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JUST IN: The New York Times confirmed the unit. Navy SEAL Team 6. The same operators who killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in 2011 extracted a downed Air Force colonel from the Zagros Mountains of Iran in 2026. The parallels are exact and the differences are what matter. In 2011, 24 SEALs flew two stealth Black Hawks into Pakistan, spent 40 minutes on the ground, destroyed one crashed helicopter to protect its classified stealth modifications, and flew out with bin Laden’s body. Zero casualties. In 2026, according to the Times, hundreds of special operations troops and other military personnel, dozens of warplanes and helicopters, and the full spectrum of cyber, space, and intelligence capabilities were deployed to extract one injured weapons systems officer who had been evading capture for over 24 hours while IRGC forces and Bakhtiari tribesmen hunted him through mountains 200 miles inside Iran. The operation that killed the world’s most wanted man used two helicopters. The operation that rescued one pilot used an air armada. The WSO ejected when his F-15E was shot down on April 3, the first American combat aircraft lost in the war. He landed in the mountains of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. He had a pistol, an encrypted beacon, and SERE training. He hiked to a 7,000-foot ridgeline, found a rock crevice, and activated his signal while Iranian state television broadcast a bounty for his capture. The CIA ran a deception campaign to misdirect Iranian search parties. Israeli intelligence provided real-time tracking of IRGC ground force movements and the Israeli Air Force halted its own strike campaign for 36 hours to create a rescue corridor. A senior US official told the Times it was “one of the most challenging and complex rescues in the history of American special operations.” The rescue force established a forward arming and refuelling point on an abandoned airstrip approximately 50 kilometres southeast of Isfahan, deep inside Iranian territory. Two MC-130J Commando II transports and associated MH-6 Little Bird helicopters landed to support the extraction. Both transports became immobilised. The operators destroyed them on the ground, detonating charges on classified avionics, communications systems, and software rather than allow the IRGC to capture American technology. Then they called for more aircraft. Three additional transports arrived under fire. SEAL Team 6 loaded the WSO and the stranded rescue team and flew out of Iran. Zero American casualties. The WSO was flown to Kuwait for treatment. The President said he “will be just fine.” In 2011, one stealth Black Hawk was destroyed to protect its secrets. In 2026, two MC-130Js and their associated rotary-wing aircraft were destroyed for the same reason. The doctrine is identical: hardware is expendable when the alternative is technology transfer to an adversary. The scale is what changed. Abbottabad was a scalpel. Dehdasht was a sledgehammer wrapped in a scalpel. The scalpel was SEAL Team 6. The sledgehammer was everything else the United States military sent into Iran to make sure the scalpel could do its work and come home. This was the first confirmed American ground operation of the 2026 Iran war. Not a missile strike. Not an air sortie. Boots on Iranian soil, weapons fired at Iranian forces, aircraft destroyed on Iranian territory, and every person who went in came out. The country that failed at Desert One in 1980 just succeeded at Dehdasht in 2026, and the unit that made the difference is the same unit that was created because Desert One failed. open.substack.com/pub/shanakaans…
“Coming into Liverpool, I thought it would be full of people who support Liverpool, but it’s not. Everyone I’ve spoken to is mostly Everton and it’s nice to know that I play for the team that is most supported in this city.” liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football…
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall shared in a recent interview that since he joined Everton, he’s noticed that there are far more Everton supporters roaming the streets of Liverpool than fans of Liverpool. 👀👀
🎟️📣 We're asking supporters unable to attend Saturday's derby match to assist fellow LFC fans by returning tickets you are unable to use. More info: liverpoolfc.com/news/help-fell…
I think we can all relate!
🚨🏆 FA Cup draw: Manchester City vs Liverpool Southampton vs Arsenal Port Vale vs Chelsea West Ham/Brentford vs Leeds
Gareth Barry has played in excess of 13,900 more Premier League minutes than James Milner 🤯 Despite them now being tied on a record 653 appearances apiece, Barry has been on the field for more than four full seasons longer than Milner 👏
Liverpool agree fee for Rennes’ Jeremy Jacquet . £55m plus £5m. Deal for summer . Details in blog
🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Liverpool are considering appointing Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique for a long-term project. 🤯❤️ However, he is NOT expected to replace Arne Slot. Enrique is seen by Liverpool as a priority target for the coming years, only when the Spaniard leaves his position at PSG. (Source: @TheSunFootball)
