Before Iran attack, U.S. soldiers protected themselves in bunkers

Iraqi officials said U.S. soldiers at the Al-Asad base -- one of two Iranian-fired complexes on January 8 -- rushed to transfer personnel and armaments to fortified bunkers nearly eight hours before the attack.

Around midnight, no hunting or helicopter remained open, an intelligence agent said. When the missiles finally crashed, near 1:30 a.m. (7:30 p.m., in Brasilia), they hit "empty bunkers," the intelligence source said. No one was wounded or killed.

Another Iraqi intelligence source maintained that American soldiers even seemed to know the timing of the attack, saying they appeared to be "fully aware" that the base would be attacked "after midnight." According to U.S. media outlets, the United States was reportedly alerted to the attack by Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi said he had been informed of the offensive by the Iranians themselves.

Still, as reported by American broadcaster CNN, some soldiers believed they would die. "I was 100% sure I would die," Sergeant Akeem Ferguson said. It was a miracle that no one was injured," Colonel Staci Coleman, head of airspace at al-Asad military base said Monday, 13.

According to CNN, American soldiers took shelter in bunkers built during saddam hussein's dictatorship, which ruled Iraq between 1979 and 2003. U.S. shelters, although more recent, were thought to withstand attacks by projectiles less explosive than missiles, such as rockets and mortars, widely used by terrorist groups in the region, including the Islamic State

The attack

After the missiles fell, the U.S. press cited that the attack had been deliberately a little more than a warning shot – not a deadly charge. Therefore, it would not provoke retaliation from the United States. Iran's action was a response to the January 3 U.S. attack to kill Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. without great risk of provoking retaliation from the United States.

Soleimani was leader of iran's revolutionary guard's elite force and responsible for training and cooperating with Shiite militias across the Middle East, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon. His death increased military tensions between the United States and Iran.

As of Friday 10, u.S. law enforcement officials rejected the narrative that Iran's attack was just a warning shot. But in fact, there was no American military retaliation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters that day that there was "no doubt" that Iran had "full intention" of killing U.S. military personnel.