Beau of The Fifth Column

Well, howdy there internet people, it's Belle again.

So today we're going to talk about what happened while you were sleeping.

News started breaking early this morning at about 1.40 Eastern time that an air campaign was underway and that Iran was being hit in line with the Trump administration's wishes to manage the narrative in hopes of getting Americans to rally behind the effort.

The early reporting cast the operation as a preemptive operation by Israel.

If you're wondering how we got here, there will be links down below to go over everything, from the framing to the recent briefing of the Gang of Eight.

A spokesperson said, quote,

The State of Israel has launched a preemptive strike against Iran to remove threats against the State of Israel.

As a result, a missile and UAV attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate timeframe.

About half an hour later, it started being confirmed that U.S.

forces were also involved in the operation, and a U.S.

official characterized the strikes as a joint operation.

These were not small strikes and didn't really appear limited in scope.

We've got reports of strikes hitting military, intelligence, and governmental targets.

It's coming from air and sea, with an unknown number of American aircraft and dozens of Tomahawks entering Iranian airspace.

A member of Iran's parliament posted a defiant message to social media, saying, We warned you.

Now you've started down a path and the end is no longer in your hands.

Missiles were launched by Iran at targets all over the region.

There is dramatic footage circulating on social media of a Fifth Fleet facility in Bahrain getting hit.

Rumor mill is that most, if not all, staff were evacuated before the strike.

A video message from Trump was posted to social media, in which he announced, quote,