US assault on Iran ahead of schedule, says US Middle East Commander

The U.S. assault on Iran was ahead of schedule, said the top American commander for the Middle East, as Israel and the U.S. targeted sites deep inside the country, and Iran carried out strikes around the Gulf.



The five-day-old war continued to rattle global markets, as airline and tourism industries scrambled to deal with more than 20,000 flight cancellations and governments rushed to bring stranded travellers home from the Middle East.



The Israeli military said early on Wednesday it had begun a wave of strikes targeting Iranian launch sites, aerial defence systems and infrastructure.



In Israel, air raid sirens sounded early on Wednesday warning of Iranian missiles, and loud blasts as the missiles were intercepted shook buildings, said witnesses.



U.S. Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads U.S. forces in the Middle East as the head of Central Command, said the first 24 hours of the 'Operation Epic Fury' bombardment of Iran were "nearly double the scale" of the first 24 hours of the 'Shock and Awe' campaign that opened the Iraq War in 2003.



Cooper said Iran's air defences had been badly degraded, its navy had no operational vessels on key waterways after 17 were sunk, and that more than 2,000 Iranian targets had been hit.