Putin: Mission Achieved in Syria, AH not so much

Posted on March 14, 2016March 14, 2016 by Denise Simon

But but but: Putin orders withdrawal from Syria after being told of Gulf States decision to ship anti-aircraft systems to rebels over west objections. Furthermore, Russia’s S-400 will stay in Syria and Tartous Naval base will continue been developed and expanded. Putin needs permanent access and routes in the Mediterranean.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Moscow will begin withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria.

On Monday, President Putin indicated that the Kremlin will start withdrawing its main forces in Syria, saying that the military has largely achieved its objectives.

“I think that the task that was assigned to the Ministry of Defense and the armed forces as a whole has achieved its goal, and so I order the defense minister to start tomorrow withdrawing the main part of our military factions from the Syrian Arab Republic,” President Putin said during a meeting with the Russian Defense and Foreign Ministries, according to RIA Novosti.

The withdrawal will begin on Tuesday.

“With the participation of the Russian military…the Syrian armed forces and patriotic Syrian forces have been able to achieve a fundamental turnaround in the fight against international terrorism and have taken the initiative in almost all respects,” the Russian president said.

“There has been a significant turning point in the fight against terrorism,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

Putin expressed hope that this decision will encourage all parties involved in the Syrian conflict to pursue a peaceful resolution.

“I ask the ministry of foreign affairs to intensify the participation of the Russian Federation in the organization of the peace process towards a solution to the Syrian crisis,” Putin said.

Moscow will, however, maintain a military presence in Syria, and a deadline for complete withdrawal has not yet been announced. Putin also indicated that Russian forces will remain at the port of Tartus and Hmeymim airbase in Latakia.

“Our bases of operations — our naval base in Tartus and our air base at Hmeymim — will operate as usual. They should be protected from land, sea, and air,” Putin said. “That part of our military group has traditionally been in Syria over the course of many years, and today will have to perform a very important function in monitoring the ceasefire and creating conditions for the peace process.”

According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Russia has informed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of the decision. A statement from Assad’s office stresses that the Kremlin has nonetheless pledged to continue its support for Syria in “confronting terrorism.”

Assad also recognized the “professionalism, courage and heroism” of Russian Army soldiers and officers.

During the phone call, both Assad and Putin agreed that the ceasefire has led to significant reduction in bloodshed, and the humanitarian situation has improved.

“The sides expressed shared opinion that the implementation of the ceasefire in Syria has helped to sharply reduce the bloodshed and to improve the humanitarian situation in the country,” the Kremlin press service said in a statement.

Assad also expressed hope that peace talks in Geneva will lead to concrete results, and stressed the need for a political process in Syria.

Earlier on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow’s anti-terrorist air campaign created the conditions for political process on Syrian reconciliation.

Hellfire Missiles on Passenger Plane? Huh?

Posted on March 14, 2016March 14, 2016 by Denise Simon

It was not all that long ago that a U.S. made hellfire missile ended up in Cuba….how is a convoluted story but after the United States groveled, we got it back from Cuba where it appears to have been meant for Europe.

Now Portland, Oregon?

Hellfire missiles bound for Portland found on passenger plane in Serbia

RegisterGuard:

BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia’s authorities are investigating reports that a cargo package bound for Portland containing two missiles with explosive warheads was found on a passenger flight from Lebanon to Serbia.

N1 television said the package with two guided armor-piercing missiles was discovered Saturday by a sniffer dog after an Air Serbia flight from Beirut landed at Belgrade airport.

Serbian media say documents listed the final destination for the AGM-114 Hellfire missiles as Portland, Oregon. The American-made projectiles can be fired from air, sea or ground platforms.

N1 reported Sunday that Air Serbia is helping in the investigation. The Serbian flag carrier says “security and safety are the main priorities for Air Serbia.”

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In part from InquisitR: According to Serbia’s N1 Television, the missiles were discovered Saturday by a bomb-sniffing dog after the plane landed at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, and shipping documents indicate that the final destination was Portland, Oregon. The missiles had been packed in wooden crates. Whatever the source, it’s clear that they either didn’t anticipate standard airport security or didn’t realize that it could detect a Hellfire missile. The missiles have been more or less unchanged since they were developed in 1974, employing a High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) warhead, supported by a Metal Augmented Charge (MAC), which uses a standard shaped-charge explosive in detonation. In other words, they use the same explosive materials as any other bomb, including a solid-fuel rocket.

American Predator drones mount a single Hellfire II missile designed to eliminate high-priority targets. [Photo by John Moore/Getty Images]

The AGM-114 Hellfire missile is an air-to-surface missile designed to be fired from a helicopter; the warhead is armor-piercing and was specifically developed for anti-armor use; later models were developed for precision strikes from Predator drones. And although intended for helicopter use, the missile can be fired from multiple air, sea, and ground platforms; using laser guidance, it can easily deliver its payload wherever desired — including inside an armored building.

Air Serbia is currently assisting in an investigation. The airline indicated that “security and safety are the main priorities for Air Serbia.” A spokesperson for the FBI’s Portland division indicated that the FBI was aware of the Serbian reports but had no information for release. Lockheed Martin, which manufactured the Hellfires, indicated that they were unaware of the situation and referred further inquiries to government officials.

Of course, as Huffington Post notes, it’s not all that unusual to find U.S. Hellfire missiles in that part of the world — the State Department regularly sells them in the Middle East and supplies American allies with them. Most recently, the State Department indicated that a sale of Hellfire II missiles (the variant used by Predator drones) to Lebanon was likely, in June, 2015, and in January, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency approved a sale of 5,000 Hellfires to the Iraqi government to aid the fight against ISIS, to the tune of some $800 million USD.

In this case, though, the Hellfire missiles were clearly out of place. As former State Department and Pentagon staffer Robert Caruso noted on Sunday, there is no legitimate reason for live military hardware to be on-board a commercial passenger flight, and the missiles were likely stolen. From where, nobody is certain. Full article here.

“No — there are Syria-related things ongoing in Bulgaria (open source) but even that can’t answer this. Prob stolen.”

Iran’s ICBM on Launch Pad

Posted on March 12, 2016March 12, 2016 by Denise Simon

Iran preparing to conduct new space launch this weekend

FNC: Iran is preparing to launch a new long-range rocket into outer space as soon as this weekend, U.S. officials told Fox News.

The missile is known as a Simorgh and officials are watching the missile on the launch pad as it is being fueled at an undisclosed location inside Iran.

Officials told Fox they have not seen this specific type of rocket launched in the past.

Any test of a new ballistic missile would be an apparent violation of a UN resolution forbidding Iran from working on its rocket program.

A Simorgh rocket is designed to carry a satellite into space. Officials are concerned that any space launch uses the same technology needed to launch a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM.

This week, Iran launched multiple ballistic missiles on one day for the first time since 2012, according to defense officials.

UN Security Council Resolution 2231 says Iran is “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”

Thursday, a senior Revolutionary Guard commander said that Iran’s ballistic missile program will continue to move forward, despite threats of international sanctions.

The U.S. State Department says the launches this week were not in violation of the nuclear deal, but “inconsistent” with UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which was tied to the nuclear deal when it went into effect.

Secretary of State John Kerry raised concerns about Iran’s recent missile launches in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Thursday, including reports that Iran scribbled “Israel must be wiped off the Earth” according to State Department spokesman John Kirby.

Both short and medium-range ballistic missiles tested recently by Iran are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

“Iran should face sanctions for these activities,” Hillary Clinton said Wednesday.

“The latest missiles launches are further evidence of Iran’s aggression and of how its leaders intend to use the money it is receiving under the Obama nuclear deal.” said House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas.

Kirby said earlier this week that reports of Iran’s recent ballistic missile launches would be brought to the attention of the UN Security Council.

The launches would not violate the landmark nuclear deal implemented in January, according to Kirby.

Vice President Joseph Biden, while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Wednesday did not acknowledge the missile launch directly, but he issued a strong warning to the Iranians.

“A nuclear-armed Iran is an absolutely unacceptable threat to Israel, to the region and the United States. And I want to reiterate which I know people still doubt here: if in fact they break the deal, we will act,” he said.

Despite reports of Iran repeatedly violating the UN resolution by launching ballistic missiles, the State Department is confident additional sanctions could be called upon unilaterally if needed.

“We always have those tools available to us,” said Kirby this week.

In January, the Obama administration sanctioned nearly a dozen individuals and companies tied to Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Appearing in front of the Senate Armed Services committee in Washington, the outgoing head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Lloyd Austin said Tuesday, “Some of the behavior we’ve seen from Iran of late is certainly not the behavior you’d expect from a nation that wants to be taken seriously.”

Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies says the Obama administration’s policy toward Iran is muddled.

“I don’t think we’ve sent clear signals. We seem to be dealing with the nuclear agreement as if it’s some kind of legacy. It won’t be a legacy if Iran acts out in other ways,” he said.

Israel has been sounding the alarm on this since at least 2010:

Israeli Missile Experts: Simorgh Sets Iran on Path to ICBM

TEL AVIV, Israel — The recent unveiling of a large Iranian satellite launcher with the potential for doubling as an ICBM has injected additional anxiety into rapidly escalating international tension over Tehran’s nuclear weapons program. The new Simorgh is a two-stage liquid-fueled booster with an estimated takeoff weight of 87 tons, nearly four times that of the solid-fueled Sejil and double the weight of the Safir vehicle used to deliver Iran’s first satellite into space. Iran unveiled a full-scale mock-up of the system in Feb. 3 National Space Day ceremonies broadcast live on state-run television. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi presided over the event, which also featured the launch of the Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer) rocket and its live payload — a turtle, a rat and worms — into space. No first launch date was announced for the Simorgh, but U.S. and Israeli experts say that if Iranian claims are true, and the engine is already developed, it could be readied as a headline event for next February’s National Space Day. In February 2009, Iran marked the occasion with the Safir-2’s successful deployment of the Omid research satellite into low Earth orbit. More here.

Gitmo: Open for More Detainees

Posted on March 11, 2016March 11, 2016 by Denise Simon

As Barack Obama is nearing his visit to Cuba this month, there has been much speculation regarding whether he will expand more trade and concessions with the island and include the option of terminating the treaty and lease of the Guantanamo Naval Base which includes the enemy combatant detention center.

Meanwhile, Special Forces captured a significant terrorist in February that once worked for Saddam Hussein. The problem is there is no place to hold this man. We have him only for a short term and from there he will be turned over to Iraq.

US hands over ISIS chemical weapons chief to Iraqi government, Pentagon says

FNC: The Pentagon transferred the head of the Islamic State terror group’s chemical weapons development unit to the Iraqi government Thursday shortly after the U.S. captured him in a raid, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook announced.

Cook stressed the U.S. would keep ISIS detainees only for the “short term,” handled on a “case by case” basis. “We have a government on the ground in Iraq, a partner in the fight against ISIL, that we feel confident we can rely on in this instance.”

A defense official who would not reveal his identity reached by Fox News after the briefing confirmed the Pentagon has no plan on handling ISIS detainees. Cook would not say whether the U.S. government had access to ISIS detainees once turned over to the Iraqi government. Many GOP lawmakers have urged the Pentagon to send the detainees to Guantanamo Bay, which President Obama has vowed to close.

A GOP congressional aide told Fox News, “The law requires a comprehensive detainee policy. By definition, ‘we’ll figure it out if we ever capture anyone’ is not a comprehensive policy.”

U.S. special forces captured Sulayman Dawud al-Bakkar, also known as Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, in a raid last month in northern Iraq, according to Iraqi and U.S. officials. The special commando unit was deployed to Iraq to conduct raids and collect intelligence on the ground.

The Pentagon press secretary said al-Bakkar’s capture and transfer could be “a template for future cases.”

Cook said the airstrikes conducted as a result of al-Bakkar’s capture “disrupted and degraded” the group’s chemical weapons capabilities, but did not necessarily eliminate the problem. More here.

All is not lost on some Senators and they are moving to take offensive measures.

GOP resolution calls for sending captured ISIS fighters to Gitmo

TheHill: Over a dozen GOP senators, including presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, introduced a resolution Thursday to send detained Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters to Guantánamo Bay.

The resolution comes a day after the Pentagon said it captured an ISIS leader on the battlefield, sparking new questions about how to handle such prisoners.

The commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Gen. Joseph Votel said on Tuesday there was a need to detain some terror suspects long-term, but where they would be held was under debate.
The Republican senators say the military prison at Guantánamo, which President Obama is working to close, should house the ISIS detainees.

“More than seven years in, the Obama administration still does not have a coherent detention policy that will give our military and intelligence community the best opportunity to extract valuable intelligence to help defeat ISIS, Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks,” said Rubio. “This White House would rather release terrorists from Guantánamo Bay and hope for the best.”
“Jihadists who seek to kill Americans should not be brought to American soil. The security of our people, not political expediency, should guide decisions regarding prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay,” added Cruz.
Introduced by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), the resolution is just the latest vigorous protest by Republican senators against Obama’s plan to transfer all eligible detainees out of the facility. The president wants to bring the remaining 30 to 60 detainees to an alternate location in the U.S.
Earlier this week, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Okla.) introduced a resolution to block Obama from closing the facility.
“Last week when I was at Guantánamo Bay I saw plenty of vacant cells,” Daines said. “Terrorists captured by U.S. forces belong in Guantánamo, a location that has played a pivotal role for collecting intelligence from detainees and keeping terrorists off the battlefield in the global war on terror.”

“Instead of closing Guantánamo Bay, the Administration should transfer detained ISIL fighters to the facility,” added co-sponsor Sen. Cory Gardner (Colo.), using an alternate name for the group. “This resolution paves the way to do just that, while preventing grants of new rights to terrorists.”
Other co-sponsors of the resolution include Republican Sens. Tom Cotton (Ark.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), John Boozman (Ark.), James Inhofe (Okla.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Jerry Moran (Kan.) and David Vitter (La.).
The senators argue that as more terrorists are captured on the battlefield, there should be a place to hold and interrogate them for more intelligence.
“President Obama’s default foreign policy strategy has been to kill off high-ranking ISIL fighters with drones instead of attempting to detain them to glean valuable intelligence information,” Inhofe said. “This has weakened our nation’s ability to more quickly make advancements in the Middle East.”

Opponents of the plan also argue that continuing to transfer detainees to other countries poses a threat to the U.S.
On Monday, the intelligence community released its latest statistics on recidivism, which showed that the number of detainees suspected of reengaging in terrorism after being released by President Obama doubled from six to 12 in the six months prior to January.
“No other facility can house terrorists as securely as Guantánamo, which is where we should be sending ISIS terrorists when they are captured by our brave servicemen and servicewomen in the field,” said Kirk, a retired Navy reservist who faces a tough reelection fight this year.
“We should detain ISIS terrorists at Guantánamo as we cannot afford to release them into Iraqi custody and risk that these terrorists will end up right back on the battlefield,” added Ernst, a retired Army lieutenant colonel.
Opponents also argue that the presence of detainees on U.S. soil could pose a threat to local communities. The Pentagon has surveyed potential U.S. sites in Kansas, Colorado and South Carolina.
“Captured militants affiliated with ISIL and other terrorist groups are dangerous and should be held at Guantánamo Bay, not in Kansas or anywhere else in the United States,” said Moran.
The administration argues that Gitmo provides propaganda for terrorists and is too expensive to maintain, at several million dollars per detainee.
But some opponents say the administration is bent on fulfilling a campaign promise to close the facility.

Iran and North Korea: Terror in the Same Discussion

Posted on March 11, 2016March 11, 2016 by Denise Simon

DOJ expected to charge 5 Iranians in 2013 hacking of New York dam

FNC: The Department of Justice is expected to announce charges against up to five Iranians believed to be tied to the 2013 hacking of a New York dam, a law enforcement source told Fox News.

The DOJ is expected to make the announcement sometime in the coming days, according to the source. The individuals are believed to have connections within the Iranian government.

The hackers allegedly infiltrated the control system of the Bowman Ave Dam in Rye Brook, N.Y., which is about 20 miles outside New York City, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time. The breach raised fears of the vulnerabilities of the United States’ infrastructure to foreign hackers. It also came at a time that the Iranians were on the offensive in attacking U.S. banks.

It was believed at the time that the hackers never took control of the dam, but were able to probe the system, the report said.

The expected DOJ announcement was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

In this case, the hackers were believed to have gained access to the dam through a cellular modem, the paper reported in 2015, citing an unclassified Homeland Security summary of the case that did not specifically name the dam. Two unnamed sources told the paper that the summary was referring to the relatively small, 20-foot-tall, concrete dam about 5 miles from Long Island sound. The dam is used for flood control in the area.

Initially, intelligence analysts feared the hackers were targeting another dam: The Arthur R. Bowman Dam in Oregon, a 245-foot-tall earthen structure that irrigates local agriculture and prevents flooding near the town of Prineville, approximately 150 miles southeast of Portland. That belief prompted investigators to notify the White House that Iran had escalted its cyberwar with the United States.

The source told Fox News that the upcoming charges are expected to come out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.

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North Korea reportedly orders more tests to build up nuclear attack capability

FNC: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un reportedly ordered officials Friday to improve its nuclear attack capability by conducting more weapons test.

Reuters reported, citing North Korea’s official news agency (KCNA), that Kim watched a ballistic missile test take place but was most likely referring to the country firing two rockets into the sea as a response to South Korea’s new round of sanctions.

“Dear comrade Kim Jon Un said work… must be strengthened to improve nuclear attack capability and issued combat tasks to continue nuclear explosion tests to assess the power of newly developed nuclear warheads and tests to improve nuclear attack capability,” KCNA reported.

Earlier this week, Kim was quoted by state media as saying North Korea had miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles. Photographs showed him standing around what was perceived to be a nuclear warhead.

North Korea also “liquidated” South Korean assets at the closed joint factory park in the North Korean border town of Daesong and at a scrapped tourism resort at Diamond Mountain Thursday.

In a continuation of bellicose rhetoric that has spiked in recent weeks, it said North Korea will also impose “lethal” military, political and economic blows on the South Korean government to accelerate its “pitiable demise.”

South Korea’s government called the North Korean statement a “provocative act” and warned the North not to damage any South Korean assets.

The missiles fired by North Korea on Thursday flew about 310 miles before falling into the ocean off the country’s east coast, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said. They were believed to be Scud-type missiles, ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun said.

Such missile firings by the North are not uncommon when animosity rises. North Korea hates the annual military drills staged by Seoul and Washington, calling them preparations for an invasion. The allies say the drills, which this year are described as the biggest ever, are defensive and routine. North Korea warned at the start of the drills Monday of pre-emptive nuclear strikes.

On Wednesday, North Korea printed photos in official media of a purported mock-up of part of a nuclear warhead, with Kim repeating a claim that his country has developed miniaturized atomic bombs that can be placed on missiles.

Information from secretive, authoritarian North Korea is often impossible to confirm, and the country’s state media have a history of photo manipulation. But it was the first time the North has publicly displayed its purported nuclear designs, though it remains unclear whether the country has functioning warheads of that size or is simply trying to develop one.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday disputed the North’s claim that it possesses miniaturized warheads.

The United States said Wednesday it has dispatched three B-2 stealth bombers capable of launching nuclear as well as conventional weapons to the Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. Strategic Command said the bombers will conduct training with the Australian military during their deployment, which amounts to a show of force at a time of mounting tensions with North Korea.