Last night, the NYT’s Nicholas Kristof speculated that Iran “deliberately hit empty ground” with its missile attacks on two U.S. bases in Iraq:
Iran has pretty good missile targeting, so they probably deliberately hit empty ground. I doubt they mentioned that to Ayatollah Khamenei. https://t.co/LFoX7K8kxb
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) January 8, 2020
But new satellite imagery shows that he was completely wrong:
BREAKING: Satellite imagery from @planetlabs and shared via @MIIS show extent of Damage from Iranian missile strike. Appears to be a precision strike of structures holding equipment.https://t.co/US5lDJAdto pic.twitter.com/719eEkAqry
— Geoff Brumfiel (@gbrumfiel) January 8, 2020
Kristof has 2 million followers and he should’ve known better than to tweet that:
They were shooting into the heart of the airbase. Lets dispense with the notion that they were aiming at sand. https://t.co/Wtlxhql6Rk
— Aaron Stein (@aaronstein1) January 8, 2020
More photos:
CNN has obtained satellite images from Planet Labs, Inc. that appear to show damage from Iranian missile strikes at an air base in Iraq housing US troops https://t.co/RG86yPEAUV pic.twitter.com/982U8C8blV
— CNN (@CNN) January 8, 2020
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From NPR on the attack damage:
Satellite photos taken Wednesday show that an Iranian missile strike has caused extensive damage at the Ain al-Assad air base in Iraq, which hosts U.S. and coalition troops.
The photos, taken by the commercial company Planet and shared with NPR via the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, show hangars and buildings hit hard by a barrage of Iranian missiles that were fired early Wednesday morning local time.
At least five structures were damaged in the attack on the base in Anbar province, which apparently was precise enough to hit individual buildings. “Some of the locations struck look like the missiles hit dead center,” says David Schmerler an analyst with the Middlebury Institute.
Iran’s attack targeted at least two military bases in Iraq. The extent of the damage to the second base, in Irbil, was unclear.
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