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The intelligence community assess the UAV to be of Iranian origin.
„At the direction of President Biden, I authorized U.S. Central Command forces to conduct precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),“ said Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit also intended to use social media influencers in order to sway Israeli public opinion.
It is unclear if the IDF paid the Instagram account holders for their services. According to a source familiar with the inner workings of the unit, this is not the only time such cooperation has taken place.
– The MQ-9 was conducting an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission when it encountered Russian aircraft in the Black Sea region, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a briefing Tuesday. The Kremlin’s forces were not able to recover the MQ-9 — a drone with a wingspan of 66 feet — after the crash, Ryder said.
– Moscow blamed the incident on the U.S. drone’s “provocative” flight path, and denied that its jets made physical contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle. The drone “was moving deliberately and provocatively toward the Russian territory with its transponders turned off,” said Antonov.
(September 18,strong> 2003)
UN officials said there have been rumours going back 20 years that the Saudis wanted to pay Pakistan to do the research and development on nuclear weapons.
In 1988, Saudi bought from China intermediate-range missiles capable of reaching any part of the Middle East with a nuclear warhead.
Four years ago, Saudi Arabia sent a defence team to Pakistan to tour its secret nuclear facilities and to be briefed by Abdul Qader Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb.
Russia has a limited supply of such missiles and has never sent so many toward Ukraine in a single attack. Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, claimed in November that Russia had used 16 Kinzhal missiles over the course of the war and retained stocks of 42 missiles after replacing those it had fired.
Ukrainian officials have pleaded for their Western supporters, including the United States, to share stronger air defense systems, including the Patriot system, to help stop attacks that are undetectable with their existing hardware.
(today)
The official noted Taiwan will use its own funds for the purchase. (…)
A news release from the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Wednesday said the defense contractors for the munitions and equipment will be Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.
(today)
As a rule, Israel’s military does not comment on specific strikes in Syria, but has admitted to conducting hundreds of sorties against Iran-backed groups attempting to gain a foothold in the country over the last decade.
(29. Dec 2022)
(September 21, 2015)
IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot and Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Herzl Halevi will accompany Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a lightning trip to Moscow on Monday, in a clear signal that regional arms transfers and Russia’s troop deployments in Syria will be the main focus of the discussions.
The attack came as a refinery fire separately broke out in the country’s northwest and a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck nearby, killing two people
(September 06, 2010)
His Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak, said Israel was „ready to continue sharing experience with the Russian military on fighting terrorism and ensuring security, including by using air drones.“
Barak also met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who said, „We have purchased several unmanned aerial vehicles in Israel. We have launched a few satellites in Israel’s interests. We are examining the possibility of equipping Israeli airplanes with our instruments and laser equipment.“
Another Orlan-10 drone was destroyed in Kyiv region during a missile attack. The invaders planned to use the UAV to carry out aerial reconnaissance and identify the positions of the Ukrainian air defense.
„Therefore, we urge citizens not to publish data on shelling, the positions of our air defense systems and other sensitive information that the enemy will definitely use for subsequent attacks,“ the message says.
(February 26, 2022)
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a „deconfliction mechanism“ with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighbouring Arab state.
„Our military officials discuss the practical issues of this substantively on a daily basis. This mechanism has proven to be useful and will continue to work,“ the Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement.
(October 27, 2015)
In Russia, Eisenkot met with his Russian counterpart, General Valery Vasilevich Gerasimov – the first time chiefs of staff from Russia and Israel held a direct meeting in Moscow. Eisenkot also participated in part of the meeting held between Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Afterward, the two sides agreed to set up a joint working group led by the deputy chiefs of staff from each country.
(March 13, 1962)
c. Commence large scale United States military operations.
3. A „Remember the Maine“ incident could be arranged in several forms:
a. We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba.
b. We could blow up a drone (unmanned) vessel anywhere in the Cuban waters. We could arrange to cause such incident in the vicinity of Havana or Santiago as a spectacular result of Cuban attack from the air or sea, or both. The presence of Cuban planes or ships merely investigating the intent of the vessel could be fairly compelling evidence that the ship was taken under attack. The nearness to Havana or Santiago would add credibility especially to those people that might have heard the blast or have seen the fire. The US could follow up with an air/sea rescue operation covered by US fighters to „evacuate“ remaining members of the non-existent crew. Casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation.
4. We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington.
The terror campaign could be pointed at refugees seeking haven in the United States. We could sink a boatload of Cubans en route to Florida (real or simulated). We could foster attempts on lives of Cuban refugees in the United States even to the extent of wounding in instances to be widely publicized. Exploding a few plastic bombs in carefully chosen spots, the arrest of Cuban agents and the release of prepared documents substantiating Cuban involvement, also would be helpful in projecting the idea of an irresponsible government.
(19. November 1997)
“We could blow up a US warship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba,“ the memorandum said.
“We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington,“ it continued. “The terror campaign could be pointed at Cuban refugees seeking haven in the United States. We could sink a boatload of Cubans enroute to Florida (real or simulated).“
The records show that on March 13, 1962, the Joint Chiefs of Staff endorsed these ideas as “suitable for planning purposes.“ No evidence exists that they were carried out.
(March 9, 2010)
Operation Northwoods was a plan circulated in the U.S. government in 1962 to stage false flag terrorist attacks inside the U.S. and abroad to provoke “military intervention in Cuba”. The plan called for Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or other operatives to commit genuine acts of terrorism in U.S. cities and elsewhere. These acts of terrorism were to be blamed on Cuba in order to create public support for a war against that nation, which had recently become communist under Fidel Castro. One part of the Operation Northwoods plan was to “develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington.” The document was signed by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lyman Lemnitzer and reportedly presented to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on March 13, 1962.
The previously Top Secret document was originally made public on November 18, 1997, by the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board, a U.S. federal agency overseeing the release of government records related to John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
Officials from the Baltic states blamed Russia and claimed that Poland should invoke NATO’s Article 5 in retaliation. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky accused Russia of “terrorism” and said NATO needed to “act” against this “attack on collective security.”
(19.03.2022)
That assessment and Biden’s comments at the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia contradict information earlier Tuesday from a senior U.S. intelligence official who told the AP that Russian missiles crossed into Poland.
(9:53 A.M. CIT)
Q Mr. President, is it too early to say whether this missile was fired from Russia?
THE PRESIDENT: There is preliminary information that contests that. I don’t want to say that until we completely investigate. But it is — I — it’s unlikely, in the minds of the trajectory, that it was fired from Russia. But we’ll see. We’ll see.
Q Mr. President, has Poland suggested invoking Article 4 or 5 from NATO, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: The consensus is we’re going to probably have a meeting of the — of the — of the ambassadors. So that’s — it looks like we’re going to go do next.
Thank you.
(March 5, 2022)
Hopes had been high that international negotiators from the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council, Germany and the EU would be able to secure a deal with Tehran on Saturday to put strict limits on Iran’s atomic work in exchange for sanctions relief for the Islamic Republic.
Such a deal would bring significant volumes of Iranian crude oil back to global energy markets in the months ahead, and that could spell trouble for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
(05.11.2022)
The minister added that Tehran’s ties with Putin are based on neighborliness and common interests, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported.
The Iranian diplomat maintained that during a conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, they agreed that Kyiv would hand over evidence of the use of those Iranian drones in the conflict. “If it is confirmed that Russia used Iranian drones in the war against Ukraine, we will not be indifferent to this issue,” Abdollahian stressed.
(06.01.2007)
There is no other way to find logic or sense in the grotesque mountain of insignificant details, trivial conclusions, simplistic lessons, and bombastic nonsense that fills the working papers, investigation summaries, media reports, and officer discussions.
Some of those „conclusions and lessons“ looked and sounded like a cruel parody produced by an uninhibited satirist: „The elimination of the Katyusha rocket threat was not defined as an objective,“ „the activity was not defined as war,“ „the objectives were not defined using clear military language…“
(25.07.2014)
Over a decade ago, Yonatan Shapira, then an Israeli air force pilot, bravely confronted his top commander, Lt. General Dan Halutz, over what were euphemistically called “targeted assassinations.” Israeli warplanes regularly fired missiles at Hamas leaders in Gaza, also killing innocent civilians, some of them children.
Shapira asked General Halutz, What if a Hamas leader were located in Tel Aviv? Would you order our pilots to fire there, risking Israeli bystanders? Halutz said no.
So you value Israelis over Palestinians, Yonatan responded. Get someone else to fly your aircraft.
(October 25, 2022)
Calling for the International Criminal Court to open a new investigation into possible war crimes by Israeli military forces in Gaza in August, Amnesty International on Tuesday said the court must also include Israel’s illegal apartheid policies against the Occupied Palestinian Territories in its probe.
The organization’s call centered on the three-day offensive launched by Israel between August 5-8 in the Gaza Strip, with advocates saying its research suggests three specific attacks could amount to war crimes.
(October 27, 2015)
In Russia, Eisenkot met with his Russian counterpart, General Valery Vasilevich Gerasimov – the first time chiefs of staff from Russia and Israel held a direct meeting in Moscow. Eisenkot also participated in part of the meeting held between Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Afterward, the two sides agreed to set up a joint working group led by the deputy chiefs of staff from each country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Haaretz Democracy Conference on Monday, saying that Moscow’s military cooperation with Tehran will likely result in Russia assisting Iran with the development of its nuclear program.
In the prerecorded video message, the Ukrainian leader said that Iran’s sale of suicide drones and provision of military instructors to Russian forces operating in his country would not have been possible without Israel’s decision to stay neutral in the conflict.
Murphy, who chairs the Senate subcommittee dedicated to the Middle East, noted that Israel is not the only country that possesses the Iron Dome missile defense system that could potentially help Ukraine.
“The United States, in fact, could move toward transferring some of our Iron Dome capabilities to Ukraine, as well. I think Israel can do much more here,” the Connecticut senator said, adding: “These drones are absolutely devastating when they hit civilian areas“.
(12.10.2022)
Israel’s Iron Dome air defense, which boasts a 90 percent success rate against rockets fired against it, will stay out of Ukraine’s reach, experts said, as Jerusalem seeks to maintain strategic relations with Russia in Syria and other hot spots.
Israel’s Defense and Foreign ministries and the prime minister’s office uniformly declined to comment Wednesday on long-standing requests from Ukraine and its supporters for it to give, sell or loan Ukraine the system, including calls made since Monday’s barrage.
Since the beginning of the war, the close US ally has tried to walk a fine line: supporting Ukraine in principle but without antagonizing Putin in ways that might upset Israel’s relationship with Russia. After all, the Israelis have long had a quiet understanding with the Kremlin over Syria, where Russia controls much of the airspace and has for years allowed Israel to conduct airstrikes on Iranian targets.
But now, with Russia openly using Iranian kit to bombard Ukrainian cities, Israel faces renewed pressure to send Kyiv its renowned advanced missile defense systems – particularly the Iron Dome. But Israel’s considerations are complicated.
Following Putin’s visit to Tehran in July, Iran offered to assist Russia with avoiding those sanctions by using its so-called “dark” fleet of oil tankers.
In return, Moscow agreed an arms deal with Iran, including the purchase of 2,400 Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones.
These Iranian kamikaze drones are now at the forefront of Vladimir Putin’s attempts to wreak havoc against Ukraine, with their participation all the more important because the Russian military is running low on stockpiles of its conventional missiles. Nor is Iran’s involvement likely to be confined to providing drones.
A letter from Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and members of the U.N. Security Council was obtained by The Associated Press ahead of a closed council meeting late Wednesday requested by Britain, France and the United States on Iran’s sale of hundreds of drones to Russia.
The three Western countries strongly back Ukraine’s contention that the drones were transferred to Russia and violate a 2015 U.N. Security Council resolution that endorsed the nuclear deal between Iran and six key nations — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear activities and preventing the country from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran has promised to provide Russia with surface to surface missiles, in addition to more drones, two senior Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats told Reuters, a move that is likely to infuriate the United States and other Western powers.
A deal was agreed on Oct. 6 when Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, two senior officials from Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards and an official from the Supreme National Security Council visited Moscow for talks with Russia about the delivery of the weapons.
(…)
(17.10.2022)
„The published news about Iran providing Russia with drones has political ambitions and it’s circulated by western sources. We have not provided weaponry to any side of the countries at war,“ said Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani during a weekly press conference.
Iran is planning to aid Moscow’s war in Ukraine by sending more weapons to Moscow, according to anonymous U.S. and Western security officials, the Washington Post reported.
The planned weapons delivery from Tehran could include two types of surface-to-surface missiles, officials said, adding to the Iranian attack drones reportedly supplied to Moscow back in August.
„It is our belief that these UAVs that were transferred from Iran to Russia and used by Russia in Ukraine are among the weapons that would remain embargoed under 2231,“ said Vedant Patel of the state department.
(today)
In a number of cases, strikes were carried out using Geran-2 loitering ammunition.
Commenting on the situation, Arestovich said that the Russian troops „picked up the key to the Ukrainian air defense.“
According to Arestovich, the massive use of drones by Russia is aimed at ensuring that Ukraine shoots off its entire stock of anti-aircraft missiles. At the same time, an adviser in Zelensky’s office claims that Russia “ordered about 2400 more drones from Iran.”
(25.09.022)
Strikes continued with the use of loitering ammunition at enemy military facilities in Odessa. According to the latest data, the new strikes were carried out using Geran-2 strike drones, which are called an exact copy of Iranian Shahed-136 drones.
(07.10.2022)
But DW is now a days the voice of UA and NATO and not really an impartial news source with investigative journalists.
Just a stenograph of what others tell you to publish.
(…)
(17.10.2022)
A wave of “suicide drone” attacks inundated Kyiv in recent days, killing an unknown number of Ukrainian civilians. Ukrainian and European Union officials believe the Russian strikes were carried out using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, though Iran denies any involvement or role in supplying such drones to Russia.
As deadly Russian airstrikes continued into a second day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday asked the Group of 7 nations to help his country establish an “air shield” against aerial attacks.
Zelensky’s plea comes amid one of the fiercest bombing campaigns that Russia has waged against Ukraine since invading in late February. At least 19 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded across the country, as far away as the western city of Lviv, hundreds of miles from the war’s main theaters in eastern and southern Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden said in an exclusive CNN interview he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “rational actor” who badly miscalculated his ability to invade Ukraine. He also said he doesn’t believe Putin would use a nuclear weapon.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who addressed a meeting of the G7 on Tuesday, urged the leaders to intensify efforts to create an „air shield“ for Ukraine and to stiffen Russian sanctions.
Russia launched missile strikes on several regions of Ukraine on Tuesday, the second day of heavy bombardment aimed at the nation’s infrastructure.
At least 19 people were killed and more than 100 injured Monday in the Russian attacks, the heaviest seen in Kyiv and other cities since February.
The White House did not specify which air defense systems Biden discussed with Zelensky, but the United States previously committed to providing Ukraine with National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems. NASAMS would be capable of engaging Russian cruise missiles.
Oct 10, 2022 Dashcam footage from the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro shows the moment a Russian missile descended upon a residential area and the large explosion that followed.
Oct 10, 2022 A BBC journalist in Kyiv, Hugo Bachega, was delivering a news report when several explosions happened in the centre of Ukraine’s capital city.
Just over an hour later, after heading to shelter with his camera crew, the BBC re-established contact with Hugo.
Explosions have been reported in other cities across the country, including Lviv, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, in what appears to be the most widespread set of Russian attacks since the early weeks of the war.
(today)
Strikes continued with the use of loitering ammunition at enemy military facilities in Odessa. According to the latest data, the new strikes were carried out using Geran-2 strike drones, which are called an exact copy of Iranian Shahed-136 drones.
(14.08.2022)
Earlier, Yuriy Kasyanov wrote that a serial production of attack drones will start in Ukraine without the participation of the state. People believed, gave money, gave furniture, machine tools, tools, hoods, soldering irons, oscillographs.
Serial production of kamikaze drones. 8 pieces were made, 10 pieces are under production, components were purchased for 38 pieces.
According to the plan, up to 100 pieces can be produced in September, 2022.
(October 30, 2021)
As previously reported by the Ministry of Defense, an exercise was staged in Kamchatka in October, during which they rehearsed providing fire support for troops arriving on the coast. Unmanned kamikaze and unmanned aircraft were employed for the first time during the maneuvers. Their assistance destroyed the conditional enemy’s personnel and equipment. In addition, certain kinds of Russian hovering munitions have already been tested in the field.
The Cube and Lancet drones, in particular, were deployed in Syria. Bekkhan Ozdoev, industrial director of Rostec’s weapons complex, stated that kamikaze drones have proven to be successful tools on the battlefield due to their advantages in Syria
(22.08.2022)
A U.S. research and development contract for 10 larger, long-range Switchblade 600 kamikaze drones is expected to be awarded within the next 30 days, according to a Monday Defense News report citing Pentagon spokeswoman Jessica Maxwell. The U.S. has already supplied Ukraine with hundreds of smaller Switchblade 300 and Phoenix Ghost drones, which are able to „loiter“ in an area and conduct surveillance for hours before reaching a target and detonating.
(2022-03-16)
US President Joe Biden is considering sending US-made Kamikaze drones, also dubbed as suicide or killer drones, to war-hit Ukraine as part of $1 billion security assistance. According to reports, Biden is considering sending lightweight and ultramodern Kamikaze drones, which can fly up to 40 minutes then bomb a target.
‚Switchblade‘ drones will likely placate Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as the US has repeatedly opposed his calls for a no-flight zone over Ukraine, fearing that it could spread the war.
(27.08.2022)
President Biden’s order to strike targets belonging to Iranian-backed groups reflects a decision to act — “to protect and defend the safety of our personnel, to degrade and disrupt the ongoing series of attacks against the United States and our partners, and to deter the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iran-backed militia groups from conducting or supporting further attacks on United States personnel and facilities,” the president said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Since Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla took over U.S. Central Command in April, there has been a push to ensure that Iran cannot carry out attacks against U.S. forces and assets with impunity, according to a person familiar with planning, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
„At President (Joe) Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces conducted precision airstrikes in Deir el-Zor, Syria today. These precision strikes are intended to defend and protect U.S. forces from attacks like the ones on Aug. 15 against U.S. personnel by Iran-backed groups,“ a statement by the U.S. Central Command said.
6:45 pm IDT
Forty-nine Palestinians have been killed as a result of the latest military escalation between Israel and Islamic Jihad, which lasted three days. They include five girls, 11 boys and four women.
Thirty were killed during Israeli strikes. Of those, 17 were civilians, among them three girls, a boy and four women. Botched launches of Palestinian rockets killed 19 non-combatants, including 12 children.
A political analyst says pro-Israel lobbies and groups that oppose Iran’s nuclear deal with the West, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), would take advantage of the Friday night attack on anti-Islam blasphemous novelist Salman Rushdie and pin it on Iran to diminish the prospects of an agreement.
(February 26, 2022)
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a „deconfliction mechanism“ with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighbouring Arab state.
„Our military officials discuss the practical issues of this substantively on a daily basis. This mechanism has proven to be useful and will continue to work,“ the Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement.
Russia and Ukraine accused each other of shelling Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in the Zaporizhzhia region as the world on Saturday marked the 77th anniversary of the first atomic bomb attack in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, with UN chief Antonio Guterres warning against nuclear arms build-up amid fears of another such attack in the context of war in Ukraine. Follow FRANCE 24’s live coverage of the crisis.
Zawahiri had been in hiding for years and the operation to locate and kill him was the result of „careful patient and persistent“ work by the counter-terrorism and intelligence community, a senior administration official told reporters.
Until the US announcement, Zawahiri had been rumored variously to be in Pakistan’s tribal area or inside Afghanistan.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official provided the following details on the operation:
The Russian Ministry of Defense has confirmed striking targets in the major Ukrainian port of Odessa on Saturday, revealing that its missiles hit military infrastructure and arms stockpiles.
The military censor operates as a veil behind which anonymous security and intelligence sources can hide after “advising” the censor when to make use of his authority. In fact, these sources dictate the policy of censorship and exposure without any transparency or public responsibility. The time has come for the new chief censor, Brig. Gen. Kobi Mendelblit, to internalize the High Court of Justice ruling that censorship is only justified in cases of “certainty of clear damage to state security.”
Moscow has so far remained silent on the latest claims from Kiev.
Air raid warnings rang at about 11 a.m. with the sounds of explosions echoing across the city. The military’s southern command reported no casualties. It said air defense systems shot down two other missiles in the attack, which the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine described as “outrageous.”
The strike threatens an agreement that diplomats had hailed less than 24 hours earlier as a breakthrough after months of negotiations.
(February 26, 2022)
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a „deconfliction mechanism“ with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighbouring Arab state.
„Our military officials discuss the practical issues of this substantively on a daily basis. This mechanism has proven to be useful and will continue to work,“ the Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement.
(OCTOBER 27, 2015)
In Russia, Eisenkot met with his Russian counterpart, General Valery Vasilevich Gerasimov – the first time chiefs of staff from Russia and Israel held a direct meeting in Moscow. Eisenkot also participated in part of the meeting held between Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Afterward, the two sides agreed to set up a joint working group led by the deputy chiefs of staff from each country.
Earlier it was reported that rockets hit a high-rise building and a recreation center.
Joe Biden, speaking at a NATO summit in Madrid today, announced the creation of a new base for the US Fifth Army Corps in Poland – the first permanent American base in the country – along with 3,000 extra soldiers to be sent to Romania and ‚enhanced‘ troop rotations for the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Two more squadrons of F-35 fighters will be deployed to the UK, Biden added, along with additional air defence systems for Germany and Italy, and another two destroyers which will be stationed at Rota Naval Station in Spain, bringing the total to six.
On June 25 at night, the Russian army mounted a massive missile attack on several regions of Ukraine, Russia resumed attacks using Iskander missiles from the territory of Belarus, and for the first time used Tu-22M3 long-range bombers from the air space of Belarus, the Command of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has said.
He also said he expects Israel to join the sanctions imposed by the West. „Unfortunately, we haven’t seen Israel joining yet,“ he said.
(June 4, 2022)
On Ukraine’s battlefields, the simple act of powering up a cellphone can beckon a rain of deathly skyfall. Artillery radar and remote controls for unmanned aerial vehicles may also invite fiery shrapnel showers. (…)
It is used against artillery, fighter jets, cruise missiles, drones and more. Militaries also use it to protect their forces.
Konashenkov said shells for M777 howitzers, a type supplied by the United States, were being stored there. He said four howitzers were destroyed elsewhere in fighting and that Russian airstrikes also destroyed Ukrainian “aviation equipment” at a military aerodrome in the southern Mykolaiv region.
There was no immediate comment on the Zolochiv strike from the Ukrainians.
(February 26, 2022)
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a „deconfliction mechanism“ with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighbouring Arab state.
„Our military officials discuss the practical issues of this substantively on a daily basis. This mechanism has proven to be useful and will continue to work,“ the Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement.
The appeals from Kyiv have apparently been heard in Washington, where a Biden administration official told CBS News senior national security correspondent David Martin that the White House was leaning toward providing multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to Ukraine as part of the next package of military aid for the country.
No final decision has been made in Washington, officials told CBS News, …
(February 26, 2022)
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a „deconfliction mechanism“ with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighbouring Arab state.
„Our military officials discuss the practical issues of this substantively on a daily basis. This mechanism has proven to be useful and will continue to work,“ the Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement.
North Korea fired an apparent submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) in waters off its east coast Saturday, South Korea’s military said, in the recalcitrant regime’s latest saber-rattling that comes three days before President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s inauguration.
(February 26, 2022)
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a „deconfliction mechanism“ with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighbouring Arab state.
„Our military officials discuss the practical issues of this substantively on a daily basis. This mechanism has proven to be useful and will continue to work,“ the Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement.
„Odesa. Another enemy Forpost-type UAV followed the Russian ship. Thank you, air defense!“ Bratchuk wrote on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.
Over 40 Afghan civilians, including children, were killed after Pakistani aircraft launched airstrikes in different parts of Khost and Kunar provinces on Friday night, according to Habib Khan, a journalist and the founder of Afghan peace watch, Afghanistan’s independent peace watchdog.
(12 March, 2022)
(April 6, 2022)
Netanyahu has been relatively quiet on Ukraine, which would put him at odds with the current administration and key parts of the U.S. Republican Party. In the past he has seen Putin as a partner in fighting Iranian influence in Syria and in the effort to keep Iran from supplying Hezbollah and Hamas with cash and weapons. That is similar to Bennett’s policy, though it is hard to imagine Bibi trying to mediate the conflict or allowing his foreign minister to call Putin a war criminal, as Lapid is now doing.
(26 February ,2022)
Russia sees its military coordination with Israel over Syria continuing, the Russian embassy said on Saturday, after Moscow signaled displeasure with Israeli statements about the Ukraine crisis.
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a “deconfliction mechanism” with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighboring Arab state.
A missile hit a train station in eastern Ukraine where thousands had gathered Friday, killing at least 52 and wounding dozens more in an attack on a crowd of mostly women and children trying to flee a new, looming Russian offensive, Ukrainian authorities said.
City officials said a fuel depot had been targeted, with no reported casualties. Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said in a statement that some of the missiles had been shot down by Ukrainian air defences.
Russia’s defence ministry confirmed the sea- and air-launched missile strikes, saying its military destroyed an oil refinery and three fuel storage facilities that were being used to supply Ukrainian troops stationed near the city of Mykolaiv, which is close to the frontline fighting.
(March 13, 2022)
IDF and Russian commanders in Syria use a deconfliction mechanism that coordinates IDF activity and allows Israel to operate without endangering Russian assets.
This is well understood by Israelis. A poll published this week shows 67% of the public supports the government’s cautious approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and favors not taking a firm stance against Russia. Only 21% disagree.
Germany is looking to create an “Iron Dome” protection shield, similar to the one used by Israel, to protect against Russian missiles.
“That is certainly among the things that we are discussing, and for good reasons,” Olaf Scholz, the chancellor, told the state television channel ARD. “We need to be aware that we have a neighbour who is prepared to use violence to enforce their interests.”
(17.03.2022)
Last week, a drone flew more than 350 miles beyond Ukraine’s western border before crashing in Croatia, a NATO member country. The drone was carrying a bomb, Croatian officials said, and it’s still not clear whether it belonged to Ukrainian or Russian forces.
Another drone recently entered the airspace of Romania, south of Ukraine. And on Tuesday, Ukraine’s military said it shot down a Russian drone that had reentered Ukraine through Polish airspace.
The trio of drone incidents has amplified concerns that …
Ukrainian authorities struggled to determine the fate of hundreds of civilians who had been sheltering in a theater smashed by a Russian airstrike in the besieged city of Mariupol as officials said Russian artillery Thursday destroyed more civilian buildings in another frontline city.
Drama Theater from the inside before the #Russian bombing
Just look at how many children are there…
#UkraineWar #Russia #Russian #UkraineRussiaWar #Ukraine
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Sunday claimed responsibility for a ballistic missile attack on Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, saying it was targeting an Israeli „strategic centre“.
Around a dozen missiles rained down on the city at 1am on Sunday morning.
Regional governor Maksym Kozytskyy said Russian planes fired around 30 rockets at the Yavoriv International Center for Peacekeeping and Security, adding that some were intercepted before they hit. At least 35 people were killed and 134 wounded, he said. Reuters was not able to verify his statement.
The 360 square-km facility less than 25km from the Polish border, is one Ukraine’s biggest and the largest in the western part of the country.
“We condemn this terrorist attack launched against several sectors of Erbil, we call on the inhabitants to remain calm,” Kurdistan prime minister Masrour Barzani said in a statement.
The attack comes several days after an Israeli strike near Damascus, Syria killed two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
(March 10, 2022)
#Ukraine #Mariupol #Russia
ATGM on the roof and armored vehicles at residential buildings.
Source: WAR GONZO
A photo of a bloodied Vishegirskaya fleeing the hospital made global headlines, prompting the Russian Embassy to falsely claim she was a crisis actor, saying she was not at the hospital at the time of the attack and was wearing „some very realistic make-up.“
(March 8, 2022)
Игорь рассказал, что в последние дни февраля в роддом, где работает его мать, пришли люди в форме. Он не знает, были это бойцы ВСУ или националистического батальона «Азов» (запрещен в РФ). Военные сбили все замки, разогнали персонал роддома, а в здании устроили огневые точки, чтобы, как они объяснили медикам, подготовить к обороне «крепость Мариуполь». На возражения у военных реакция стандартная: удары прикладами, стрельба в воздух.
Interview was published on 3/9 in Lenta, top Russian liberal outlet.
Correction: the interview was published on 3/8, a day before this attack. But it doesn’t change a thing, in fact, it just confirms that the interviewee told this story BEFORE attack even happened.
What he’s saying: „A children’s hospital. Maternity hospital. What did they threaten the Russian Federation with?“ Zelensky said in a televised address on Wednesday.
„What kind of country is this — the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals and maternity hospitals and destroys them?“ he continued.
“Direct confrontation between Nato and Russia is World War III – something we must strive to prevent,“ Mr Biden added.
However, he vowed that Russia would pay a „severe price“ if it used chemical weapons in Ukraine.
It comes as Kyiv warned that Belarus could join Russia’s invasion as early as this evening after Russian fighter jets fired at Belarus from Ukrainian air space in an apparent ‘false flag’ attack to involve Minsk in the conflict.
Moscow did not immediately comment on a statement by Ukraine’s border service that several Belarusian border villages had been bombed by Russian warplanes to create a reason for Belarus to join Russia’s war against Ukraine.
(26 February ,2022)
Russia sees its military coordination with Israel over Syria continuing, the Russian embassy said on Saturday, after Moscow signaled displeasure with Israeli statements about the Ukraine crisis.
Following the 2015 Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war, Israel set up a “deconfliction mechanism” with the big power to prevent them clashing inadvertently during Israeli strikes against Iranian deployments and arms transfers in the neighboring Arab state.
Source: Vadym Boichenko, Mayor of Mariupol, on the unified TV and radio broadcast of the Ukrainian media
Quote: „We have been flattened non-stop for 12 hours. The racist-fascist troops are razing my hometown to the ground.“
Details: According to Boichenko, there has been total destruction of residential infrastructure.
“Kharkiv has just been massively fired upon by grads (rockets). Dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded,” Anton Herashchenko, Ukraine’s interior ministry adviser, said in a post on Facebook this morning.
It comes as peace talks between Ukraine and Russia started at the Belarusian border.
“Circumstances require us to take decisive and immediate action,“ the order reads. “The People’s Republics of Donbass turned to Russia with a request for help. In this regard, in accordance with Article 51, part 7 of the UN Charter, with the sanction of the Federation Council and in pursuance of the friendship treaties ratified by the Federal Assembly and mutual assistance with the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, I have decided to conduct a special military operation,” Putin concludes.
At the same time, in address to the public, Putin said that he wanted to „demilitarize“ and „de-Nazify“ Ukraine. According to him, „we have no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory.“ Within moments of the speech, a series of explosions were reported in cities across Ukraine,
The Russian Ministry of Defence has stated that it used precision weapons to neutralise Ukrainian air forces and air defences, as well as military infrastructure, stressing that the Russian military is not attacking Ukrainian cities, so there are no threats to the civilian population.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the Russian military is attacking Ukrainian military facilities as part of an ongoing operation in Ukraine. Precision weapons are used against military infrastructure, air defense sites, military airfields and aircraft, a statement cited by RIA Novosti said.
CNN’s Matthew Chance in Kyiv, Ukraine, stops his live reporting to put on gear as he and the team hear loud explosions near the city.
„U.S. Special Operations forces under the control of U.S. Central Command conducted a counterterrorism mission this evening in northwest Syria. The mission was successful. There were no U.S. casualties. More information will be provided as it becomes available,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement.
“I saw the report in the New York Times that Israel is updating the United States regarding its operations and plans vis-a-vis Iran. If this is true, this is a grave mistake,” Netanyahu said during a Knesset faction meeting of his Likud party.
According to the report Saturday, Israel spoke with the US ahead of an attack in June on a facility in Karaj used in the construction of centrifuges needed to enrich uranium.
The DCA aircraft committed by the nuclear capable European air forces are always the same, since they are the only ones configured to carry the B61: German and Italian Air Force Tornado IDS; Belgian, Dutch and Turkish F-16s. The American participation involves the tactical assets based in Europe: F-16s and F-15Es.
It appears that Turkey, despite the commitments it made to Russia, not only finds it very hard to impose its will on the militias but is in no hurry to do so. It sees control of Idlib as a bargaining chip it can use to win concessions from Moscow over other parts of Syria. Turkey argues that Russia hasn’t kept its end of the bargain to evacuate Kurdish forces from the border area between it and Syria, in particular from the cities of Manbij and Tell Rifaat. Thus, in response to Moscow’s demands to expel militants from Idlib, Ankara is demanding that the Russians move ahead with their pa
Shortly after the Damascus bombings, government shells landed in a rebel-held town in northern Syria, killing at least 10 people, four of them children. The attack, part of the government campaign to regain control of areas still in opposition hands, was the worst violence in the region since a truce in March last year was negotiated by Turkey and Russia, allies of the opposition and Syrian government, respectively.
The official said the attack appeared to include at least one drone strike and possibly groundfire. It was not yet clear who carried out the attack.
It’s hard to know exactly how many civilians have been killed by drones. One analysis by Airwars, a harm monitoring group, estimated that at least 22,000 civilians have been killed based off the U.S. military’s assertion that it has conducted 100,000 airstrikes since 2001. However, the same analysis noted that the number could be as high as 48,000.
It happened in my area of responsibility, so I’m the responsible officer for that strike,” McKenzie said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
McKenzie said he was under “no pressure” and “no one in my chain of command below me was under any pressure to take that strike.”
The Pentagon on Friday confirmed it mistook a civilian vehicle for an ISIS-K threat when it launched a drone strike on Aug. 29 in Kabul that killed 10 civilians.
Es seien zehn Zivilisten, darunter bis zu sieben Kinder, bei dem Angriff ums Leben gekommen, sagte US-General Kenneth McKenzie.
According to the report, the S-500 system is designed to intercept long- and medium-range ballistic missiles as well as warplanes.
The system is an upgraded version of the current S-400 Triumph system, which is capable of destroying targets at a distance of up to 400 km and a height of up to 30 km.
(19. November 1997)
“We could blow up a US warship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba,“ the memorandum said.
“We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington,“ it continued. “The terror campaign could be pointed at Cuban refugees seeking haven in the United States. We could sink a boatload of Cubans enroute to Florida (real or simulated).“
The records show that on March 13, 1962, the Joint Chiefs of Staff endorsed these ideas as “suitable for planning purposes.“ No evidence exists that they were carried out.
Operation Northwoods was a 1962 plan by the U.S. Department of Defense to stage acts of simulated or real terrorism on US soil and against U.S. interests and then put the blame of these acts on Cuba in order to generate U.S. public support for military action against the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. As part of the U.S. government’s Operation Mongoose anti-Castro initiative, the plan, which was not implemented, called for various false flag actions, including simulated or real state-sponsored acts of terrorism on U.S. and Cuban soil. The plan was proposed by senior U.S. Department of Defense leaders, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lyman Louis Lemnitzer.
Someone finally hit an airplane with a drone while flying it near an airport.
Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said in a statement that military forces conducted an “over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner” in the Nangahar Province of Afghanistan.
ISIS-K is based in the Nagarhar and Kunar provinces east of Kabul, according to NBC News.
In a letter sent to the White House on Thursday, Omar said the information Hale revealed, “while politically embarrassing to some, has shone a vital light on the legal and moral problems of the drone program and informed the public debate on an issue that has for too many years remained in the shadows.”
This courageous whistleblower feared the temptation not to question U.S. drone policy. Complicity was the opposite burden he feared, the sacrifice of his moral autonomy and dignity.
The salvo was significantly larger than a few previous rocket launches from Lebanon in recent weeks, and the first to be claimed by Hezbollah in many years. On Friday afternoon, Israel’s political and security leaders held consultations about how to respond.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the attack that targeted what the Israeli military said was a rocket launching site and a compound belonging to Hamas, the political group that governs Gaza.
Hamas had no immediate comment.
With tensions running high in the aftermath of the tanker attack off Oman, the defense minister says strikes in Lebanon were ‚warning shots‘
Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Thursday condemned the Israeli air raids that targeted Lebanon’s southern villages earlier in the day, saying they constitute a flagrant and serious violation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1701, according to a statement by Lebanon’s Presidency.
‚This proposed sale will improve India’s capability to meet current and future threats,‘ says State Department
Drone strikes shield U.S. military members from harm in order to minimize Americans’ opposition to war. But drone operators who make or carry out remote targeting decisions nevertheless suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
At his sentencing hearing, Hale told U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady, “I believe that it is wrong to kill, but it is especially wrong to kill the defenseless.” Hale said he revealed what “was necessary to dispel the lie that drone warfare keeps us safe, that our lives are worth more than theirs.”
Before he was sentenced, Hale read a powerful and intensely emotional speech to the court, condemning the horrors of war, particularly the post-9/11 U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and drew attention to Iraqi and Afghan victims of the U.S. drone assassination program. He said he opposes war for the same reasons he opposes the death penalty, saying it’s wrong to kill and especially wrong to kill the defenseless. The U.S. often posthumously labels those it kills as “combatants,” and Hale said that sometimes up to 90% of victims in a given airstrike are unidentifiable.
Similar forms of cloud seeding have existing for decades. But the process has typically used salt flairs and has come with concerns about the environment, expenses and effectiveness, according to the Desert Research Institute and CNN.
So the UAE is now testing a new method that has drones fly into clouds to give them an electric shock to trigger rain production, the BBC and CNN have previously reported.
„The Kronshtadt Group will showcase the latest Orion-E unmanned aerial vehicle in its reconnaissance/strike version. Rosoboronexport’s partners will also be able to view air defense and electronic warfare systems that the company is promoting abroad.
So activists, politicians, and technologists need to step in now, before it is too late. We cannot allow a time lag between the development of this technology and the creation of policies to let police buy, deploy, or use armed robots. Rather, we must ban police from arming robots, whether in the air or on the ground, whether automated or remotely-controlled, whether lethal or less lethal, and in any other yet unimagined configuration.
The artists aimed to inform the U.S. public about Daniel E. Hale, a former Air Force analyst who blew the whistle on the consequences of drone warfare.
Decrying the United States‚ „forever wars“ and their deadly consequences, a group of over 110 advocacy groups from around the world on Wednesday published an open letter imploring President Joe Biden to end airstrikes „outside any recognized battlefield“ and „abandon this war-based approach and chart a new path forward that promotes and respects our collective human security.“
Pelosi says they appear „targeted and proportional“
Schiff says he believes they are „appropriate and reasonable“
Kaine said today it appears to be „classic“ self-defense
Daesh/ISIS no longer controls territory and nearly eight million people have been freed from its control in Iraq and Syria, but the threat remains. The resumption in Daesh/ISIS activities and its ability to rebuild its networks and capabilities to target security forces and civilians in areas in Iraq and Syria where the Coalition is not active, requires strong vigilance and coordinated action. This includes allocating adequate resources to sustain Coalition and legitimate partner forces’ efforts against Daesh/ISIS, and significant stabilization support, both to address the drivers that make communities vulnerable to recruitment by Daesh/ISIS and related violent ideological groups, as well as to provide support to liberated areas to safeguard our collective security interests. In this regard, the Ministers noted the 2021 Pledge Drive for Stabilization as an important means to help sustain the recovery of areas liberated from Daesh/ISIS and prevent its resurgence. The Ministers reaffirm that Daesh/ISIS will continue to be pressured by curbing its ability to raise revenue, enhancing information sharing on terrorists through bilateral and/or multilateral channels like INTERPOL, and fighting against Daesh/ISIS’ toxic propaganda and denying the group space to exploit social media online.
(25.06.2021)
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee plans to take up a bipartisan measure to repeal the 2002 and 1991 war authorizations for Iraq in mid-July, the panel’s chairman confirmed Thursday.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said he is working with the Biden administration to schedule a classified briefing…
The United States said on Sunday it carried out another round of air strikes against Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria, which killed four people according to Iran-backed militia groups.
The strikes, the U.S. said, were in response to drone attacks by the militia against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.
(25.06.2021)
Did the drone strike on the Iranian site – conducted while Israel’s army chief is in Washington – surprise the Americans?
(23.06.2021)
The material was kept in safes in the so-called ‘aquarium,’ where prime ministers and their most senior aides sit. It’s unclear which, or how many, documents were destroyed at Netanyahu’s orders
Dozens of private diplomatic conversations with world leaders, agreements and understandings that go unmentioned in meeting minutes, the Iranian nuclear issues or strategic ties with the American government about which private conversations were held with Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump: All of these remain in Netanyahu’s notebooks and his memory, as if they were his private possession. The heads of the intelligence community who briefed Bennett know only some of these issues – what they were told.
The attacks from Gaza came in response to the controversial flag parade in Jerusalem on Tuesday that had drawn threats of action by Hamas. The overnight airstrikes gave way to calm by morning, and there were no reports of casualties on either side.
Two decades of war in Afghanistan have helped transform the spy agency into a paramilitary organization: It carries out hundreds of drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan, trains Afghan commando units and maintains a large presence of C.I.A. officers in a string of bases along the border with Pakistan. At one point during President Barack Obama’s first term, the agency had several hundred officers in Afghanistan, its largest surge of personnel to a country since the Vietnam War.
Marketing the public image of the drone as a kinder, gentler, safer way to make war, to quell striking workers or to police our cities might have begun with President Obama, who justified drone assassinations, …