Details of leaked Yemen strike plans: what we know
Details of leaked Yemen strike plans: what we know
The Atlantic magazine on Wednesday published plans for US strikes in Yemen that its editor-in-chief received after he was mistakenly added to a chat group of top Trump officials.
Here are the key messages that appear to show details of an imminent US military operation against Iran-backed Huthi rebels in the country, and the real-time aftermath of the attacks.
The chat group on instant messaging app Signal included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who messaged it at 11:44 am on March 15 the day of the strikes.
"Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch," Hegseth wrote, referring to US Central Command, which is responsible for the Middle East.
He followed that up with a detailed timetable of which aircraft would be launching when.
Hegseth said the first F-18 warplanes would launch at 12:15 pm, with the "target terrorist" at his known location an hour and a half later the same time that MQ-9 Reaper drones would be launched.
More F-18s were set to launch at 2:10 pm in a second strike package, with drones over the target five minutes later.
"THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBSWILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier 'Trigger Based' targets," Hegseth said.
The second wave of F-18 strikes were to start at 3:36 pm the same time that the first sea-based Tomahawk cruise missiles were to launch, the defense secretary wrote.
"We are currently clean on OPSEC," he added a reference to operational security, which in fact had been compromised due to the journalist's presence in the chat.
At 2:00 pm, Waltz wrote to the group saying a Huthis' "top missile guy" was targeted.
"We had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend's building and its now collapsed," he wrote, indicating that the United States had detailed intelligence about the target's movements, and had apparently struck a residential building in an attempt to kill him.
Hegseth later wrote that additional strikes would to follow.
"Great job all. More strikes ongoing for hours tonight, and will provide full initial report tomorrow. But on time, on target, and good readouts so far."
wd/st
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
