Military & War News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

War appears imminent between Serbia and Kosovo
Source: Daily Kos

“As if there wasn’t enough to worry about in the world already, it looks like Serbia is about to provoke a war with its breakaway region of Kosovo.

As you likely recall, mostly Muslim Kosovo broke away from Serbia back in the 90s, starting a war with Serbia, which ended with a NATO intervention that ended Serbia’s aggression and established Kosovo as an independent republic.

For whatever reason Serbia, whose government is a stooge of Putin’s, may have decided that now is a good time to try to take Kosovo back.”

Read more: https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/3 ... ign=recent

[andmar74]

China’s military ‘will not sit idly by’ if Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan

What's wrong with these Chinese lunatics? Just come with your crappy military and let the US blow it to pieces..

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... sit-taiwan

[joe00uk]

China’s military ‘will not sit idly by’ if Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan

What's wrong with these Chinese lunatics? Just come with your crappy military and let the US blow it to pieces..

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... sit-taiwan

Famous last words of the US army.

[weatheriscool]

Israel strikes on Gaza kill 7, including senior militant
Source: AP

By FARES AKRAM

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have killed at least seven people, including a five-year-old girl, and wounded another 40.

The Islamic Jihad militant group says one of its Gaza commanders was among those killed.

Israel launched the airstrikes after days of tensions following the arrest of a senior Islamic Jihad member in the occupied West Bank.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel unleashed a wave of airstrikes in Gaza on Friday, killing at least four people, including a senior militant, according to Palestinian officials. Israel said it was targeting the Islamic Jihad militant group amid days of heightened tensions following the arrest of a senior militant in the occupied West Bank earlier this week.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/israel-strik ... 72351cd638

[weatheriscool]

Israeli airstrike kills 2nd top Islamic Jihad commander
Source: AP

By FARES AKRAM and ILAN BEN ZION

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike killed a senior commander in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, authorities said Sunday, its second leader to be slain amid an escalating cross-border conflict.

The killing late Saturday of Khaled Mansour, who led the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad’s operations in the southern Gaza Strip, came a day after another Israeli strike killed the militant’s commander in the north. Already, the fighting has killed at least 29 Palestinians and seen hundreds of rockets fired toward Israel in the worst violence between Israel and Palestinian militants since the end of an 11-day war in 2021.

Meanwhile, tensions could escalate as Jews mark a holy day that will see ultranationalist Israeli lawmakers visit a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Such visits can be a frequent flashpoint for violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad confirmed Sunday that the airstrike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed Mansour and two fellow militants. The militants said the strike also killed civilians as it flattened several homes.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/middle-east- ... edcdd49a56

[weatheriscool]

Cease-fire between Palestinians, Israel takes effect in Gaza
Source: AP

By FARES AKRAM and TIA GOLDENBERG

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants took effect late Sunday in a bid to end nearly three days of violence that killed dozens of Palestinians and disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis.

The flare-up was the worst fighting between Israel and Gaza militant groups since Israel and Hamas fought an 11-day war last year, and adds to the destruction and misery that have plagued blockaded Gaza for years.

The Egyptian-brokered cease-fire took effect at 11:30 p.m. (2030 GMT; 4:30 p.m. EDT). Israeli strikes and militant rockets continued in the minutes leading up to the beginning of the truce, and Israel said it would “respond strongly” if the cease-fire was violated.

Israeli aircraft have pummeled targets in Gaza since Friday, while the Iran-backed Palestinian Jihad militant group has fired hundreds of rockets at Israel in response. The risk of the cross-border fighting turning into a full-fledged war remained as long as no truce was reached. Israel says some of the dead were killed by misfired rockets.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/middle-east- ... edcdd49a56

[weatheriscool]

Somali forces end hotel attack in which 20 were killed
Source: AP

By OMAR FARUK

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somali authorities on Sunday ended a deadly attack in which at least 20 people were killed and many others wounded when gunmen stormed a hotel in the capital.

It took Somali forces more than 30 hours to contain the fighters who had stormed Mogadishu’s Hayat Hotel on Friday evening in an assault that started with loud explosions.

The siege ended around midnight, police commissioner Abdi Hassan Hijar told reporters.

“During the attack, the security forces rescued many civilians trapped in the hotel, including women and children,” he said.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/al-qaida-afr ... c223dca093

[weatheriscool]

Chinese military survey ship docks at Sri Lanka port
Source: Reuters

By Uditha Jayasinghe

COLOMBO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The Chinese survey vessel Yuan Wang 5 docked on Tuesday at Sri Lanka's Chinese-built port of Hambantota, a port official said, a move likely to stoke concern in neighbouring India about the growing influence of its bigger and more powerful rival.

The movements of the ship have fuelled contention between India and China, two of Sri Lanka's biggest allies in its current economic crisis, as India fears China could use the port, near the main Asia-Europe shipping route, as a military base.

"The vessel will be berthed for three days," the official, who declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters from the southern port.

"The purpose of staying at the port is to stock up on fuel, food and other essentials."

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 022-08-16/

[weatheriscool]

US airstrikes target militia-controlled areas in east Syria
Source: AP

BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. military said early Wednesday it carried out airstrikes in eastern Syria that targeted areas used by militias backed by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

There was no immediate acknowledgment by Syria’s state-run media of the strikes hitting Deir Ez-Zor. Iran as well did not acknowledge the attack.

Opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and activist collective Deir Ezzor 24 said the airstrikes targeted the Ayash Camp run by the Fatimiyoun group made up of Shiite fighters from Afghanistan. The war monitor reported that at least six Syrian and foreign militants were killed in the airstrikes.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said the strikes “took proportionate, deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize the risk of casualties.” It did not identify the targets, nor offer any casualty figures from the strikes, which the military said came at the orders of President Joe Biden.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/islamic-stat ... bf4d19d2e1

[weatheriscool]

War monitor: Israeli strike targeted missile depot in Syria
Source: Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Satellite imagery showed widespread destruction at a giant military facility in western Syria targeted in a recent Israeli airstrike, and the head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said Sunday the strike targeted a depot housing hundreds of middle-range missiles for Iran-backed fighters.

Syrian state media reported after the Thursday night attack near the cities of Tartus and Hama that two people were wounded and fires were sparked in nearby forests. It added that the missiles were fired from over the Mediterranean and most of them were shot down.

Syrian opposition activists at the time said the strike targeted an arms depot and a scientific research center near the central town of Masyaf, a government stronghold. Masyaf is almost half way between the coastal city of Tartus and the central city of Hama.

The Times of Israel on Sunday published images taken by Planet Labs PBC and provided by Aurora Intel, a network that provides news and updates based on open-source intelligenc

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/science-midd ... 8adbbf88e9

[caltrek]

This is slightly dated. Perhaps I should look at this site more often.

United States New Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan Cautiously Welcomed by Civil Society
by Megan Karlshoej-Pedersen
August 26, 2022

Introduction:

(Airwars) New action plan contains positive steps - the focus now is on implementation and renewed efforts to ensure past cases are not forgotten.

Airwars joins our civil society partners in welcoming the publication of the much awaited Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan (CHMR-AP), released yesterday by the US Department of Defense.

The CHMR-AP reflects a years-long process of sustained pressure by individuals, civil society, journalists, activists and legislators to challenge the way the US military conducts itself in the battlefield, and force the Department of Defense to review practices that have had deadly outcomes for civilians across the globe – from the battles of Mosul and Raqqa in the war against ISIS, to the botched Kabul strike last year.

In response to this sustained pressure, catalysed by a series of Pulitzer-winning New York Times articles exposing serious concerns with US military practices in January 2022, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III issued a memorandum calling for the creation of the CHMR-AP. Austin called for the CHMR-AP to set up a process for the establishment of a new centre of excellence, and a framework for standardising civilian harm reporting, investigation and mitigation.

Read more here: https://airwars.org/news-and-investigations

[caltrek]

Why I Love the “Vietnam Syndrome” of the People
by Richard falk
September 30, 2022

Introduction:

(Counterpunch) The Vietnam Syndrome was a term deployed after the U.S. defeat in the Vietnam War to explain and complain about the reluctance of the U.S. Government to use international force robustly in shaping its foreign policy. This reluctance was from its first enunciations resented by the foreign policy establishment in Washington including the conservative think tanks.

The use of ‘syndrome’ suggests that a medical disorder was afflicting this policy establishment and needed to be overcome as soon as possible. Yet to many others, including myself, the Vietnam Syndrome was welcomed as a long overdue prudent and principled post-Vietnam advocacy of a law-oriented U.S. foreign policy respectful of the self-determination rights of the Global South and of the restraints on the use of international force enshrined UN Charter.

Over the years, the Vietnam Syndrome lived this double life. One proposed cure was by way of the Weinberger Doctrine, which in its essence sought to correct the alleged government mismanagement of its intervention in Vietnam over the course of a full decade. What Caspar Weinberger, a right wing political figure and at the time Reagan’s Secretary oof Defense proposed in 1983, was that the U.S, should not enter future non-defensive questionable foreign wars, with the Vietnam War in mind, without satisfying the following conditions:

1) The commitment must be deemed vital to our national interest or that of our allies.
2) It should be made “wholeheartedly, and with the (c)lear intention of winning.”
3) Political and military objectives and the ways to meet them must be clearly defined.
4) As conditions change, whether the commitment remains in the national interest must be reassessed.
5) Before a commitment is made, there must be “some reasonable assurance” of popular and congressional support.
6) A commitment to arms must be a last resort.

Read more here: https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/09/3 ... e-people/

[weatheriscool]

S. Korea, US and Japan hold anti-N. Korean submarine drills
Source: AP

By HYUNG-JIN KIM

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea, U.S. and Japanese warships launched their first trilateral anti-submarine drills in five years on Friday, after North Korea renewed missile tests this week in an apparent response to bilateral training by South Korean and U.S. forces.

The North’s recent five missiles launches, the first such tests in a month, also came before and after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited South Korea on Thursday and reaffirmed the “ironclad” U.S. commitment to the security of its Asian allies.

The one-day three-nation training off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast is meant to cope with a North Korean push to advance its ability to fire missile from submarines, according to a South Korean navy statement.

North Korea has been building bigger submarines including a nuclear-powered one and testing sophisticated missiles that can be fired from them in recent years. That’s an alarming development for its rivals because it’s harder to detect underwater-launched missiles in advance.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/japan-asia-k ... fb1903a68a

[weatheriscool]

US kills two top ISIS leaders in airstrike in Syria
Source: CNN

US forces killed two top ISIS leaders in an airstrike in northern Syria on Thursday, according to two defense officials, one day after a US raid killed an ISIS smuggler.

The strike killed Abu ‘Ala, one of the top five ISIS leaders and the deputy leader of ISIS in Syria, as well as Abu Mu’Ad al-Qahtani, an ISIS official responsible for prisoner affairs, the officials said. The strike was conducted at 6:23pm local time in Syria.

No US forces were injured or killed during the operation, and there was no damage or loss to US equipment because of the strike...

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/06/politics ... index.html

[weatheriscool]

Sudan official: Deaths from southern tribal clashes at 220
Source: AP

By SAMY MAGDY

CAIRO (AP) — Two days of tribal fighting in Sudan’s south killed at least 220 people, a senior health official said Sunday, marking one the deadliest bouts of tribal violence in recent years. The unrest added to the woes of an African nation mired in civil conflict and political chaos.

Fighting in Blue Nile province, which borders Ethiopia and South Sudan, reignited earlier this month over a land dispute. It pits the Hausa tribe, with origins across West Africa, against the Berta people.

The tensions escalated Wednesday and Thursday in the town of Wad el-Mahi on the border with Ethiopia, according to Fath Arrahman Bakheit, the director general of the Health Ministry in Blue Nile.

He told The Associated Press that officials counted at least 220 dead as of Saturday night, adding the tally could be much higher since medical teams were not able to reach the epicenter of the fighting.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/health-south ... 2ebc926a30
0

[weatheriscool]

Military think tank: Russia withdraws officers from Kherson
Source: AP

By ANDREW MELDRUM

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s military leadership has withdrawn its officers in the Russian-annexed city of Kherson across the Dnieper River in anticipation of an advance of Ukrainian troops, the Institute for the Study of War think tank said Sunday.

To delay the Ukrainian counteroffensive as the Russians complete their retreat, Moscow has left newly mobilized, inexperienced forces on the other side of the wide river, it added.

The troop movements come as the Ukrainian military said its forces have continued their counteroffensives in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

On Saturday, Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine told all Kherson residents to leave immediately ahead of the expected action by Ukrainian troops to take back the city. Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-backed regional administration in Kherson, said Sunday that over 20,000 civilians had evacuated to the left bank of the Dnieper River.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... osition_02

[eacao]

China may have 370 J-20 fighters / interceptors

From the Zhuhai airshow, citizen analysts have recorded the serial numbers printed aft of the cockpits on two J-20As, as CB0369 and CB0370 respectively.

This has come as quite the surprise.

Excluding other explanations like a psy-op (to persuade us in the West of a larger inventory than is real), or a change in serial-labelling on account of a new batch designation scheme, these serial numbers indicate that China may have around 100 more airframes than was previously thought.

The J-20A, while manifesting a cruder design than those produced by Chengdu's more experienced Western counterparts, complicates a Western intervention in Taiwan somewhat.

The J-20A's ability to assault lumbering support assets (AWACS and tankers) from afar produces problems for Western tactical fleets in the expanses of the Western Pacific.

It is already known that China's domestic aerospace industry has settled on mature designs in many classes of aircraft (Y-20, Z-8, Z-10, Z-19, Z-20, J-10, J-15, J-16, Y-8, Y-9, C919 etc, etc, and etc). Production lines are known to be ramping up (particularly on the J-16 line/s). Nevertheless, this could be a large and impactful shift in our understanding of their 2022 inventory and projections for a 2024-2025 inventory.

[eacao]

China’s military ‘will not sit idly by’ if Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan

What's wrong with these Chinese lunatics? Just come with your crappy military and let the US blow it to pieces..

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... sit-taiwan

Famous last words of the US army.

Yeah, wargames have made that a dubious conclusion.

One of the few arenas where the U.S. still maintains an overwhelming overmatch (in relevance to Taiwan) is in nuclear-powered attack submarines. I would expect this fleet to lay waste to China's energy shipments in the Indian Ocean in the event of a large-scale kinetic war.

Unless the PLA(AF/N) is able to stand up an Indian Ocean fleet ported at Kyaukphyu, I don't see how they expect to survive an Anglo embargo.

I am reasonably confident that a Taiwan invasion would lead to a broader war (especially since the Chinese appear to be aspirationally aiming at sinking some number of CSGs). In that event, the war would surely have to spill out into other sensitive theatres. In that mind, China's energy imports from the Persian Gulf seem like the primary attraction.

Now, the Huludao shipyard may be able to assemble 3-4 submarines per year, and that would produce a proximity in SSN numbers to The States in the year 2027 given the current U.S. shipbuilding schedule of Virginias, but once allied submarines are thrown into the accounting, the arithmetic comes out neatly on the side of the Anglo alliance.

If the French also contribute then I'll sleep easy, despite living on the coast of the Indian Ocean.

P.s., The Guardian is among the worst sources available, especially on topics of defence.

[weatheriscool]

Turkey strikes in Syria, Iraq a week after Istanbul bombing
Source: AP

By ANDREW WILKS

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey launched deadly airstrikes over northern regions of Syria and Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry said Sunday, targeting Kurdish groups that Ankara holds responsible for last week’s bomb attack in Istanbul.

Warplanes attacked bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and the Syrian People’s Protection Units, or YPG, the ministry said in a statement, which was accompanied by images of F-16 jets taking off and footage of a strike from an aerial drone.

The ministry cited Turkey’s right to self defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter in launching an operation it called Claw-Sword late Saturday. It said it was targeting areas “used as a base by terrorists in their attacks on our country.”

Syrian Kurdish officials have alleged civilian deaths from the air attacks.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/islamic-stat ... cc0bcf5cf2

[weatheriscool]

VP Harris urges defense of sovereignty in South China Sea
Source: AP

By JIM GOMEZ

PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris urged countries on Tuesday to stand up for territorial integrity and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, which has been challenged by China, and said Washington would press an international campaign against “irresponsible behavior” in the disputed waters.

Harris did not cite China by name but was obviously referring to Beijing when she underscored America’s support to treaty ally the Philippines “in the face of intimidation and coercion in the South China Sea.”

She spoke aboard a Philippine coast guard patrol ship docked in Puerto Princesa in the western island province of Palawan, which lies at the edge of the disputed waters. The highly symbolic visit was the last leg of a two-day visit that kicked off in Manila on Monday with talks with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Citing profound stakes for America and the international community in the region, particularly in the busy South China Sea, she called for a broad effort to fight for unimpeded commerce and freedom of navigation and overflight in the disputed waters.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/china-asia-k ... 1319413a87