WASHINGTON: The US military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Friday, in the opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that weekend.

The massive barrage of strikes hit more than 85 targets at seven locations, including command and control headquarters, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites and other facilities that were connected to the militias or the IRGC’s Quds Force, the Guard’s expeditionary unit that handles Tehran’s relationship with and arming of regional militias. And President Joe Biden made it clear in a statement that there will be more to come.

The US strikes appeared to stop short of directly targeting Iran or senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force within its borders, as the US tries to prevent the conflict from escalating even further

It was unclear what the impact will be of the strikes. Days of US warnings may have sent militia members scattering into hiding. With multiple groups operating at various locations in several countries, a knockout blow is unlikely.

Though one of the main Iran-backed militias, Kataib Hezbollah, said it was suspending attacks on American troops, others have vowed to continue fighting, casting themselves as champions of the Palestinian cause while the war in Gaza shows no sign of ending.

“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” Biden warned, adding, “let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.” He and other top US leaders had been saying for days that any American response wouldn’t be just one hit but a “tiered response” over time.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the targets “were carefully selected to avoid and based on clear, irrefutable evidence that they were connected to attacks on US personnel in the region.” He declined to detail what that evidence was.

The strikes took place over about 30 minutes, and three of the sites struck were in Iraq and four were in Syria, said Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, director of the Joint Staff.

US Central Command said the assault involved more than 125 precision munitions, and they were delivered by numerous aircraft, including long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States. Sims said weather was a factor as the US planned the strikes in order to allow the US to confirm it was hitting the right targets and avoiding civilian casualties.

It’s not clear, however, whether militia members were killed.

“We know that there are militants that use these locations, IRGC as well as Iranian-aligned militia group personnel,” Sims said. “We made these strikes tonight with an idea that there there would likely be casualties associated with people inside those facilities.”

Syrian state media reported that there were casualties but did not give a number. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 18 militants were killed in the Syria strikes.

Iraqi army spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement that the city of al-Qaim and areas along the country’s border with Syria had been hit by U.S. airstrikes. The strikes, he said, “constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, posing a threat that will pull Iraq and the region to undesirable consequences.”

Kirby said that the US alerted the Iraqi government prior to carrying out the strikes.

The assault came came just hours after Biden and top defense leaders joined grieving families to watch as the remains of the three Army Reserve soldiers were returned to the US at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Just Friday morning, Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated earlier promises by Tehran to potentially retaliate for any US strikes targeting its interests. We “will not start a war, but if a country, if a cruel force wants to bully us, the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a strong response,” Raisi said.

In a statement this week, Kataib Hezbollah announced “the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government.” But that assertion clearly had no impact on US strike plans. Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the other major Iran-backed groups, vowed Friday to continue military operations against US troops.

The US has blamed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a broad coalition of Iran-backed militias, for the attack in Jordan, but hasn’t narrowed it down to a specific group. Kataib Hezbollah is, however, a top suspect.

Some of the militias have been a threat to US bases for years, but the groups intensified their assaults in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. The war has led to the deaths of more than 27,000 Palestinians in the and has inflamed the Middle East.

Iran-backed militia groups throughout the region have used the conflict to justify striking Israeli or US interests, including threatening civilian commercial ships and US warships in the Red Sea region with drones or missiles in almost daily exchanges.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said “this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East.” He said the US will take all necessary actions to defend its interests and people, and warned, “At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past.”

As of Tuesday, Iran-backed militia groups had launched 166 attacks on US military installations since Oct. 18, including 67 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and now one in Jordan, according to a US military official. The last attack was Jan. 29 at al-Asad airbase in Iraq, and there were no injuries or damage.

The US, meanwhile, has bolstered defenses at Tower 22, the base in Jordan that was attacked by Iran-backed militants on Sunday, according to a US official. While previous U.S. responses in Iraq and Syria have been more limited, the deaths of the three service members in Jordan crossed a line, the official said.

That attack, which also injured more than 40 service members — largely Army National Guard — was the first to result in US combat deaths from the Iran-backed militias since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out. Tower 22 houses about 350 U.S. troops and sits near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria. The Iraqi border is only 6 miles (10 kilometers) away.

Also Friday, the Israeli military said its Arrow defense system intercepted a missile that approached the country from the Red Sea, raising suspicion it was launched by yemen The rebels did not immediately claim responsibility.

And a US official said the military had taken additional self-defense strikes inside Yemen Friday against Houthi military targets deemed an imminent threat. Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, said British and American forces conducted three strikes in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah, a Houthi stronghold.

AGRA: A right wing organisation has filed a petition in an Agra court seeking prohibitory injunction against the observation of the ‘Urs’ at the Taj Mahal.

The petitioner, Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, has also challenged the free entry for ‘Urs’ inside the Taj Mahal.

The court accepted the petition and fixed March 4 as the date of hearing.

The three-day ‘Urs’ event will take place this year from February 6 to February 8.

The period is observed to mark the death of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who got the Taj Mahal constructed in 1653 on the banks of of the Yamuna river.

Petitioner’s counsel Anil Kumar Tiwari said, “On Friday, the petitioner ABHM through its divisional head Meena Diwakar and district president Saurabh Sharma filed a petition in the Court of IV Additional Civil Judge (Junior Division) Room No 4 at Civil Court premises in Agra.

“They have sought for a permanent prohibitory injunction against the committee celebrating the ‘Urs. The petitioner has also objected to having free entry for the Urs at the Taj Mahal.”

ABHM spokesperson Sanjay Jat contended that the body had filed the petition on the basis of an RTI which revealed that neither the Mughals, nor the British allowed Urs to take place inside the Taj.

“The petition has been filed on the basis of an RTI filed by a Raj Kishore Raje, an historian of Agra city. In the RTI, he asked ASI who permitted ‘Urs’ celebration and ‘Namaz’ in Taj Mahal premises. The ASI replied that neither Mughals, nor the British government or the Government of India have allowed ‘Urs’ celebration in the Taj Mahal

“So, on that basis we have filed a petition seeking the prohibitory injunction, stopping the organisers of Shahjahan ‘Urs’ Celebration Committee, headed by Saiyyad Ibrahim Zaidi, from celebrating the ‘Urs’ at the Taj Mahal.”

The three-day ‘Urs’ sees the rituals of ‘chadar poshi’, ‘sandal’, ‘gusul’, ‘kul’ among other events.

On the last day of the ‘Urs’, a ‘chadar’, measuring 1,880 metre or more, is offered.

NEW DELHI: Confident of winning the upcoming General Election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said in the third term of BJP-led central government, India will become the world’s third-largest economy.

“India is on the move and is moving fast. Today’s India is moving forward to make ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047…This is the start of golden period for the Indian mobility sector. Today, India’s economy is growing at a brisk pace. In our third term, India’s economy is sure to become the third largest in the world,” said the PM at Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2024.

According to IMF data, India is currently placed at the fifth spot with the size of its economy pegged at over $3.7 trillion. The United States sits at the (around $27 trillion) and is followed by China (around $17.7 trillion), Germany ($4.4 trillion) and Japan ($4.2 trillion).

While giving numbers as to how the country’s mobility sector has grown in size over the last 10 years since his government first came to power in 2014, Modi said that in Amrit Kaal, India’s passenger vehicle, commercial vehicle and auto component industry should strive to become number 1 in the world. As per Modi, the emergence of neo-middle class, expanding spheres and growing income of the middle class will continue to generate demand for the mobility sector.

To lure the driver community who recently protested against the new hit-and-run law, Modi said that a new scheme is in the works to develop modern buildings with facilities for food, clean drinking water, toilets, parking and rest for drivers on all national highways. He added that the government is preparing to build 1,000 such buildings across the country in the first phase of this scheme. The PM advised tyre manufacturers to hold discussions with farmers to meet the need for natural rubber domestically.

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will not appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday for questioning in an alleged money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, according to the AAP.

The ED on Wednesday had issued a fresh and the fifth summons to Kejriwal after he skipped four earlier summonses over the last four months.

“Kejriwal will not appear before the agency for questioning,” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said.

Terming the summons “illegal”, the party said the ED is repeatedly sending notices to Kejriwal to arrest him

The AAP also alleged that the BJP wants to topple its government in Delhi by getting Kejriwal arrested.

The AAP will not let this happen, it said.

The Delhi chief minister is, however, scheduled to take part in a protest of the AAP outside the BJP headquarters here at 11 am.

Kejriwal skipped ED summonses for November 2 and December 21 in 2023 and January 3 and January 18 this year.

It is alleged that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge repeatedly refuted by the AAP.

The policy was subsequently scrapped and Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

NEW DELHI: Delhi Speaker Ram Niwas Goel and Deputy Mayor Aaley Mohd Iqbal have been placed under house arrest ahead of the protest planned by the Aam Aadmi Party, Gopal Rai said at a press conference on Friday.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that several AAP MLAs and volunteers coming to participate in the party’s protest outside the BJP headquarters here against the “cheating” in the Chandigarh mayoral polls were being stopped or detained.

Security has been stepped-up in Central Delhi with police barricading several roads leading to the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg and deploying additional personnel in view of the Aam Aadmi Party’s demonstration as well as a protest by the BJP against “corruption” in the Kejriwal government. The BJP will stage its protest near the AAP head office.

“First votes were stolen in the Chandigarh mayoral elections. Now, people coming to protest peacefully against this are being stopped at various places across Delhi,” Kejriwal said in a post on X, ahead of the demonstration scheduled to begin at 11 am.

In another post, he said that “across Delhi, they are detaining elected MLAs, councillors and volunteers, who were coming to the party office”.

“What is this going on?” he asked.

Officials said roads leading to the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg have been closed since morning and barricades have been set up near the headquarters of the BJP and the AAP.

In a post on X, Delhi Minister and AAP leader Atishi said, “Heavy barricading all across Delhi. Buses full of AAP volunteers being detained. Hundreds of para-military forces outside the AAP office.”

“Why is the BJP so scared of a protest on the Chandigarh mayor elections?” she asked.

Her cabinet colleague Saurabh Bharadwaj in a video statement asked whether the BJP was scared of Kejriwal.

“The entire entire country saw how votes were stolen in the Chandigarh mayoral polls by the BJP. Two elected chief ministers — Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann are coming to protest against it,” he said.

The BJP on Tuesday swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls, retaining all three posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, in a setback to the Congress-AAP alliance which has alleged tampering with ballot papers by the presiding officer.

RANCHI: After a high-voltage political drama in Jharkhand for the past three days, JMM legislature party leader Champai Soren was sworn in as the chief minister of Jharkhand at the Raj Bhawan in Ranchi.

Champai Soren was appointed to the chief minister’s post on Thursday after he urged the governor to accept his claim to form the government at the earliest as there was “confusion” in the state which was without a chief minister since the resignation of Hemant Soren on Wednesday, deepening a political crisis.

The Governor appointed Champai Soren as the CM designate and asked him to decide on the ceremony at his convenience.

The Governor also asked the leaders for a floor test within 10 days of taking the oath of office.

Senior JMM leader Alamgir Alam and lone RJD MLA Styanand Bhokta also took oath of office and secrecy as Cabinet Ministers along with Champai Soren.

Notably, the resignation of former Chief Minister Hemant Soren has triggered a political crisis in Jharkhand as the state is left leaderless without a government for over 36 hours

Earlier on Thursday evening, 38 lawmakers from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Congress, and Rashtriya Janata Dal coalition headed to Birsa Munda Airport to travel to Hyderabad in Telangana due to a delay in government formation in the state. However, because of foggy weather and poor visibility at Ranchi Airport, their chartered flights were unable to receive clearance for takeoff, leading them to return to the circuit house.

Meanwhile, the Jharkand BJP has called an urgent legislature party meeting in Ranchi on Friday, in which apart from Babulal Marandi and senior State leaders, party’s top leaders BL Santosh and LK Vajapey are scheduled to participate.