Victory in devastated Mosul; Trump backtracks on Russian cyber cooperation; Fighting intensifies in Libya; China’s robot gunboats; and just a bit more...
Iraqi PM Abadi declared “victory” from ISIS in the city of Mosul on state TV Sunday. But what he didn’t say is that the city is fully liberated from the group’s terror, The New York Times noted from Abadi’s trip to the northern city: “...In an acknowledgment that the victory he had come to proclaim was not completely sealed, Iraqi officials said the prime minister would not make a public statement until the last patch of Islamic State territory in Mosul was cleared.”
So, what remains to be cleared: “an area believed to be 200 yards long and 50 yards wide,” WaPo reports.
Clamping down on the exodus: Iraqi officials said they’d killed 30 militants “attempting to flee by swimming across the River Tigris that bisects the city,” Reuters reports. What’s more, “Cornered in a shrinking area, the militants resorted to sending women suicide bombers among the thousands of civilians who are emerging from the battlefield wounded, malnourished and fearful, Iraqi army officers said.”
But none of that kept leaders from France and Britain from celebrating. "Mosul liberated from ISIS: France pays homage to all those, who alongside our troops, contributed to this victory," French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted on Sunday.
Said British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon in a statement: "I congratulate Prime Minister Abadi, and the Iraqi forces who have been fighting on the ground with great bravery and care against a brutal opponent… This barbaric group remains dug in west of the Euphrates and clearing operations in and around Mosul will be needed because of the threat from improvised explosive devices."
Also marking the occasion: Javad Zarif, Iran’s PM, who tweeted Sunday, “Congratulations to brave people & Government of Iraq upon liberation of Mosul. When Iraqis join hands, no limits to what they can achieve.”
The sheer scale of devastation is difficult to comprehend. “Of the 54 neighborhoods in western Mosul, 15 neighborhoods that include 32,000 houses were heavily damaged,” NYTs reports, citing data provided by Lise Grande, the deputy special representative for Iraq for the United Nations secretary general. “An additional 23 neighborhoods are considered to be moderately damaged. The cost of the near-term repairs and the more substantial reconstruction that is needed in Mosul has been estimated by United Nations experts at more than $700 million.”
Back stateside, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had this to say on the battle for Mosul: “This conflict is far from over. It is better to think of today as the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end… It is now incumbent upon all of these actors to formulate a strategy to hold, stabilize, and rebuild Mosul… We cannot afford for Mosul to turn out like Libya, where we squandered a long and brutal military success by walking away before winning the peace.”
The big Q now: “What, if any, United States military presence should remain in Iraq to help make sure the Islamic State does not rise again?” asks former State Department Deputy Secretary Tony Blinken, writing in NYTs op-ed pages this weekend. “How the Trump administration navigates this political minefield will be another crucial test of its strategy.” Read his cautionary take, here.
Dive into some more data on the U.S. military’s air strike campaign against ISIS, via this lengthy take from U.S. News’ Paul Shinkman. Cutting to the quick: “U.S.-led air operations will likely intensify in the coming weeks, as the Iraqi government decides which Islamic State group targets it plans to attack next.”
ICYMI: How the campaign progressed (animated map) and what we should learn from it. A Defense One special report: “What the Decade’s Largest Battle Says About the Future of War.”
From Defense One
As Trump and Putin Met, US and UK Defense Chiefs Discussed Ways to Deter Russia // Marcus Weisgerber: While one part of Trump's executive branch looks to improve relations with Moscow, another prepares for the worst.
Spooked by North Korea, Lawmakers Resurrect an Old Missile-Defense Idea // Caroline Houck: Technical experts say space-based interceptors haven't gotten any more practical since the Reagan era, but House lawmakers still want the Pentagon to plan for them.
The Spies of the 'Five Eyes' Need to Speed Up Intel-Sharing // Chuck Alsup: Nations must speed the dissemination of information to enable real-time responses and counter disabling cyber threats.
Voices from the Battle for Mosul: Podcast // Ben Watson: We spoke with current and former US military officials about how Iraq and its allies broke ISIS's nearly 3-year grip on Iraq's second city — and what comes next.
Trump Gave the Military More Power, But Here's What Really Concerns Us // Alice Hunt Friend and Kathleen Hicks: A recent major conference on the civ-mil divide revealed a more nuanced picture of America and its armed forces.
Welcome to Monday’s edition of The D Brief by Ben Watson and Bradley Peniston. #OTD1890, Wyoming became the 44th state. The oldest, continually active U.S. military installation, now Warren Air Force Base, was established outside of Cheyenne, near the southeastern corner, just seven years later to help protect workers creating the transcontinental railroad. Another 61 years later in 1958, Warren would become the U.S. Air Force’s first fully functional ICBM base. Have something you want to share? Email us at the-d-brief@defenseone.com. (And if you’re reading this on our website, consider subscribing. It’s free.)
Trump: We’ll create a cybersecurity unit with Russia. No, we won’t. On Sunday morning, the president tweeted that his Friday discussion with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin included a proposal to create "an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded.. ...and safe."
Although Treasury Secretary Seth Mnuchin was quick to call this a "very significant accomplishment", the notion of working with the world’s most notorious election hackers quickly came under withering fire from both sides of the aisle. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.-S.C., called it “not the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard, but it’s pretty close.” Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter told CNN that it’s like "the guy who robbed your house proposing a working group on burglary."
And so on Sunday evening, Trump backtracked, tweeting that he never even thought such a collaboration was possible.
Speaking of potential collaboration, Donald Trump Jr. has confirmed a New York Times report that he met last year with a Kremlin-connected lawyer who promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton. NYT: “The meeting — at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, two weeks after Donald J. Trump clinched the Republican nomination — points to the central question in federal investigations of the Kremlin’s meddling in the presidential election: whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. The accounts of the meeting represent the first public indication that at least some in the campaign were willing to accept Russian help.”
BTW: Russians are suspected of hacking U.S. power plants, including one nuclear site. Bloomberg: “Hackers working for a foreign government recently breached at least a dozen U.S. power plants, including the Wolf Creek nuclear facility in Kansas, according to current and former U.S. officials, sparking concerns the attackers were searching for vulnerabilities in the electrical grid.”
POTUS needs a break. Vice President Mike Pence will be taking calls and bilateral meetings with the prime ministers of Greece and Macedonia. That bilat scheduled later in the day with the PM of Tunisia.
President Trump’s public schedule for Monday: empty.
In Syria, the U.S.-Russia brokered cease-fire for the south has largely held since it began on Sunday. “The guns fell silent well ahead of a noon deadline, residents in the cease-fire zone said, lending hope that it would stop the violence for at least a while and save lives,” the Post reported from Beirut.
The regions concerned include “Daraa, the city where the revolt against Assad first flared in 2011, and where intensified fighting occurred in recent months, with the government launching an offensive aimed at recapturing the city. Also covered is the neighboring province of Quneitra, which has been a flash point in recent months between Israel and government forces, including the Iranian-backed militias whose advances toward the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights have alarmed Tel Aviv.”
Now Iran says it wants the ceasefire model in the south to be expanded to the entire country of Syria. More from Reuters, here.
Heavy fighting erupted about 30 miles east of Libya’s capital of Tripoli on Sunday. “The clashes broke out when an armed group opposed to the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli tried to approach the capital and were confronted by forces that have aligned themselves with the GNA,” Reuters reports. “GNA-aligned brigades closed the coastal road in Tajoura, an eastern suburb of Tripoli, and built sand barriers to try to block their rivals' advance. Local authorities were advising residents to evacuate and stay away from the area. The U.N. mission to Libya urged both sides to refrain from further escalation.” More here.
And in Somalia, U.S.-trained Puntland security forces in the north “killed 18 militants and burnt six of their bases in Galgala hills in an operation over four days to eliminate al Shabaab," a senior Puntland military official told Reuters on Sunday. “We also took their weapons. We burned their food and medicine stores," he added.
Notes Reuters: “It was not clear whether the United States had any involvement in the operation. Al Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked insurgent group that wants to impose strict Islamic law, confirmed there was a raid but denied there were any casualties.”
The U.S., Japan, and India are out hunting submarines today, part of an eight-day exercise called Malabar, held off the Indian coast in the Bay of Bengal. Malabar 2017 will be “the first naval exercise between the three countries to involve carriers from each navy,” The Diplomat reports. Also involved: “at least fourteen other warships and submarines from the three nations.”
Reuters calls it the largest drill between the U.S. and India since the exercise began in 1992. As well, “The maritime drills are taking place as India and China are locked in a standoff on their land border in the Himalayas.” More here.
China taps its own Silicon Valley for “robot gunboats” and counter-drone systems, according to Financial Times. Story—including allegations that “robot gunboat” looks an awful lot like one created by the US Office of Naval Research three years ago—here.
And now for something completely different: A true story about military public relations and the importance of knowing your surroundings. It comes to us via the U.S. Army Public Affairs sergeant and Reservist, David Nye, and it concerns his deployment to southern Afghanistan almost five years ago. His task: photograph an ambitious security project called the “Arc Wall” inside the country’s restive Kandahar province. Nye, two O-5s and a mine-sweeper jump at the chance to snap the pics—but the team runs into a series of problems en route, and afterward. Those five-and-a-half minutes of true absurdity, here.
Lastly today: when “smart home” devices call the cops. The story comes via ABC News, which reported that a domestic dispute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, landed one man in police custody—just hours after yelling mid-dispute to his girlfriend, “Did you call the sheriffs?”
Then, “A smart speaker, which was hooked up to a surround sound system inside the home, recognized that as a voice command and called 911,” police told ABC News. The manufacturer’s name — was it a Google Home, or some other device? — has not been released to the public.
But, “The unexpected use of this new technology to contact emergency services has possibly helped save a life. This amazing technology definitely helped save a mother and her child from a very violent situation," Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales III said in a statement to ABC News.
It’s not the first time a “smart home” device has taken the initiative, Gizmodo reports. “In a different incident in January, a local TV news broadcast involving a dollhouse reportedly triggered multiple Amazon Echo devices in the area to start ordering dollhouses.” That story, here.