Backdoor Army: No EU ‘Military’ Yet, But Armed ‘Civilian Troops’ in ‘European Uniform’
The European Union (EU) may be expediting its plans for a centralised army with a massive expansion of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), according to the agency’s chief. “We don’t have a military army, but we will have, let’s say, civilian troops wearing a European uniform. And for certain functions carrying weapons,” said […]
Systematic air strikes are dismantling the Al Qods compound at Abu Kamal
The air strike of Saturday night, Dec. 7, was the fourth this week in a campaign for breaking up the Iranian Al Qods strategic hub which houses Iraqi Shiite militias outside Abu Kamal near the Iraqi border. The strikes aim not only to stem the flow of arms convoys from Iraq, but to level its […]
Damage to Israel’s Security Inflicted by Submarine Affair Will Linger for Decades
Even if Israel’s legal system deals with the crimes allegedly committed in two huge defense deals – the purchase of missile ships and submarines from the German company ThyssenKrupp – it won’t be able to fix the economic and security harm that this affair has caused the state. The defense establishment now realizes that this […]
Russia Zapad 2017 military exercise in Belorussia could be “preparation for a big war” NATO says
Gen. Petr Pavel, head of NATO’s Military Committee, said over the weekend that NATO was working to re-establish military-to-military communications with Russia, to try to avoid any “unintended consequences of potential incidents during the exercise.”The week-long exercise — named Zapad, the Russian word for “west” — is taking place in areas near the Baltic Sea. […]
Syria may be in ruins, but it looks like Assad ‘has won the war militarily’
In southern Syria’s chilly late winter of 2011, a scrap of schoolboy graffiti that read “Your turn, Doctor” — a mocking call for the ouster of President Bashar Assad — helped spark a ferocious civil war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced. Now, there is a growing diplomatic consensus that Assad, […]
Mattis: ISIS militants caught in Iraq-Syria military vise
Expelled from their main stronghold in northern Iraq, Islamic State militants are now trapped in a military vise that will squeeze them on both sides of the Syria-Iraq border, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said. Mattis arrived in the Iraqi capital on an unannounced visit Tuesday just hours after President Donald Trump outlined a fresh […]
‘Serious military provocation’: China angered by US presence in South China Sea
The passage of a US warship close to a disputed island in the South China Sea was a “serious political and military provocation”, Beijing said, one that could further strain relations between the superpowers The destroyer, the USS Stethem, sailed less than 12 nautical miles from tiny Triton Island in the Paracel Islands archipelago, which […]
Trump, Erdogan commit to cooperation despite tensions over Syrian militias
President Trump on Tuesday pledged continued support for Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, highlighting the importance of the U.S.-Turkish alliance despite mounting tensions over Washington’s support for Kurdish rebels in Syria. Speaking alongside Erdogan at the White House, Trump said Turkey and the United States would act together against extremist groups including the Islamic State. […]
Pentagon eyes Iran-North Korea military connection
When Iran attempted to launch a cruise missile from a “midget” submarine earlier this week, Pentagon officials saw more evidence of North Korean influence in the Islamic Republic – with intelligence reports saying the submarine was based on a Pyongyang design, the same type that sank a South Korean warship in 2010. According to U.S. […]
McMaster says US must be prepared for military operations in North Korea
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster attempted to make clear Sunday that President Trump is seeking international support in trying to stop North Korea’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon, reasserting Trump’s vow that the U.S. will no longer be the world’s policeman. “It’s an open defiance of the international community,” McMaster told “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s […]