SHARE A year ago on January 8, Iran launched Operation Martyr Suleimani, firing a salvo of ballistic missiles at two US bases in Iraq. The attacks were in revenge for the death of Iranian general Qassem Suleimani, killed in a US drone strike on January 3 near Baghdad airport, after escalating violence between Iran-backed Iraqi militias and US forces. The ballistic missile attacks were unprecedented, almost sparking a regional war – until that point, Iran had not directly attacked US forces, instead relying on allied Iraqi militias. Eleven missiles smashed into the Iraqi-American base at Al Asad, blasting aircraft hangers to smithereens and cutting off communications to US drones, nearly causing the multi-million dollar aircraft to crash.