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Iranian Fast Boats Cease Harassment of US Ships in Persian Gulf

U.S. officials are baffled but pleased that U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf have stopped being harassed by armed Iranian fast boats, military officials from the US Central Command said.

The boats for at least two years would dart toward the U.S. vessels as they passed through the Persian Gulf, risking miscalculation, but haven’t done so for five months, U.S. military officials said.

The officials said they hoped the respite would continue. “I hope it’s because we have messaged our readiness…and that it isn’t tolerable or how professional militaries operate,” Army Gen. Joseph Votel, who heads U.S. Central Command, told reporters traveling with him in the Middle East this week. Iranian officials didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The fast boats are typically armed with .50 caliber machine guns and rocket launchers and have come within shooting distance of American naval vessels, encounters that grew routine even though each one presents potential dangers to American vessels transiting through international waters.

In some of the more serious incidents, Iranian crews have directed spotlights at ship and aircraft crews, potentially blinding pilots as they conduct operations, according to U.S. military officials. In one case, an Iranian boat pointed a weapon at an American helicopter flying off a Navy vessel, officials said. In the most serious incidents, U.S. vessels have fired warning shots in return.

Since January 2016, there has been an average of more than two “unsafe or unprofessional” incidents each month, according to the U.S. military. There have been 50 such incidents in the past two years, officials said.

But in response to a query, U.S. military officials said there have been no such incidents since August 2017.

Many officials point to the nuclear deal that President Trump that is threatening to end the sanctions relief for Tehran as a reason for the end to the provocative and dangerous behavior by the Iranians.

To read the entire article from The Wall Street Journal, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

US Long-term Syria Presence Signals Intentions on Assad, ISIS, Iran

United States military forces will remain in Syria in a long-term presence as part of a broader strategy from the Trump administration to achieve three goals, officials announced on Wednesday. First to prevent any resurgence by the Islamic State, to prepare diplomatically for the eventual departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and to curb the Iranian influence which is growing in the entire area.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in a speech at Stanford University, called for “patience” on Assad’s departure – the clearest indication yet of an acknowledgment that Russia and Iran have bolstered Assad and that he is unlikely to leave power immediately.

Billed as the Trump administration’s new strategy on Syria, the announcement will prolong the risks and redefine the mission for the U.S. military, which has for years sought to define its operations in Syria along more narrow lines of battling Islamic State and has about 2,000 U.S. ground forces in the country.

“But let us be clear: the United States will maintain a military presence in Syria, focused on ensuring ISIS cannot re-emerge,” while acknowledging many Americans’ skepticism of military involvement in conflicts abroad, Tillerson said.

U.S. forces in Syria have already faced direct threats from Syrian and Iranian-backed forces, leading to the shoot-down of Iranian drones and a Syrian jet last year, as well as to tensions with Russia.

The speech by Tillerson reinforces what the administration’s policy is going to be. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had spelled out parts of it earlier. Trump as a presidential candidate had promised to steer clear of long-term US commitments in the Middle East but as events have shown in Afghanistan and now in Syria, the situation on the ground is a more difficult one than thought.

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

First Gulf War Air Campaign Begins January 17, 1991

On this day in 1991, Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm as the US along with other coalition countries began a massive bombing campaign against the Iraqi forces of Saddam Hussein. The Iraqis had invaded the country of Kuwait during the summer of 1990 and the coalition began forming up to force Iraq to withdraw.

A day after the deadline set in United Nations Security Council Resolution 678, the coalition began a bombing campaign to destroy dug-in Iraqi forces, gain aerial superiority, and prepare for the eventual ground assault into Kuwait.

In less than a week, the Iraqi air force was swept from the skies, most of their air defenses were smashed and their ground forces became easy targets for coalition aircraft and smart bombs. By the time the air campaign ended on February 23, the Iraqi army in Kuwait was softened up so much, the ground offensive began and the coalition units sliced thru the Iraqi defenses.

The coalition air forces had nearly a 4-1 advantage and 1800 of the 2250 aircraft belonged to the U.S. Iraq had 934 aircraft but only slightly more than half (550) were operational.

Opening Moves: The air phase of Desert Storm began shortly after 0230 on 17 January when Army Apache helicopters and Air Force Pave Low helicopters blasted Iraqi radar sites that would warn the Iraqis of an impending air strike. By identifying and knocking the radar sites along the Saudi Arabian border, the coalition had a narrow corridor to fly in.  As the choppers finished their destruction of the radar sites, the pilots reported seeing an almost traffic jam of coalition jets pouring thru the gap.

The initial strikes were conducted by Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from US Navy ships in the Persian Gulf, and “Wild Weasel” aircraft targeting the Iraqi radar and anti-aircraft sites. That was followed by a massive bombing of command and control bunkers, Scud missile launch pads and equipment storage areas, communications and radio facilities, and Iraqi airfields.  Within the first 24 hours, coalition aircraft flew 2775 sorties.

Iraqi air defense systems, installed by the Russian military were very ineffective. In over 100,000 sorties flown, only 75 aircraft were lost. And of those only 42 were shot down, the other 33 were lost due to accidents. Since Iraqi commanders were strongly discouraged from independent action, all of their orders came down from Saddam Hussein’s headquarters. So the coalition began the systematic elimination of all command and control facilities.

Iraqi Air Force High Tails It to Iran, Its Enemy: Iraq’s Air Force had several modern aircraft from the Russians as well as the French Mirage F-1 fighters. They exhibited little stomach to meet the coalition fighters who had air combat control with AWACs. Whenever they did attempt to mix it up, they were swept from the sky. In the first week of the campaign, Iraq lost 38 aircraft shot down.

Saddam Hussein decided to save his Air Force for another day and rather than slug it out with the coalition, he contacted one of his neighbors to stash his aircraft away from the coalition. Most expected it to be Jordan, who was close to the Iraqis. In fact, the coalition was prepared for this and set up blocking positions to stop Iraqi planes from going there.

But Hussein contacted his archenemy, Iran to store his aircraft. Of course, the Iranians accepted and Iraq’s aircraft began pouring into Iran’s airspace. About 140 aircraft landed on Iranian airfields, the same ones who fought a bloody war against Iraq in the 1980s.

But the Iranians, true to form, were not to be trusted. They kept the Iraqi aircrews interned for several years. And the aircraft, they kept sequestered for more than 20 years. They released only 88 aircraft and not until 2014.

SCUD Hunting: The coalition dedicated a large number of their strike aircraft, nearly a third, to hunting Iraq’s mobile rocket launchers, the SCUDs. Iraq attempted to break apart the coalition by launching SCUD missiles at Israel. The hope was that Israel would respond and that would cause a rift between the US and the Arab coalition countries. Although Israel’s policy is to respond in kind, the diplomatic efforts by the U.S. convinced them not to attack.

But as an assurance, the coalition had to put a huge effort into spotting and eliminating the SCUDs which were killing Israeli citizens. Besides aircraft, Special Operations Forces including Delta Force, Navy Seals, and British SAS forces scoured the desert and fixed many mobile rocket launchers before they could attack.

Iraqi Infrastructure Wiped Out: In just a few short weeks, the coalition air forces destroyed the vast majority of Iraq’s infrastructure. At the beginning of the war, Iraq had 20 major power stations providing electricity to its citizens. During the bombing campaign, 11 of those were completely destroyed and another half dozen was damaged, while 119 substations were destroyed. As a result, only 4 percent of the electricity production from the start of the war was still operational.

Coalition bombing destroyed all of the major dams, most major pumping stations, and many sewage treatment plants, telecommunications equipment, port facilities, oil refineries and distribution centers, railroads, and bridges.

No help would be forthcoming from the Jordanians. All of the major bridges linking the two countries were bombed.

Losses: The coalition air forces lost a total of 75 aircraft. Of these 52 were fixed wing and 23 helicopters. Only one was shot down in air-to-air combat. Of those 44, 39 fixed wing and 5 helicopters were lost in combat. Iraq aircraft losses totaled 259 which 105 were lost in combat. An additional 68 fixed wing and 13 helicopters were destroyed on the ground. And 137 were interned in Iran and not returned.

This set the stage for supporting the ground troops and the close air support of the coalition air forces pounded the Iraqi army positions. In some instances, entire Iraqi brigades dug into defensive positions were annihilated in place by bombing in the desert that offered no cover or concealment.

In late February, the Iraqis attempted to flee Kuwait in every manner of vehicle carrying all of the loot they could carry. This massive traffic jam was bombed and strafed by ground attack aircraft in an area that became known as the “Highway of Death.”

Not long after, President Bush ordered the cessation of combat operations. The first Gulf War was over. And the air forces were the main players in the destruction of Iraq’s military.

Photos Courtesy: DOD/Wikipedia

Syrian Rebels Counterattack Government Forces in Idlib Province

Syrian rebels have launched a counter-attack against government forces and their Iranian-backed allies in Idlib province. The fighting, which is raging right along the Turkish border is a source of rising tension for Turkey’s government.

Fighting raged in Idlib, where a government offensive helped by Iran-backed militia has gathered pace in the last two weeks, according to rebels and a military media unit run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which is fighting on the Syrian government side.

Idlib province is the biggest chunk of Syria still held by rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad, with a population swollen by Syrians who have fled government advances in other parts of the country. Assad has defeated rebels in many parts of western Syria with critical help from Russia and Iran.

The recent military escalation in western Syria has included an unprecedented attack by a squadron of drones on Russian military bases and has cast a shadow over Moscow’s efforts to convene a Syria peace congress later this month.

The Hezbollah media unit said the army and its allies were repelling a “fierce assault” by the Nusra Front, formerly al Qaeda’s affiliate in the Syrian war, and factions linked to it.

Rebels fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) said in a statement they had set up a joint operations room to repel the offensive and take back areas seized by the government in northeastern Hama and southern Idlib.

The latest push by the army and its allies has the Turks irate since they have accused both Iran and Russia in going back on a de-escalation zone in Idlib.

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

US Will Reinvestigate Hezbollah for Suspected “Narcoterrorism”

The US Justice Department has announced that they will create a task force and investigate alleged drug trafficking by Hezbollah, the terrorist group that is state-sponsored by Iran.

Justice Department officials are trying to crack down on what they labeled “narcoterrorism” by the terror group that is based in Lebanon. The announcement follows reports that the Obama administration had dropped the probe during talks for the Iran nuclear deal.

The unit will be made up of specialists in money laundering, drug trafficking and terrorism, the department said. It will seek to target Hezbollah’s entire sprawling network, which is thought to reach from Africa to as far as Central and South America.

“The Justice Department will leave no stone unturned in order to eliminate threats to our citizens from terrorist organizations and to stem the tide of the devastating drug crisis,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “The team will initiate prosecutions that will restrict the flow of money to foreign terrorist organizations as well as disrupt violent international drug trafficking operations.”

The move comes on the back of a December report published by US news magazine Politico, which accused the Obama administration of stymieing a probe into Hezbollah’s drug trafficking operations for fear of jeopardizing the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

In 2011, the Obama administration said it had uncovered billions of dollars worth of laundered money that had been filtered through the Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank, a supposed “primary money laundering concern.” Meanwhile, funds from overseas operations were laundered through Panamanian shell companies.

According to Derek Maltz, a former official at the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the proceeds were used by Hezbollah to buy weapons for its operations in Syria and to support Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, who are fighting Saudi-sponsored government forces over control of the country.

This latest move against Hezbollah, whose power is growing in the Middle East, could signal that President Trump is looking to move away from the Iran nuclear deal. This deal that the Obama administration was behind and that the President during the 2016 election was so critical of has been a contentious thorn in Trump’s side.

To read the entire article from Deutsche Welle, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Iran Revolutionary Guards Say Unrest the Work of Foreign Enemies

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday that the recent unrest, the most serious facing the regime since 2009 was the work foreign enemies and was put down the countries security forces. But the crisis has the government and security forces meeting to discuss this latest development.

There has been more than a week of unrest in Iran in which 22 people have died and more than 1,000 arrested, according to Iranian officials. The protests spread to more than 80 cities and rural towns as thousands of young and working-class Iranians expressed their anger at graft, unemployment and a deepening gap between rich and poor.

Residents contacted by Reuters in various cities have said the protests had subsided after the government intensified a crackdown by dispatching Revolutionary Guards forces to several provinces.

“Iran’s revolutionary people along with tens of thousands of Basij forces, police and the Intelligence Ministry have broken down the chain (of unrest),” the Guards said in a statement on their Sepahnews website. The Guards said the unrest had been “created … by the United States, Britain, the Zionist regime (Israel), Saudi Arabia, the hypocrites (Mujahideen) and monarchists.”

In response, the government staged pro-regime rallies with thousands of government supporters chanting “Death to America”, Death to Israel”, “Death to Britain”, “Death to seditionists” in a backlash against the anti-government protests.

The anti-government protests have attracted the young, the student population, the working people as well as the educated middle-class which is problematic for the power brokers in Tehran.

There are about 90 students being held in prison and about 10 are unaccounted for. The official line is that many of the young people were “duped” into joining the anti-government protests and most were freed on bail. But according to the Revolutionary Guards, “but, the leaders of the unrest are held by the judiciary in prison.”

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Iran Protests Spread, Despite Army’s Declaration of Being Over

Despite the Army’s top commander’s claims to the contrary, the protests that have rocked Iran, continue in more than a dozen cities across the country as anti-government protesters fill the streets.

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, Major Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari went so far to say to Iran’s official Fars News Agency that any people who took part in the protests were guilty of sedition.

 “Now we can say that it is the day when the 1396 sedition ended,” the general said, in reference to the current year in the Persian calendar.

His remarks coincided with reports that elite IRGC troops had been deployed to at least three provinces to put down the rallies that have swept Iran since last week — featuring calls by some protesters for the ouster of the nation’s government.

There were also reports Wednesday that the IRGC action coincided with with a wave of counter-demonstrations that saw large pro-regime rallies held in several cities. The Associated Press reported that tens of thousands of government supporters were taking to the streets across the nation.

The government in Iran stage pro-government rallies in an attempt to calm the country amid country-wide protests (Fars News video clip)

The government tried its hand again with organizing pro-government protests in several cities as well. The Tehran government earlier tried to play off the protests by claiming that they were pro-government rallies in the Fars News.

Reports were leaking out via social media of many citizens being killed and wounded by government troops trying to quell the protests. There were over 20 citizens killed so far during the unrest.

To read the entire article from The Washington Times, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

After ISIS Campaign, Iranian-backed Militias Vow to Oust US Troops From Iraq

You were waiting for this… right? The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) who are backed by Iran, that they’ve helped push the Islamic State from much of Iraq, is training its sights on the remaining U.S.-led coalition troops scattered across the country.

The 100,000-thousand-member force has fought both with and against Americans in Iraq. This can hardly come as a surprise to both the Iraqi and US governments.

“America should only be here for embassy, any military presence and we will target them,” Saif Ali, a 37-year-old member of the PMF’s Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba paramilitary — based in the southern Iraq governorate of Basra — told Fox News. “I fought the Americans after 2003, and the British in southern Iraq, and I am happy about that. I don’t hate the American people, only hate the U.S. military, and I have killed many of them.”

Ali is one of thousands of PMF members who also took advantage of Iran-supplied weapons and ammunition to take the lives of hundreds of U.S. troops during the insurgency that followed the invasion of Iraq.

Rayan al-Kildani, the 32-year-old leader of the PMF’s Babylon Brigades, an Iraqi Christian militia, noted that he, too, got his start fighting the Americans post-2003 — allegedly after learning how to use weapons from action-oriented TV shows and movies. And although he has relatives in the U.S. and even visited a few years ago, he said that he threatened to attack U.S. intelligence personnel he encountered after the Mosul battle and ultimately wants to see American forces gone.

“America was not there at the beginning of this ISIS crisis when we needed them most. We are strong now, and as long as we are fighting, Iraq does not need Americans on our land.”

The Iraqi government has a sensitive issue to deal with here. These militias are gaining influence in the political arena as well as militarily and many of the members are expected to run in political elections in the spring.

To read the entire article from Fox News, click here:

Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

Two Palestinians Dead, Hundreds Wounded in “Day of Rage” Fiasco

The expected and planned “Day of Rage” carried across parts of Gaza and parts of Jerusalem this weekend. Early reports have the Palestinians suffering two dead and hundreds wounded in clashes with Israeli police. The outbreak of violence supposedly stemmed from the decision of President Trump to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

The Red Crescent Society said that they treated 331 people for gunshot wounds, 13 from live bullets and the rest from tear gas and rubber bullets in violence across the West Bank and Gaza.

The protests come at a time of heightened tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in the wake of Trump’s announcement, which broke with decades of U.S. foreign policy as well as international law and spurred almost worldwide condemnation.

“The project of transforming Jerusalem into the occupation’s capital will not pass,” Hamas said in a statement released Thursday to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1987 intifada.

Israel, which annexed East Jerusalem during the 1967 war, claims that the city cannot be divided and is its capital. But peace talks have centered on the idea that East Jerusalem, which is dominated by Arabs despite a rising number of Israeli settlements, would be the capital of any future Palestinian state.

The U.S. position has been that Jerusalem’s final status should be determined through negotiations, a position that Trump said was not being abandoned.

Trump’s action, which he still put off for the next six months is hardly the reason that Hamas and its bosses in Tehran are calling for intifada. That in itself is a fundamental problem, Hamas doesn’t represent the Palestinian people but the Tehran government, who use the population as a pawn. As for the embassy move being a roadblock for peace? It hasn’t been moved in the last 20 years since the US government originally voted to move it. And there has been no peace.

To Read the Entire Article from the LA Times: Click Here

Photo: Wikipedia

Israel Strikes Iranian Base in Syria Outside of Damascus

An Iranian military base near Damascus came under attack just after midnight Saturday by missiles from the Israeli military, according to Lebanon’s Al-Mustaqbal TV and the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya network.

Twelve Iranian military personnel were killed in the air strike, Syrian sources claim that they intercepted and shot down two Israeli missiles.

Arab media reports said Israel fired missiles at a military base Iran has been building near the Syrian city of al-Qiswa, reportedly destroying an arms depot.

Some media outlets affiliated with the Assad regime and Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah initially reported that Israeli warplanes targeted an ammunition bunker belonging to the Syrian Army. But other media outlets reported that the target was a military base that Iran is building in the area, 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Israeli border, and that loud explosions were heard after the attack.

There was no immediate official Israeli comment. Israel does not, as a rule, comment on reported strikes in Syria.

Hours after the reported strike, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a warning to Iran about troops in Syria.

“Let me reiterate Israel’s policy: We will not allow a regime hell-bent on the annihilation of the Jewish state to acquire nuclear weapons. We will not allow that regime to entrench itself militarily in Syria, as it seeks to do, for the express purpose of eradicating our state,” said Netanyahu.

Israel has stated that the Iranians were trying to build a permanent base in Syria, close to the Israeli border. As their aims are to build up a larger presence in the Mediterranean. Thus far, Tehran has been silent over this latest development.

To read the entire article from The Times of Israel click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia