Russia bombs US-backed rebels in Syria; Iraqi SOF raises flag in Fallujah; New tools to fight lone wolves; Another record year for arms makers; and a bit more.
Russia bombed U.S.-backed rebels in a region of southern Syria entirely devoid of Syrian or Russian troops, a move one senior U.S. defense official told reporters Thursday night raises “serious concern about Russia’s intention.”
The “series of strikes” occurred Thursday near al-Tanf, just north of where Jordan and Iraq butt up against Syria’s border, according to the official. “Russian aircraft have not been active in this area of Southern Syria for some time, and there were no Syrian regime or Russian ground forces in the vicinity,” he added.
So what next? “We will seek an explanation from Russia on why it took this action and assurances this will not happen again.”
Russia doesn’t deny it: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the presence of al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra among various rebel factions complicates the intel game: “It is not a secret for anyone that the continuing mingling in places of the so-called moderate opposition with Al-Nusra is a really serious problem. It really is complicating anti-terrorist action,” according to Reuters.
Also this morning, Russia’s defense ministry says it has lost its 10th soldier to the war in Syria. His name: Mikhail Shirokopoyas, and he’d reportedly been operating out of Russia’s Hmeymim air base in Syria before being “wounded in Aleppo province last month when a column of vehicles he was escorting was shot at.”
Back stateside, more than 50 U.S. diplomats have leaked a memo to the press relaying their disgust with the White House’s response to the war in Syria.
Their prescription: (1) Bomb the Assad regime, and (2) implement regime change.
Missing from their prescription: How that second step is going to shape out, and what to do next, even if its recommended use of “stand-off and air weapons” fails to achieve the diplomats’ desired result. (Also missing: the memo itself, which doesn’t seem to be posted online yet.)
Writes The Wall Street Journal: “The ‘dissent channel cable’ was signed by 51 State Department officers involved with advising on Syria policy in various capacities, according to an official familiar with the document. The Wall Street Journal reviewed a copy of the cable, which repeatedly calls for ‘targeted military strikes’ against the Syrian government in light of the near-collapse of the ceasefire brokered earlier this year.”
A “dissent” memo is not unusual, the Journal writes. The number of signatories, however—51 in all—is.
Adds The New York Times: “The names on the memo are almost all midlevel officials — many of them career diplomats — who have been involved in the administration’s Syria policy over the last five years, at home or abroad. They range from a Syria desk officer in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs to a former deputy to the American ambassador in Damascus.”
2016 election playing a role? “The internal cable may be an attempt to shape the foreign policy outlook of the next administration,” the Journal writes after speaking with an official familiar with the document. “President Barack Obama has balked at taking military action against Mr. Assad, while Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has promised a more hawkish stance toward the Syrian leader. Republican candidate Donald Trump has said he would hit Islamic State hard but has also said he would be prepared to work with Russia in Syria.”
The one line at the heart of the memo: “The moral rationale for taking steps to end the deaths and suffering in Syria, after five years of brutal war, is evident and unquestionable… The status quo in Syria will continue to present increasingly dire, if not disastrous, humanitarian, diplomatic and terrorism-related challenges.” Read the rest, here.
Despite Russia’s wishes, the U.S. Navy says it’s not leaving the Black Sea anytime soon. Reuters: “The USS Porter entered the Black Sea this month, drawing heavy criticism from Moscow. Turkey and Romania are expected to push for a bigger NATO presence in the Black Sea at the NATO summit in Warsaw next month. Aboard the USS Mason, another U.S. destroyer, in the Mediterranean on Thursday, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told Reuters that it was the U.S. Navy's job to deter aggression and keep sea lanes open.”
Your Weekend Tech Read: Get to better know the UAE-based Thuraya satellite data network—used vigorously by Syrian rebels and al-Qaeda militants in Africa—via the OSINT team at Bellingcat.
Baghdad’s elite counterterrorism troops have raised the Iraqi flag in Fallujah—and civilians are now fleeing the city “en masse.” ISF advanced from foothold in a southern corner of Fallujah to the center of the city this morning, BBC reports.
Also this morning: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met with CENTCOM chief Gen. Joseph Votel to talk about the Mosul offensive.
Elsewhere in Iraq, Iran and Kurds went to battle recently near the Iraq-Iran border. “A report Thursday by Iran's semi-official Fars news agency quoted Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, the chief of the Guard's ground forces, as saying the clashes happened Wednesday near Oshnavieh, a predominantly Kurdish town in Iran's West Azerbaijan province near its border with Iraq and Turkey. Pakpour did not identify the insurgents. However, Mohammed Nazif Qadiri, a member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, told The Associated Press that the fighters belonged to his organization.” The fighting reportedly ended Thursday. A tiny bit more on that, here.
From Defense One
The Pentagon is developing a suite of tools to fight the lone wolf problem. As the counter-terrorism battle moves online, DARPA seeks to track how ISIS spreads its ideas — and how well U.S. counter-moves are working. Tech Editor Patrick Tucker has the story, here.
Time to move the 5th Fleet? How U.S. appeasement is undermining Bahrain’s stability. The the Obama administration's decision to lift an arms ban has been followed by government crackdowns that have only stirred up dissent, says Brian Dooley of Human Rights First, here.
Welcome to the Friday edition of The D Brief, by Ben Watson and Bradley Peniston. On this day in 1898, the Navy created its Hospital Corps. Send your friends this link: http://get.defenseone.com/d-brief/. And let us know your news: the-d-brief@defenseone.com.
British Parliamentarian Jo Cox was killed Thursday “in a brazen attack on the street in her district in northern England,” CNN reports. She was known variously as a passionate advocate for the rights of Syrian citizens and refugees, and a voice of progressivism and moderation in global affairs. Her killer: a man with hard right political leanings, a dislike for the EU, and a history of support for white supremacist groups. The Telegraph has more on him and the context around the killing, here.
CIA drones strikes have plummeted to its lowest count in nine years as the White House gives Joint Special Operations Command a larger role, the Washington Post reported. “U.S. officials said several factors have contributed to the sharp drop in the number of strikes, including the staggering depletion of al-Qaeda’s ranks in Pakistan, where in 2010 the agency launched 118 attacks. By comparison, the CIA has fired missiles from remotely piloted aircraft only twice this year,” and at most seven so far across the globe in 2016.
Worth noting: News of “the sharp drop in CIA strikes comes as the White House is preparing to release data about the drone program for the first time, including the total number of strikes taken while Obama has been in office, as well as estimates of the number of militants and civilians killed.” Read the rest, here.
CIA Director John Brennan testified on the Hill Thursday to announce that two years of war against ISIS has not degraded their potency as a threat.
International arms sales will reach $69 billion this year, setting a new record for the second year in a row, according to a new report from IHS Jane’s. The increase was largely driven by purchases by Middle East and Asia-Pacific nations. Among other tidbits:
• “The combined value of Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s defence imports is more than all of Western Europe’s defence imports combined.”
• The world’s largest arms exporter, the United States, saw sales jump 10 percent. U.S. exports account for about one-third of the global total. France is poised to elbow out Russia for the No. 2 slot.
• The list of top importers shifted, with Taiwan, China, and Indonesia dropping out of the top five and Australia, Egypt and South Korea replacing them.
China says 60 nations back its right to boycott an international tribunal that is slated to evaluate Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea...but when asked, only eight of those governments would publicly commit to it. Others, like Slovenia and Poland, deny ever having said anything of the sort. That from the WSJ, here.
Finally this week, the U.S. Army wants to be like the U.S. Marines—or maybe they just want some relief from the occasionally sweltering heat. At any rate, the service is running a 10-day pilot program at Fort Hood, Texas, to allow soldiers to roll up their uniform sleeves. Fort Hood’s reaction to this break from the regs? Army Times has all that from social media and more, here.