smear campaigns and their blackmailing we will give a proper response in any manner in time we will as stated by the supreme leader. well in the united states reaction to cinnamon is assassination has been split between the major political parties donald trump's republicans praising his actions while democrats are questioning why the president did not consult congress before approving the strike heidi jocasta reports from washington. president donald trump tried to justify his decision to order the killing of iranian revolutionary guard commander qassam sulaimani by claiming that cilla money had been planning eminent and sinister attacks on americans in the region we took action last night just stop a war the us president said sulaimani was responsible for the deaths of thousands 'd of american service people over 2 decades solemn 80 has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilize the middle east for the last 20 years what the united

states did yesterday should have been done long ago trump's republican allies in congress agreed or to a law this evil man operated without them strike and countless and often have suffered for now his terrorist leadership has been and democrats a trump order the drone strike that also killed the leader of tehran back iraqi militia groups without consulting congress and warned of serious consequences this is the equivalent of the iranians assassinating the u.s. secretary of defense i do not believe the administration has gamed out. how very badly this could go for the us and our interests this action may well have brought our nation closer to another endless war exactly the kind of endless war

the president promised he would not drag us into. iran has promised retaliation the us state department issued a security alert urging all american citizens to leave iraq immediately despite the secretary of state's claims on u.s. media that americans in the region are now safer after sunni mani's demise while no one is accusing president shrub of ordering friday's drone strike for political purposes and does overshadow all political headlines in the u.s. including trump's impending impeachment trial the u.s. senate was to begin this new year by taking on that as their 1st order of business and instead senators are preparing for briefings on the u.s. military strike and whatever response it may bring heidi joe castro al-jazeera washington gabriel is joins us live from washington so we've got this letter from

the iranian ambassador what's in it. yeah this is the letter just came over just a few minutes ago and i've been going through it it's pretty long it's about a page and a half i'm not going to read the whole thing of course but i want to summarize it because what iran is doing here is reminding the secretary general a few things here and also laying out the case that iran has within its legal rights internationally to respond and defend itself in the letter iran mentions that solo mani was the commander of the code's force of the republican the revolutionary revolutionary guard a legitimate and official branch of the iranian military and saying that he was clearly assassinated in baghdad which is against international law in the letter in the letter the the ambassador says by any measure it is an obvious example of state terrorism and a criminal act constitutes a gross violation of the fundamental principles of international law in this letter

as well he says that he was actually helping fight against terrorists in many countries including i so terrorists that were dead terrorist groups that were designated as such by the u.n. security council and then ins the letter again with saying that. under the rights of international law iran reserves the right to respond as it sees fit in self-defense so i think what you're seeing here is the u.n. mission at the u.n. basically telling the sick secretary general that laying out the case. that there could be a response and laying out the case for how that could be in the context of international law gape witness to from was talking a little earlier today what 2 hours 3 hours ago now in florida he was talking about imminent attacks as justification for the assassination of custom so the money do you have any more details about what he means by imminent. no and that's where the

big question that's been hanging over washington and really around the world today is we're not getting a lot of clear picture of what exactly was this so-called imminent threat and you know we heard from the national security advisor robert o'brian he had a call with with journalists and normally it would fall to him perhaps to give some of these more details all he would say is that the u.s. said that some of the money came to baghdad from damascus but when he was pressed on that and when he was pressed on details of how they were able to do this he didn't give any of those details saying for operational security measures but clearly there's a there's a lot of skepticism in some quarters of what was the real evidence of this so-called imminent threat gabriel thank you very much ok let's return to the latest development of iraq reports of new u.s. strikes in a camp in tod she just north of baghdad iraq's popular mobilisation forces say the

strikes hit a convoy it was medics and not any of its senior leaders likely go some up in debate is on the line from the iraqi capital with some of what else do we know. but according to vault remobilization forces the paramilitary wings of the iraqi government we've heard that. force is very silly in that convoy. that was targeted. this is a road which leads to words encouraging ridges hold their coalition base there was really a speculation that there was. one of the brigade who was in the. convoy criticize it allegedly by u.s. . but so far the popular politician forces saying that. this was a method. which was targeted so attention to move in or are considered.

to be seen in the last few hours more barracks for streets we close in baghdad ahead of this theater concession or are. you to take this in the 10 local t.v. so it is a tense laid there is lots of speculation on social media about the strike. but so far this one happening with the problem of leveson forces saying that it was a convoy of medics not any of their leader osama thanks very much let's talk now to nuggets about jolie an assistant professor of middle east studies at johns hopkins university and author of iran reframed anxieties of power in the islamic republic she joins us on skype from washington nuggets budgeted welcome to al-jazeera the last fall kassim of the mani what does that do to his organization.

well actually he was a very important commander of course but one thing that i think folks misunderstand about the revolutionary guard's leadership structure is that it is quite ad hoc in nature and so although he was a very important commander there are other there their leadership ranks go quite deep within the forces and so you know very quickly his successor was announced and i actually don't think that there's going to be much. difference and what it will mean for the police forces going forward but doesn't it mean a difference for the the upper echelons of the regime in tehran given that this man according to some claims today analysts that we've been talking to here on al-jazeera was saying he was maybe even being groomed to be the next supreme leader and now that he wasn't being groomed to be the next supreme i mean i disagree with that analysis he was a very powerful figure within iran however you really need to understand the ways

in which the revolutionary guard reforms there may information came in the iran iraq war in which they were fighting asymmetrical warfare against iraq that was being backed severely by the united states and western powers at the time in the 1980 s. what that meant is that they had to fight in an asymmetrical way and throughout the years what they developed it was a system by which they they created ad hoc leadership structures i studied them for 10 years in iran and i saw whether they were functioning within the iran's borders are outside of its borders there are many people within the revolutionary guard who have the ability to make decisions who have the ability to make and create relationships and maintain them across iran is borders so this was in no way something that was something only that so they money could do. donald trump's administration today has spent the day justifying the assassination and also talking about previous administrations i.e. barack obama possibly had sort of money in their crosshairs anyway but chose not to

do anything about it did the fact that he heard survived attempts on his life before did that limit or temper what the codes organization was able to achieve not just inside iran but outside iran as well well the point of course is their main mission is outside of iran and so i think the obama administration there are reasons that by which they did not end up assassinating by some sunday money and part of that is that he is a very large symbol for iran and iraq aqim lebanese shia armed groups the problem with symbolism is that it can cause it sort of a driving factor for folks to to act so now the united states has created a martyr effectively out of saudi money that's how he's going to be represented in iran and that's how he's going to be represented among the shia groups in iraq and

lebanon and i think that that is something the repercussions of that are something that the trumpet ministration needs to think about and unfortunately and i'm not sure that they have ok very very briefly apparently there is a gang of 8 who kind of advise donald trump on this one person very close to the gang of 8 today was talking to this channel saying we don't play chess you know we think about one step at a time very briefly the potential consequences if they thought that through in washington well fine but iran does play chess so. you know where donald trump place checkers it seems and the iran and the islamic revolutionary guards corps is playing chess and this is a dangerous game and front of us i think and we'll have to see what plays out ok. thank you so much. here in chief antonio terrorist delivered his initial reaction through a spokesman on twitter he said secretary general the terrace has consistently advocated for deescalation in the gulf he is deeply concerned with the recent

escalation this is a moment in which leaders must exercise maximum restraint the world can't afford another war in the gulf well that statement wasn't well received by agnes kalama who reports to the un on extrajudicial executions on twitter as well she said there is no more pressing time for the un and its leadership to step up than but this statement does not bode well you have the legal tools and the platform please use them and she included the hash tag world war 3 well earlier i spoke to agnes calabar she said it's unlikely the killing of solomon it was justifiable under international law the international demand the international arena gort justification for the killings are very high because it's not only a question of whether there are. the us to act to do notionally in central defense which is questionable. it is not only a question of whether there was an international conflict and that's

a huge issue here you know nobody wants to address it directly but this is very much at the heart of the other conversation the statement that twitter provided yesterday and the fact as we knew them seemed to end a kid treaty ition the statement quote i did today by the president this afternoon seems to be anti kitching and anti see patrie self defense. which is there was imminent threats even the plans for tonga to action suit against the united states i am not in a position to reach an exclusion as to whether or not this is. a justified under international law as in full mission is far too leads this is why i am suggesting that we need an international inquiry in order to get into the details

when teets let me and seized upon one more fact it's not only whether self-defense he's justified because there are also bodies over laws that must be a met by by sea set back and international human rights slow you steal an important body of law and under this law it is doubtful in my view doubtful that suliman he will is. that he's killing or was there no food under international human rights and it's even more doubtful that the all the people are so in his own to ash and people around a car that we're also killed it's extremely doubtful that those feelings aware where under international human rights law and it's not because the self-defense applies that international human rights does not apply. and you know because international humanitarian law may apply that international human rights to what we

do not apply so you know these are complex you go. our and we must and she sed all by you boards to be taken into or tournaments. in other news one of the biggest evacuations in the history of australia is now well on the way amid warnings that strong winds and hot weather will worsen the region bushfires tens of thousands of people are fleeing at risk towns in the state's south wales and victoria some with the help of the local navy weather conditions over the coming days have been described as catastrophic the state of emergency has been declared in new south wales and the state of disaster but. one of the times being evacuated to a new south wales jessica washington is that. this area has already been he's incredibly hard by this bush 5 season i mean batemans bay in new south wales and

it's an incredibly tense situation incredibly dangerous for crews on the ground locals are being advised to be on high alert to leave the area if possible but it's that combination of extreme hate strong winds and low humidity making things incredibly dangerous for this area but the other thing to also bear in mind is that these are small communities and they are all working together on this firefighting effort but some communities have been hit so hard we know of one not too far from here in the community of mogo where the headquarters actually burnt down in a fire just a few days ago so these are the conditions that crews are facing but the communities are coming together they're tight knit communities everyone is working together alongside with the firefighting crews to try and resolve this crisis. libyan warlord after asserts his vice is now against a foreign occupier after turkey's parliament agreed to send troops to libya his forces have laid siege to the capital tripoli since april libya's u.n.

recognized government asked the turkish president mr owen for support the e.u. u.s. and arab league all expressing concern about turkey's decision spain's electoral board has ordered the removal of the president of catalonia as regional government court has already banned jockeying torah from public office for 18 months he was convicted of failing to remove separatist banners from public buildings during an election 9 catalan leaders have been jailed for their role in a failed secession bid in 2011 french police have shot dead a knife wielding man after he killed one person and wounded 2 others in southern paris officers say he lunged randomly at several other people in a park you managed to run away the suspect was killed after fleeing to a neighboring suburb he didn't have a serious criminal record but had received psychiatric treatment in the past. a shortage of medical equipment at a public hospital in the indian state of raja starner has been blamed for the

deaths of nearly 1000 infants last year an investigation was launched after the death of 100 babies last month alone it also revealed hygiene and conditions at the hospital were so poor that pigs were living inside the compound and is in costa at that hospital where the deaths happened. this mother has just heard of the news of the death of an infant her daughter was just 15 days old but doctors have not yet told her the reason of her baby's death now there are many such families just in the month of december in this hospital in dr hassan in india a 100 infants died and even though the local government has ordered a quick cleaning operation the hospital is still pretty dirty you can look at that pile of garbage it's just been covered in front of our eyes have a look at this window this is right outside the modernity ward there is that garbage bin we've seen women cleaning the floors still pretty dirty and that

garbage bin. very close to where the intensive care units of the ailing infants is now the hospital authorities say that this infants are dying because they already come in a very serious state their suffering from septicemia pneumonia and to have low birthweight botched commission for child rights protection their officials are also coming out and they say that they have with their own eyes to see pigs roaming around they've seen that this number of caregivers are far fewer than those who need care and that life sustaining equipment the ventilators have not been functioning many of them if not all according to the report half off the ventilator in this hospital meant for infants are not currently functional now earlier today we saw a truck full of garbage leaving the premises of the hospital but the local government

insists that the rate of infant deaths in the state over the years is cooling down and not increasing. and i break of pneumonia is causing a lot in china 44 people have been diagnosed in cases linked to a few markets in the central chinese city of all are being treated in isolation and a further 121 people are on the observation. this is al jazeera these are the top stories iraq's iranian backed paramilitary group the popular mobilization forces says new u.s. air strikes hit a convoy of its medics and not any of its senior leaders in time compañero campaign taji that's just north of baghdad the reuters news agency is reporting 6 people were killed after 2 vehicles were qatada says osama bin defeat as more details but

according to popular mobilization forces the head of military wings of peace iraqi government to be heard that they are active and you know. what republican forces are. in that convoy having discussed yet at the start because on pardon you go i visit iraq which looks to hurt the area intelligence reaches close to home and made a correlation a very a speculation but there was some come off of one of the brigade who was in this critical convoy because it gets elected by us. well reports of us attack come nearly 24 hours off to u.s. strikes killed the iranian military command a customs of the money the u.s. president donald trump says he ordered the killing to stop a war not to start one of the recent attacks on u.s. targets in iraq including rocket strikes that killed an american and injured 4 american servicemen very badly as well as

a violent assault on our embassy in baghdad were carried out at the direction of solemn aney soulmate he made the death of innocent people his sick passion contributing to terrorist plots as far away as new delhi in london. when iran's supreme leader the ayatollah ali khamenei has harsh revenge over the killing of the money iran's foreign minister has warned appropriate retaliation is imminent all the news now we're following one of the biggest evacuations in the history of australia is now on the way and it warnings that strong winds and hot weather will worsen the raging fires tens of thousands of people are at risk for news on the web site al-jazeera dot com those are your top stories up next it's inside story. of.

iran's top army commandos killed in a u.s. air strike in iraq tehran is warning of revenge. trigger a military confrontation and how would that affect the rest of the middle east this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program on darren jordan iran is vowing revenge on the u.s. for killing its top military commander. died when an american asteroid hit his convoy near the airport in baghdad the assassination ordered by president trump marks

a dangerous escalation in tensions between the u.s. and iran well supreme leader ayatollah ali hominidae says the general was killed by the cruelest people on earth.