moslems & jihadis – Page 18

Let me explain…… No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

How Does Islam Differ from Christianity?

According to Pew Research, if current trends continue then by 2050 there will be nine billion people living on the planet. Approximately three billion will be Christians, three billion will be Muslims, and three billion others will represent various beliefs (both religious and secular).

Since Christianity and Islam are the two largest (comprising about 55% of the world’s population²) religions in the world people often wonder where they disagree and how significant the differences are. A brief look at six doctrinal contrasts will help address this question.

First, it is important to note that Islam shares common ground with historic Christianity. For example, both religions are:

theistic in philosophical orientation
monotheistic in doctrinal belief
Middle Eastern in origin
biblically oriented Abrahamic faiths (they connect to the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament)

However, the differences between the two religions are profound. Since Islam emerged about six centuries after Christianity, we’ll outline how Islam reacts to essential Christian truth claims. As you’ll see, traditional Islam denies the essence of historic Christianity.

Six Systematic Doctrinal Denials

Islam denies the Trinity (i.e., tri-unity: One God in three persons). Muslims instead affirm a form of unitarianism where Allah is a single, solitary being (tawhid) with no partners, equals, rivals, or companions. Allah is not begotten nor does he beget; therefore, he has no son.
Islam denies the incarnation (i.e., Jesus Christ was God in human flesh: a single person with both a divine and human nature). In contrast, Muslims assert that Jesus was a mere human being. Yet Islam does concur that Jesus was virgin-born, performed miracles, and lived a sinless life.
Islam denies the crucifixion (i.e., Jesus’s atoning death on the cross). Muslims instead declare that Jesus either didn’t actually die on the cross (though he may have been impaled) or that someone else took Jesus’s place on the cross. But either way, Islam is not a redemptive religion.
Islam denies the imago Dei (i.e., human beings bear God’s image). In contrast, Muslims affirm that such an image would put creatures too close to Allah (the heresy known as “shirk”). Thus in Islamic theology, human beings are not made in Allah’s image.
Islam denies original sin (i.e., that human beings are born with a sinful nature and a natural propensity to sin). Instead, Muslims assert that people are born morally good. So Islam rejects the Christian doctrine of the fall.
Islam denies salvation by grace (i.e., that human beings are reconciled to God by God’s unmerited favor apart from works). In contrast, Muslims proclaim that personal submission is required to earn paradise. So both paradise (reward) and divine wrath (punishment) are earned.

Both Can’t Be True

While we live in a time that prizes religious pluralism, nevertheless the laws of logic are stubborn things. Given these six systematic doctrinal denials it follows logically that if Islam is true, then Christianity is patently false and vice versa, for Islam denies the very essence of Christian doctrinal truth claims…………

Doesn’t pay to step into Mokhtar Bel Mokhtar ‘s shoes.

French forces kill al-Qaida’s North African commander.

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — French forces have killed Abdelmalek Droukdel, the leader of al-Qaida’s North Africa affiliate, the France’s defense minister announced late Friday, in what would be a major victory for France after years of battling jihadists in the Sahel.

There was no immediate confirmation of his death from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, known as AQIM, which has made millions of dollars abducting foreigners for ransom over the years and made large swaths of West Africa too dangerous for aid groups to access.

French Defense Minister Florence Parly tweeted that Droukdel and several of his allies were killed Wednesday in northern Mali by French forces and their partners. It was not immediately clear how his identity was confirmed by the French.

Sister of Suspected ISIS Terrorist Shot Dead While Trying to Stab Florida Cop

The sister of a man accused of planning a mass shooting for ISIS was shot dead moments after lunging at a Florida cop with a huge butcher knife, according to dramatic video released by police.

Footage shows the unidentified officer calmly walking up to Heba Momtaz Al-Azhari, 21, on a bench outside Temple Terrace police HQ Friday after she lured him out by asking for help, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

She appeared to reach into a bag — with the officer suddenly lurching back as she tried to stab him in his body, the footage shows.

Just because the bug is still going around and we have some people protesting, doesn’t mean the moslems are slacking off.

DOJ: Man Plotted Attack in Tampa Bay Area on Behalf of ISIS

TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa man is facing federal charges after investigators say he plotted a possible attack and tried to give “material support” or resources to ISIS.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), 23-year-old Muhammad Momtaz Al-Azhari was an ISIS supporter who was plotting an attack on behalf of the terrorist organization. Al-Azhari had previously acquired a Glock pistol and a silencer and had “expressed admiration for Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen” and was looking to “carry out a similar mass casualty shooting,” according to DOJ.

According to court documents, Al-Azhari’s criminal record includes previous terrorism charges in Saudi Arabia. He was accused of planning to travel to Syria to participate in jihad and join terrorist groups fighting the Syrian government. He served three years in Saudi Arabia and was removed to the United States in 2018.

Pictured: Syrian-Born College Student, 20, Who Was Shot Dead as He Carried Out ‘Terrorist-Related’ Attack at Texas Naval Base and Had ‘Previously Voiced Support on Social Media for Hardline Islamic Clerics’

This undated handout photo provided by Del Mar College, Texas, shows Adam Alsahli’s image for his student identification card. Alsahli, 20, is the suspect killed in an attack at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas

The suspect who was shot dead as he carried out Thursday’s ‘terrorism-related’ attack on a Texas naval air base has been identified by the FBI as a 20-year-old Syrian-born college student.

According to investigators, Adam Salim Alsahli opened fire at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in an attack that wounded one sailor, a member of the base security force, but no one other than the assailant was killed.

A group that monitors online activity of jihadists has since claimed that Alsahli voiced support for hardline Islamic clerics on social media prior to the thwarted attack.

Well, that was quick.

Shooting at U.S. Navy base in Texas ‘terrorism related’: FBI

(Reuters) – A shooting at a U.S. Navy base in Corpus Christi, Texas, that wounded a sailor on Thursday was “terrorism related,” an FBI spokeswoman said, adding that the gunman was dead at the scene but investigators were searching for a potential second suspect.

The shooter, who was not identified by law enforcement, opened fire at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi around 6:15 a.m. CDT (1115 GMT), the Navy Office of Information said in a written statement.

“We have determined that the incident this morning at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is terrorism related,” FBI agent Leah Greaves said. “We are working diligently with our state, local and federal partners on this investigation, which is fluid and evolving.”

Greaves said the gunman had been slain at the scene of the shooting, which was still being processed by authorities. A lockdown of the base had been lifted.

“We may have a potential second related person of interest at large in the community, but would encourage the public to remain calm. If you see something, say something,” she said.

The moslem murderer was Al Queda.

Surprise Surprise Surprise

FBI phone probe links al Qaeda to Saudi who killed three at Florida base

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The FBI cracked the iPhone encryption of the Royal Saudi Air Force trainee who killed three American sailors in a December attack at a U.S. naval base in Florida and found evidence linking him to al Qaeda, Attorney General William Barr said on Monday.

The shooter, Second Lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, 21, was killed by law enforcement during the Dec. 6, 2019 attack.

He was on the base as part of a U.S. Navy training program designed to foster links with foreign allies.

The Justice Department succeeded in unlocking the encryption on the shooter’s iPhone after Apple Inc <AAPL.O> declined to do so, Barr told reporters on a conference call.

Just because the bug has affected the moslems as bad or worse than the rest of the world doesn’t mean they’re stopping their plans of jihad and terrorism. And just what is it lately about Pakistanis?

Federal Grand Jury Indicts Pakistan Doctor for Attempting to Provide Support to ISIS

Muhammad Masood of Minnesota was indicted by a federal grand jury in Minneapolis on Monday of attempting to provide material support to the terrorist faction ISIS, according to a statement Friday from the Department of Justice.

Masood, who is licensed to practice medicine in Pakistan, had been working as a research coordinator at a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota under a temporary visa.

In the complaint against Masood, he was accused of wanting to carry out “lone wolf” terrorist actions against the U.S. and travel to Syria to join ISIS. He also allegedly claimed his allegiance to the terrorist organization.

Pakistani-American Woman Sentenced to 13 Years by US Court for Funding ISIS

NEW YORK: A Pakistani-American woman — Zoobia Shahnaz — has been sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment by a United States’ Federal Court for providing material support to terror fronts of Islamic States in Pakistan, China and Turkey.

The verdict was pronounced by District Judge Joanna Seybert on Wednesday. Zoobia Shahnaz had pleaded guilty in November 2018 for providing material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, specifically more than USD 150,000 to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), and attempting to travel to Syria to join ISIS.

“As set forth in court filings and facts presented at the sentencing hearing, between March 2017 and July 2017, Shahnaz defrauded numerous financial institutions to obtain money for the ISIS, including a loan for approximately USD 22,500,” reads a statement by US Department of Justice.

“Shahnaz also fraudulently obtained more than a dozen credit cards and used them to purchase approximately USD 62,000 in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies online. Shahnaz then made multiple wire transfers totaling more than USD 150,000 to individuals and entities in Pakistan, China and Turkey that were fronts for ISIS,” added the statement.

On July 31, 2017, Shahnaz was arrested at John F Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, while attempting to board a flight with a layover in Istanbul, Turkey — a common point of entry for individuals travelling from western countries to join ISIS in Syria.

This is not an article from the Babylon Bee.

Arizona: Muslim Students Threaten to Kill Prof for Suggesting Islam Is Violent.

This will teach those Islamophobes that Islam is a religion of peace: a professor is facing death threats for suggesting otherwise. Nicholas Damask, Ph.D., has taught political science at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona for 24 years. But now he is facing a barrage of threats, and his family, including his 9-year-old grandson and 85-year-old parents, is in hiding, while College officials are demanding that he apologize – all for the crime of speaking the truth about the motivating ideology behind the threat of Islamic jihad worldwide.

Damask, who has an MA in International Relations from American University in Washington, D.C., and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati, says he is “to my knowledge, the only tenured political science faculty currently teaching in Arizona to write a doctoral dissertation on terrorism.” He has taught Scottsdale Community College’s World Politics for each of the 24 years he has worked at the school.

Professor Damask’s troubles began during the current Spring semester, when a student took exception to three quiz questions. The questions were:

Who do terrorists strive to emulate? A. Mohammed
Where is terrorism encouraged in Islamic doctrine and law? A. The Medina verses [i.e., the portion of the Qur’an traditionally understood as having been revealed later in Muhammad’s prophetic career]
Terrorism is _______ in Islam. A. justified within the context of jihad.

Damask explained: “All quiz questions on each of my quizzes, including the ones in question here, are carefully sourced to the reading material. On this quiz, questions were sourced to the Qur’an, the hadiths, and the sira (biography) of Mohammed, and other reputable source material.” And indeed, the three questions reflect basic facts that are readily established by reference to Islamic texts and teachings and numerous statements of terrorists themselves.

Despite this, the student emailed Damask to complain that he was “offended” by these questions, as they were “in distaste of Islam.” Damask recounted: “Until this point, notably, the student had expressed no reservations about the course material and indeed he said he enjoyed the course.”

Damask sent two lengthy emails to the student responding to his complaints, but to no avail. A social media campaign began against Damask on the College’s Instagram account. Damask notes: “An unrelated school post about a school contest was hijacked, with supporters of the student posting angry, threatening, inflammatory and derogatory messages about the quiz, the school, and myself.”

At this point, College officials should have defended Professor Damask and the principle of free inquiry, but that would require a sane academic environment. Scottsdale Community College officials, Damask said, “stepped in to assert on a new Instagram post that the student was correct and that I was wrong – with no due process and actually no complaint even being filed – and that he would receive full credit for all the quiz questions related to Islam and terrorism.”

On May 1, Damask had a conference call with Kathleen Iudicello, Scottsdale Community College’s Dean of Instruction, and Eric Sells, the College’s Public Relations Marketing Manager. Damask recalls: “I was not offered to write any part of the school’s response, and there was no discussion of academic freedom or whether the College was even supportive of me to teach about Islamic terrorism. The very first point I made with them on the call (and virtually the only input I had) is that I insisted that the College’s release was to have no mention of any actions to be required to be taken by me personally, I was very clear about that.”

Predictably, Iudicello and Sells ignored that. They issued an apology to the student and to the “Islamic community,” and stated on the College’s Instagram page that Damask would be “required” to apologize to the student for the quiz questions, as the questions were “inappropriate” and “inaccurate,” and would be permanently removed from Damask’s exams.

Damask also had three phone calls with Iudicello, who gave him a bracing introduction into today’s academic funhouse world, where if someone is offended by the truth, it’s the truth that has to be deep-sixed. “During one call with Iudicello,” Damask recounts, “she stated that my quiz questions were ‘Islamophobic,’ that before continuing to have any further class content on Islamic terrorism I would likely need to meet with an Islamic religious leader to go over the content, and that I would likely need to take a class (perhaps at Arizona State) taught by a Muslim before teaching about Islamic terrorism.”

“The irony here,” says Damask, “is that literally during this phone call, I and my wife were tossing socks and jammies and our nine-year-old grandson’s toys into a suitcase to get the hell out of the house because of the death threats made by Islamic commenters on the College’s Instagram page.”

General Hossein Salami emulates his cousin I Bin Farteen

Iran Ratchets Up Warnings to U.S. Over Tensions in Persian Gulf

Iran vowed to target any U.S. military vessel that tries to endanger Iranian ships in the Persian Gulf, ramping up new frictions touched off by a hostile encounter at sea last week.

“If any vessel or any military unit of the terrorist forces of America seek to put the security of any of our military or non-military vessels in danger, that unit or vessel will be targeted,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander General Hossein Salami warned on Thursday. His comments to state TV were published by the corps’ official news website, Sepah News.

Salami issued his threat a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he’d ordered the U.S. Navy to destroy any Iranian gunboats that harass American ships. A week earlier, the Pentagon accused Iran of “dangerously” doing just that, but Salami reiterated Iran’s claim that American vessels approached its ships in an “unprofessional” manner.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated dramatically after Trump abandoned the multipower nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Actions by both sides, at times in the Gulf, have brought them to the brink of military confrontation on multiple occasions, most recently with the U.S. assassination of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3.

Xitaxi is about 160 miles by road North Northwest from Pemba where our good friends Jim and Twyla Taylor were missionaries.

52 Villagers Killed in Mozambique by Islamist Insurgents, Police Report

Islamic insurgents murdered around 52 young villagers in the Mozambique province of Cabo Delgado on April 7, police report.

The massacre took place in the village of Xitaxi after several young men refused to join an unidentified militant group.

“This provoked the anger of the criminals, who indiscriminately killed — cruelly and diabolically — 52 young people,” said police spokesman Orlando Mudumane.

Despite the increasing frequency of attacks in Cabo Delgado, national police leader Bernardino Rafael reported last week that insurgents do not have control of any part of the province.

Trump says US will ‘destroy’ Iranian gunboats that harass American ships

I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2020

President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that the United States would destroy Iranian gunboats that harass American ships at sea.

The threat, which contributed to a recovery in oil prices, came days after the Pentagon claimed that ships from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy took “dangerous and provocative” actions near U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Persian Gulf.

“I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” the president wrote in a post on Twitter.

West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose more than than 30% on Wednesday after slumping to historic lows this year as the coronavirus pandemic crushed demand. Iran produced 3% of the world’s oil last year.

Six U.S. military vessels were conducting training operations in international waters last week when 11 Iranian ships “crossed the bows and sterns of the U.S. vessels at extremely close range and high speeds,” according to the April 15 U.S. Navy statement.

At one point, the Iranian ships came within 10 yards of the Coast Guard cutter Maui’s bow.

Well, the bug isn’t slowing the jihadis down.

Anchorage Man Who Claimed Loyalty to ISIS Enters Guilty Plea

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (KINY) — Gavin Lee Casdorph, 21, pled guilty to charges he made threats to detonate several bombs across the campus at Lafayette College.

Casdorph posed as a radicalized Lafayette College student and used the handle “BdanJafarSaleem” on Twitter and posted that he planned to bomb multiple locations on campus.

The posts also pledged allegiance to ISIS and included an image of the ISIS flag as well as a photograph of several firearms.

The post included the captain, “Allah has graced us with these weapons of destruction to carry out his needs.”

Idris Abdus-Salaam.
Not to be light about it, but anyone not make a guess on motive?

3 victims, suspect identified in stabbing at Pilot

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating a stabbing and an officer involved shooting incident after Knoxville gas station employees and a suspect were killed Tuesday morning.

TBI identified the three deceased victims as 57-year-old Joyce Whaley, 51-year-old Patricia Denise Nibbe and 41-year-old Nettie R. Spencer. The deceased suspect was identified as 33-year-old Idris Abdus-Salaam, a North Carolina truck driver,

Three Pilot employees are dead and one customer injured after a stabbing and an officer-involved shooting at an East Knox County Pilot truck stop.

According to the TBI, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office received a report of the incident at the Strawberry Plains Pike location around 7 am on Tuesday. Upon arrival officers observed at least one person with stab wounds and a man identified by witnesses as the suspect armed with a knife in the Pilot parking lot.

According to officials, officers confronted the suspect and when he refused to drop the weapon, one of the officers fired shots, striking the man. …

Four female victims were stabbed, the three employees were pronounced dead at the scene and the fourth who was a customer was transported to a local hospital. The status of her condition is unknown.

Pilot CEO Jimmy Haslam released a statement regarding the incident.

Today is a difficult day for the Pilot Company family. We are devastated to confirm the loss of three team members and the injury of a guest after an act of violence at our Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, location this morning. It is with heavy hearts that we extend our deepest sympathy to the families and loved ones of the victims. We are providing support and counseling to the families and our team. We are working closely with local authorities. Please keep these families in your thoughts and prayers.”

Just because this new bug has lots of attention being paid to it, doesn’t mean that everything else simply stopped in place.

AFRICOM kills senior terrorist leader in Somalia as airstrikes intensify

STUTTGART, Germany — A senior al-Shabab leader who played a key role in plotting deadly attacks throughout East Africa has been killed in an airstrike in Somalia, U.S. Africa Command said Tuesday.

Yusuf Jiis was one of three al-Shabab members killed in the April 2 airstrike, AFRICOM said. The strike was one of a flurry of attacks in Somalia in recent days.

Jiis was “violent, ruthless, and responsible for the loss of many innocent lives,” AFRICOM commander Gen. Stephen Townsend said in a statement. “His removal makes Somalia and neighboring countries safer.”

AFRICOM has launched six airstrikes in Somalia since April 2, including one on Monday in which five terrorists were killed, it said.

AFRICOM said no civilians were killed in Monday’s strike on Jilib, around 230 miles south of the capital, Mogadishu, but it is investigating reports that allege there were civilian casualties.

“As with any allegation of civilian casualties U.S. Africa Command receives and reviews any information it has about the incident, including any relevant information provided by third parties,” it said.

AFRICOM announced last week that it will begin issuing quarterly reports on the outcomes of its investigations into civilian casualty claims as a way to boost transparency.

Senior Hezbollah commander found dead

Senior Hezbollah counterintelligence official Muhammad Ali Yunis has reportedly been killed in southern Lebanon.

The body of Yunis, who closely collaborated with Hezbollah’s ally Iran, was discovered over the weekend inside a car where he had been shot and stabbed, according to Haaretz. Hezbollah announced that he was killed on Saturday.

Hezbollah has not accused Israel or any other state entity of killing Yunis, although the commander was reportedly tasked with tracking potential Israeli or foreign agents. Lebanese security sources indicate that a suspect has been arrested, although further details are not yet clear.

Yunis was reportedly a “close associate” of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by the United States in a targeted airstrike in Baghdad in January.

“The information provided by Hezbollah suggests that the assassination of Younis was carried out by the Israeli Mossad and its agents,” Janoubia, a Lebanese news website, reported, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Hezbollah is closely affiliated with Iran, which has supplied it with funding and with weapons. The group, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and other countries, has carried out rocket attacks against Israel.

Top Iranian general Shabani dies of Covid-19.

NKARA: Brigadier General Nasser Shabani, a commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, died from the Covid-19 coronavirus on Friday, Iran’s semi-official Fars news Agency reported.

Anadolu Agency quoted Fars as saying that Shabani began his career in 1982 during the Iran-Iraq War.

The commander is one of many leading Iranian political, religious and military figures who have been infected with or died from Covid-19.

Isis issues coronavirus travel advice: terrorists should avoid Europe

The Isis terrorist group is steering clear of Europe because of the coronavirus. Having previously urged its supporters to attack European cities, the group is now advising members to “stay away from the land of the epidemic” in case they become infected.

The group has issued a new set of “sharia directives” that instruct followers to “cover their mouths when yawning and sneezing” and to wash their hands regularly. Isis militants have plenty of experience in covering their faces, though previously they did so to hide their identities when beheading hostages on camera.

In the latest issue of its al-Naba newsletter, the group refers not to guidance from the World Health Organisation or other medical experts, but to recorded quotes by the Prophet Muhammad, known to Muslims as hadiths.

The newsletter refers to a “plague” described as a “torment sent by God on whomsoever He wills”. Another message notes: “Illnesses do not strike by themselves but by the command and decree of God.”

Isis has lost almost all its so-called caliphate in the Middle East after a string of defeats , but its fragmented remains are still active in Iraq and Syria.

The newsletter warned that the “healthy should not enter the land of the epidemic and the afflicted should not exit from it”.

But it may not be safe in the Middle East either — Iraq has already reported 101 cases of the coronavirus and 10 deaths.

Three U.S. troops wounded in renewed rocket attacks on Iraq’s Taji base

I guess Hezbollah needs the lesson repeated.

BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Three American troops and several Iraqi forces were wounded on Saturday in the second major rocket attack in the past week on an Iraqi base north of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials said, raising the stakes in an escalating cycle of attacks and reprisals.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command said 33 Katyusha rockets were launched near a section of the Taji base which houses U.S.-led coalition troops. It said the military found seven rocket launchers and 24 unused rockets in the nearby Abu Izam area.

The Iraqi military said several Iraqi air defense servicemen were critically wounded. Two of the three wounded U.S. troops are seriously injured and are being treated at a military hospital in Baghdad, the Pentagon said.

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman declined to speculate on potential U.S. responses but, in a statement, cited Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s warning last week: “You cannot attack and wound American Service Members and get away with it, we will hold them to account.”

The rocket attacks came less than two days after the United States launched retaliatory air strikes at facilities in Iraq that the Pentagon linked to the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia, which it blamed for Wednesday’s attack on Taji…..

US conducts airstrikes in Iraq in retaliation for attack that killed 2 Americans

Never underestimate the ability of the U.S. military to pick the time, place and target of their own choosing when they go for ‘payback’.

The U.S. military conducted airstrikes in Iraq on Thursday in retaliation for a recent rocket attack that killed two American service members and one British service member and wounded 14 others, according to two U.S. officials, one of whom characterized the strikes as defensive in nature.

It was unclear what targets were being struck by U.S. military aircraft, but earlier in the day, senior Pentagon officials had blamed Iranian-backed Shia militia groups for Wednesday’s attack on Camp Taji in Iraq.

“Yesterday’s attack by Iranian-backed Shia militia groups consisted of multiple indirect fires that originated form a stationary platform and was clearly targeting coalition and partner forces on Camp Taji,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters on Thursday. “But let me be clear, the United States will not tolerate attacks against our people our interests or our allies.”

Esper continued, “All options are on the table as we work with our partners to bring the perpetrators to justice and maintain deterrence.”