US assault on Iran ahead of schedule, says US Middle East Commander

The US assault on Iran is ahead of schedule, with Israel and the US targeting sites deep inside the country, and Iran retaliating. Read more at straitstimes.com.

DUBAI/TEL AVIV - The United States’ assault on Iran was ahead of schedule, said the top American commander for the Middle East, as Israel and the US targeted sites deep inside the country, and Iran retaliated with strikes around the Gulf.

The five-day-old war continued to rattle global markets, as airline and tourism industries scrambled to deal with more than 20,000 flight cancellations and governments rushed to bring stranded travellers home from the Middle East.

The Israeli military said early on March 4 that it had begun a wave of strikes targeting Iranian launch sites, aerial defence systems and infrastructure.

In Israel, air raid sirens sounded early in the morning, warning of Iranian missiles, and loud blasts as the missiles were intercepted shook buildings, said witnesses.

US Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads US forces in the Middle East as the head of Central Command, said the first 24 hours of the “Operation Epic Fury” bombardment of Iran were “nearly double the scale” of the first 24 hours of the “Shock and Awe” campaign that opened the Iraq War in 2003.

“We are seeing that Iran’s ability to hit us, and our partners, is declining, while our combat power, on the other hand, is building,” Adm Cooper said in a video briefing released on the evening of March 3. “My overall operational assessment is that we are ahead of our game plan.”