U.S. says planned Russian pipeline would threaten European energy security

Source: Reuters

The United States sees the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany as a threat to Europe’s energy security, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Saturday.

Poland, Ukraine and Baltic states fear the pipeline would increase Europe’s dependence on Russian gas and provide the Kremlin with billions of dollars of additional revenue to finance a further military build-up on European Union’s borders.

“Like Poland, the United States opposes the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. We see it as undermining Europe’s overall energy security and stability,” Tillerson said at a joint news conference with the Polish foreign minister in Warsaw.

“Our opposition is driven by our mutual strategic interests,” he said.

The Shin Bet’s secret activity in Israel’s Arab schools

Source: YNet News

Confidential documents obtained by Yedioth Ahronoth reveal how Israel’s internal security service operated in the Arab sector for years, in cooperation with the Education Ministry, to remove teachers and principals and thwart the appointments of educators considered hostile to the State of Israel; in many cases, the disqualified teachers were unaware of the real reason for their dismissal.

April 16, 1978. A number of shadowy figures step into Education Minister Zevulun Hammer’s office. Only few people at the ministry know the men are part of Israel’s Shin Bet covert domestic security service, then known simply as “the Service.”

When the door to the office closes shut, the Education Ministry’s director-general and Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s advisor on Arab affairs remain in the room too.

An indication of the confidentiality of the meeting—whose very existence was kept secret until now—can be gleaned from the “Top Secret” heading atop the three-page document disseminated several days later by B., head of the Shin Bet’s Arab affairs division.

This extraordinary document summarizes the contents of that eyes-only meeting. It documents in writing, on official Shin Bet letterhead, agreed-upon fundamentals for the manner in which security oversight will be placed on teachers and principals in the Arab sector, and how Shin Bet operatives will be able to work behind the scenes to remove educators, implement a policy of “reward and punishment” and even be clandestinely involved in tenders for school principal appointments.

 

For decades, in the early days of the State of Israel, it all sounded like an urban legend; bits and pieces of information making the rounds about Shin Bet involvement in the Arab sector’s education system: anonymous G-men pulling strings to remove Arab teachers and principals considered hostile to the state.

 

Only in the early 2000s did state officials admit that a senior Education Ministry employee was, in fact, a Shin Bet operative—and a petition was filed with the High Court of Justice to remove him from there.

 

This particular incident notwithstanding, not much was known of the manner in which the Shin Bet worked covertly within the Arab sector’s education system, and of its involvement in the decision-making process and staffing issues in the sector over many years.

 

New testimonies and documents uncovered by Yedioth Ahronoth, including top-secret Shin Bet records, shed light on the Israeli intelligence’s wheeling and dealing through the years in Israeli Arab educational institutions and on the manner in which appointments of educators who were suspected to be a security risk to the State of Israel—dubbed “disqualified”—were blocked or terminated, with not only consent but also collaboration from Education Ministry officials.

 

In fact, the Shin Bet went so far as to appoint or disqualify school principals.

 

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Operation Pacific Eagle- US intensifies anti-terrorism ops in the Philippines

Source: Phil Star

MANILA, Philippines — Washington has reportedly stepped up its military cooperation with the Philippines by launching a new assistance mission here that would allow the Southeast Asian nation to receive the same appropriation used in funding US counterterrorism operations in the Middle East.

The Pentagon had reportedly renamed its anti-terrorism mission in the Philippines from “Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines” to “Operation Pacific Eagle,” marking a new phase of counterterrorism efforts here and in the region.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the intensified US military mission here started last September after the Philippine government requested for more assistance in defeating ISIS-backed militants that laid siege to the principal Islamic city of Marawi.

Being an Overseas Contingency Operation, or OCO, funds for the new US mission in the Philippines typically are exempt from “limits on routine spending” and have financed US wars on terror, the WSJ explained.

However, it was not clear why the Trump administration did not announce the ramped up US mission at the time it was launched.

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Italy approves military mission in Niger, more troops to North Africa

Source:Newsline

Italy’s parliament approved on Wednesday an increased military presence in Libya and the deployment of up to 470 troops in Niger to combat migration and the trafficking of people toward Europe, many of whom wash up on Italian shores.

The focus on Africa comes as Italy is seeking to stop migrants from reaching its shores. The mostly African immigrants first cross the Sahel states to reach Libya, where they set off in boats for Italy. More than 600,000 have come in the past four years.

The Niger mission was announced on Dec. 28 as Italy joined France and the United States, which already have troops there, in efforts to help President Mahamadou Issoufou better control Niger’s territory and borders.

Gentiloni said the mission would “guarantee stability in the area and fight illegal trafficking of migrants”.

Some 400 soldiers are expected to work in Libya, up from about 370, and, as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Italy will send 60 troops to Tunisia to improve border control and fight terrorism.

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Alleged CIA China turncoat may have also compromised US spies in Russia

Source: CNBC

A former CIA officer who was arrested last week under the suspicion of spying for China is also suspected of compromising American spies in Russia, NBC News reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

NBC News, citing multiple former and current government officials, said a FBI-CIA task force probing the case concluded that the Chinese government used information it gained about American operations to arrest and execute at least 20 CIA informants.

Authorities believe China shared the information with Russia, which used it to expose and possibly kill U.S. spies, said NBC News, which cited current and former officials who declined to be named.

 

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US plans open-ended military presence in Syria

Source: BBC

The US will maintain an open-ended military presence in Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of the jihadist group Islamic State, counter Iranian influence, and help end the civil war.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said President Donald Trump did not want to “make the same mistakes” that were made in 2011, when US forces left Iraq.

The US has about 2,000 troops in Syria.

Mr Tillerson denied the US was training a Kurdish-led border force, but Turkey accused it of sending mixed signals.

“US officials have made statements that refute one another,” said Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, whose country fiercely opposes such a move.

“One day it was said that a new border force had been set up, another day they said they are setting up a unit with local forces in order to maintain security in the region after eliminating Daesh [Islamic State group, or IS] in the region. These are all confusing statements.”

The US secretary of state said officials had “misspoke[n]” when they said the US was planning to set up a 30,000 strong “border security force” in northern Syria underpinned by the allied Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia.

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U.S. ARMY CHIEF WANTS ROBOTS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FORCES TO PLAY A BIGGER ROLE ON THE BATTLEFIELD

Source: Newsweek

The United States military must embrace artificial intelligence, robotics and other emerging technologies soon to maintain its edge on the battlefield, because other nations are already doing so, the army’s chief of staff has said.

“Whether we like it or not, artificial intelligence is coming,” General Mark Milley said on Wednesday, speaking at an Association of the United States Army’s Institute of Land Warfare event, armed forces news site Military reported. “I am willing to bet on it with programs and money.”

Milley did not give a detailed plan for how to incorporate the futuristic technology in army vehicles but estimated that in 10-15 years’ time, troops will have the support of enhanced kit on the ground and in the skies.

“I don’t know if artificial intelligence is going to mean robots and machines replace humanity… but I do know the quantum computing and some of the IT technologies that are out there today are so significant and can help you [with] rapid decision-making in complex decentralized environments—that if we don’t take advantage of that in things like the network—then we would be fools because others are moving out quickly on that,” he said.

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In the Sahel jihadist form alliance against G-5 and Europeans

Source: Analisi Difesa

In the Sahel several groups of jihadists united under the banner of the Islamic State and declared war on the anti-terrorism force of the G5 (FC-G5S) formed by Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Chad.

This was announced by a jihadist spokesman for the France Presse Agency. The group, led by Adnan Abu Walid Sahraoui and calling itself “Islamic State in the Great Sahara” (ISBS), has made it known that he is responsible for several terrorist attacks, which occurred in the five African countries. Among these the one against the French forces of the Barkhane operation in Mali and that cost the lives of 4 members of the US special forces and as many Nigerian soldiers on 4 October.

ISBS informs that in the Sahel it is active in the “area of ​​the three borders”. That is, those between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Just the area where the activity of FC-G5S will concentrate. “We will do everything to ensure that the G5 anti-terrorism force does not settle in this area,” said Isis spokesman, a close longtime associate of Adnan Abu Walid Sahraoui who identified himself as “Amar”.

“Our brothers Iyad Ag Ghali and other mujaheddin as we defend Islam”, he continued referring to the Malian Tuareg head of Ansar Dine. “To fight the infidels, we are holding hands – he concluded – we will continue to fight together”.

The new jihadist alliance not only troubles the G5 countries but also their European allies who are about to send military contingents into the Sahel in addition to the already present French and US troops.

It is not yet clear who actually is part of it, but ISBS may have joined even groups belonging to the antagonist galaxy of al-Qaeda that in Sahel is expressed mainly with al-Mourabitoun as well as with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). On the other hand, the two formations, together with Ansad Dine in March 2017 officially declared their merger in the new group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, as reported in the Defense Analysis , which means “Support to Islam and Muslims” .

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Sweden prepares public for war amid unease about Russia

Source: The Age

Sweden is preparing to issue a public information manual on what to do in the event of war, as debate in the country grows over how to deal with the threat from Russia.

The brochure due to be sent to 4.7 million households will inform the public how they can take part in “total defence” during a war and secure water, food and heating.

The booklet, with the working title If Crisis or War Comes, will also give guidance on dealing with threats from cyber attacks, terrorism and climate change.

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China to Construct Afghan Military Base on Afghanistan-Tajikistan Border

Source: The Trumpet

China will build a military base along the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan for the Afghan armed forces, according to a January 7 report by EurasiaNet. “The plan, if it is realized, promises a deeper Chinese military involvement in Tajikistan, which is necessary as a supply corridor to Badakhshan,” the report said.

The plan calls for China to supply the base with weapons, uniforms and gear, and also for Beijing to move military vehicles through Tajikistan into Afghanistan.

The news follows a visit in December by an Afghan military delegation to Beijing. Afghan Defense Minister Tariq Shah Bahrami said the two sides agreed during the visit to “deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields including antiterrorism operations, and push forward the state and military relations between the two countries.”

Building a military base in this region fits in with China’s growing security ties to Afghanistan and its increasing presence in Central Asia.

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Pentagon Plans Citywide Drone-Catching Dragnets

Source: Daily Beast 

The U.S. government is a step closer to deploying a new system for tracking small drones flying over busy cities. But there’s no guarantee it will be affordable.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s two-year-old Aerial Dragnet initiative could begin testing in 2018, an agency official told The Daily Beast.

If it works and the government funds it, Aerial Dragnet could help military commanders and law enforcement officials keep tabs on drones zipping through urban battlefields or flying over densely populated city neighborhoods in the United States…

Aerial Dragnet could involve a network of “surveillance nodes,” each monitoring an area the size of an urban neighborhood, according to DARPA. “Using sensor technologies that can look over and between buildings, the surveillance nodes would maintain UAS tracks even when the craft disappear from sight around corners or behind objects.”

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DoD reports spike in private contractors in Iraq

Source: Marine Times

The number of civilian contractors supporting U.S. and coalition operations in Iraq against the Islamic State is on the rise, even as major military operations there have ceased, according to new figures released by U.S. Central Command,

From January 2017 to January 2018 the number of Defense Department contractors in Iraq rose 37 percent, from 3,592 to 4,927, according to statistics CENTCOM released last week.

The numbers are reported quarterly and have risen steadily over the last year. For example, contractors supporting base operations rose from 564 contractors in January 2017 to 827 contractors in January 2018. The number of contracted translators rose from 377 in 2017 to 805 in 2018 and the number of contractors supporting logistics and maintenance rose from 1,156 to 1,480.

The Pentagon will still not say how many forces are in Iraq or whether that number has risen or fallen since ISIS was driven from all major Iraqi cities last year. The Pentagon will only provide the previous publicly released figure of a force management level of 5,262.

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Prominent Kosovo Serb Politician Oliver Ivanovic Assassinated

Source: Observer

The always narrow and winding path to peace in Southeastern Europe hit a major obstruction this morning with the murder of Oliver Ivanović, the leader of the Serbs of Kosovo, who was gunned down in a drive-by killing in Kosovska Mitrovica. That city is precariously divided between Kosovo’s Albanian majority and Serbian minority, and Ivanović had been the latter’s political boss since the 1999 war that dragged NATO into that messy ethnic conflict.

The 64-year-old Ivanović was murdered in front of his political party’s office by a gunman in a moving car. Local media in Kosovo claim the car has been found, burned out, but as of this hour no suspects have been officially named, much less located. Shot five times with a pistol, Ivanović was dead on arrival at a local hospital.

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Mossad intelligence led to German raids on Iranian spies — report

Source: The Times of Israel

The Mossad intelligence service provided critical information that led to raids on the homes of suspected Iranian spies throughout Germany, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported on Tuesday.

The weekly German-language magazine FOCUS reported that arrest warrants for the suspects listed them as being members of the al-Quds Force, which is part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States.

The alleged spies had been monitoring Israeli and Jewish targets, the report said.

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Ex-CIA agent living in H.K. arrested with top secret info on U.S. spies

Source: Japan Times

U.S. authorities said Tuesday they had arrested a former CIA agent, Hong Kong resident Jerry Chun Shing Lee, after discovering he had an unauthorized notebook that had the identities of undercover U.S. spies.

Lee, a naturalized U.S. citizen also known as Zhen Cheng Li, was arrested late Monday after he arrived at JFK International Airport in New York.

The Department of Justice said Lee, 53, grew up in the United States and served in the U.S. Army before joining the Central Intelligence Agency as a case officer in 1994.

He served in unnamed overseas locations and left the agency in 2007, later apparently taking a job in Hong Kong.

In a complaint filed in a New York federal court, the Justice Department said that in 2012, FBI agents with court-ordered warrants secretly searched Lee’s luggage while he was traveling in the United States and found he was carrying top secret materials he was not authorized to have.

“Agents found two small books containing handwritten notes that contained classified information, including but not limited to, true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, operational notes from asset meetings, operational meeting locations and locations of covert facilities,” the Justice Department said.

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When the Army Planned for a Fight in U.S. Cities

Source: The Atlantic

In January 1968, Colonel Robert B. Rigg, a retired Army intelligence officer, published an article in ARMY magazine that captured the attention of an establishment reeling from recent riots in Watts, Detroit, and other American cities. He argued that those disturbances might be relatively mild precursors to a coming rebellion in the streets––that during the next few years, “organized urban insurrection could explode to the extent that large American cities could become scenes of destruction approaching those of Stalingrad in World War II.”…………..

What followed was a detailed blueprint for how the U.S. Army, on the president’s orders, would deploy simultaneously to 25 American cities to put down civil unrest. For instance, “Riot control agents should be used to accomplish your mission prior to the use of live ammunition,” it noted. “Authority to issue live ammunition to personnel under your command is authorized. They are not to load or fire their weapons except when authorized by an officer in person; when authorized in advance by an officer under certain specific conditions; or when required to save their lives. Warning shots will not be fired; however, when shooting is necessary, shots will be aimed to wound rather than to kill.”

The Army set forth these factors in “assessing the probabilities of civil disturbances” in a given urban area:

(a) Population by race.
(b) Population of the “core city” of the urban area; percentage and distribution of the minorities population.
(c) Presence of large “blue collar” neighborhoods, as reflected by the industrial payrolls and industrial concentrations.
(d) Presence of poor economic and sociological conditions, and their reflections in crime rates.
(e) Unemployment rate in the area, and sections of concentrated unemployment.
(f) Presence and degree of activity of militant racial, leftist and anti-draft, and extreme right-wing groups, and an assessment of the capabilities of these  to provoke disturbances.
(g) History of civil disturbances in the area.
(h) Assessment of known and probable demonstrations.
(i) Existence of widespread sense of injustice and real or imagined lack of means of redress.
(j) Caching of arms or explosives; other preparations for disturbances.

Twenty-five “high-priority” areas were identified, and the Army planned as if to combat civil disturbances in all of them at once. That would result in the activation of five brigades. They would deploy to Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Louisville, Newark, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Trenton, Wilmington, Atlanta, Memphis, Miami, Nashville, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, St. Louis, Gary, Milwaukee, Los Angeles/Long Beach, and San Francisco/Oakland, while an additional 30,000 troops would keep order in Washington, D.C.

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NATO Demands Cause Headaches in Iceland

Source: In Depth News

In February 2016, the U.S. government started discussions with its Icelandic counterpart on the possibility of carrying out necessary changes to the doors of the NATO hangar at Keflavik airport so that newer, larger submarine reconnaissance planes could be housed there. The matter was eventually concluded in December 2017, when the U.S. government agreed to funding.

The hangar is located in the security zone of the old U.S. military base, “Naval Air Station Keflavik”, and the reconnaissance planes in question are of the Poseidon P-8A type, designed to track the increased presence of Russian nuclear and conventional submarines in waters around Iceland – the so-called Greenland, Iceland and United Kingdom (GIUK) Gap.

There are now more Russian nuclear and conventional submarines in the GIUK Gap than during the Cold War. According to Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, surveillance flights were made from Iceland on 77 days in 2016, whereas in 2017 such flights were made on 153 days, using P-3 and P-8A surveillance planes operated by the United States and other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) states. The P-3 is the predecessor of the P-8A.

“It was assumed from the beginning that the alterations would be funded by the U.S. government,” a Foreign Affairs ministry press officer said. In the United States 2018 Defence Budget, 14.4 million dollars was requested and allocated for “airfield upgrades” in Iceland, under Section 4602, Military Construction for Overseas Contingency Operations, and Section 2903, Air Force Construction and Land Acquisition Project. The latter allows the Secretary of the Air Force to acquire “real property” and carry out military construction projects for installations outside of the United States.

However, expenditure was also increased on the Icelandic side. In a report entitled Iceland’s Defence and NATO Operations in Iceland, dated March 8, 2017, the Icelandic Coastguard reports “increased maritime operations and capabilities”, while the Foreign Affairs Ministry says that operational funding was increased by 34 percent in the 2017 Icelandic budget “due to the operation of structures and an air defence system at Keflavik airport”.

The topic has been controversial, partly because the U.S. military left Iceland in September 2006 and there are fears that they may be considering a return. Although much of the deserted base is now being used for educational and high-tech purposes, part of the base is still closed to the public. Here, the Coastguard is responsible for maintaining hangars and other military facilities intact, while also overseeing air traffic control over Iceland, both of civilian and military planes.

In July 2016, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published a report in which it openly suggested: “NATO can optimise its ASW [anti-submarine warfare] posture to ensure that the right capabilities are in the right places at the right time by reopening Keflavik Naval Air Station in Iceland…”

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Russia and US engage in ‘military base race’ in Syria

Source: Defense News

A military bases race is underway between Russia and the U.S. as each nation seeks to expand its presence in Syria and counter asymmetric threats.

 

The U.S. has a military presence in several key locations, but there are two areas with heavy U.S. troop presence that are being transformed to military bases, according to a military source: The first is located in Al Tabaqah near Al Raqqa north Syria, where the U.S. special forces troops are training Kurdish groups; the other is constructed in Al-Tanf where the U.S. troops prevent Syrian and Russian armed forces from crossing.”

 

Al Tabaqah was a Syrian military airbase before revolts ended the hold. U.S. also has special operations forces along the Jordan- Iraq- Syria borders in Al Tanf, a crossing where Syrian revolt groups are trained. The U.S. military presence in Deir Ezzour and in Al Tanf have “sandwiched” this area, impairing Iran’s efforts to build the bridge connecting Iran with the Mediterranean.

By comparison, Russia has two permanent military bases in Syria – an air base in Hmeimim and a naval base in Tartous.

 

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Germany expands anti-terror squad GSG 9

Source: DW

Germany’s elite police squad GSG 9, which deals with terrorist attacks, is to become significantly larger and will set up a second base in Berlin….

GSG 9 (which stands for Grenzschutzgruppe 9, or literally “Border protection group”) was created as a direct consequence of the kidnapping and murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics that year, when the police’s handling of the event received much criticism.

GSG 9 is used both in Germany and abroad for special operations against terrorism and organized crime. Last August, GSG 9 officers carried out a series of searches in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania against a suspected far-right terrorist network.

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Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) hired moles to plant IEDs targeting Pakistani Security Forces

Source: Pakistan Today

Moles hired by the Indian spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), have been involved in planting Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to target Pakistani security forces and innocent civilians, according to an intelligence probe that debunked the recent Indian claims of ‘surgical strikes’ within Pakistani territory in Kashmir.

Official documents available with Pakistan Today suggested that the investigators have led to the conclusion that Indians were involved in planting highly sophisticated IEDs near the Line of Control (LoC), and 27 such attacks since 2016 have led to the death of eight civilians and military officials while leaving left 19 injured.

A comprehensive intelligence probe has found irrefutable evidence proving the direct involvement of Indian intelligence agencies, particularly RAW, in planning and execution of these attacks. The probe also resulted in the arrest of several moles who confessed their role in 27 IED attacks.

The documents say that the Indian intelligence operators have mostly used Hand-Held Radios or cellular phone (GSM) devices for remotely activating IEDs (placed by agents); therefore, IED sites are selected with a clear line of sight from the Indian army posts (map below). GSM coverage spill over across the LOC also facilitates the attacks.

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AFRICOM blacklists Nick Turse- “We don’t consider you a legitimate journalist, really.”

Source: The Intercept

CONVERSATIONS WITH MILITARY spokespeople can be curt, even confrontational, but they are not supposed to go this way.

“Nick, we’re not going to respond to any of your questions” Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Falvo, the head of U.S. Africa Command’s Public Affairs Branch, told me by phone last October. “We just don’t feel that we need to.”

I asked if Falvo believed AFRICOM didn’t need to address questions from the press in general, or just me in particular.

“No, just you,” he replied. “We don’t consider you a legitimate journalist, really.”

Then he hung up on me.

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Russia has secretly developed underwater nuclear drones capable of carrying a 100-megaton warhead

Source: THE SUN

RUSSIA has developed an underwater nuclear drone capable of firing nuke missiles, a leaked US study reveals.

Vladimir Putin’s military has dubbed the shadowy vessels autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).

And they are able to deploy missiles with a power of 100-megatons – more than 6,500 times the power of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

The Pentagon study, obtained by the Huffington Post, went on the warn that Russia was quickly giving Russia an edge over the US in terms of nuclear capabilities.

An extract from the report read: “In addition to modernizing ‘legacy’ Soviet nuclear systems, Russia is developing and deploying new nuclear warheads and launchers.

“These efforts include multiple upgrades for every leg of the Russian nuclear triad of strategic bombers, sea-based missiles and land-based missiles.

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Russia’s Lavrov: US wants to slice up Syria

Source: Al Jazeera

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the United States “does not want to keep Syria as a state in its current borders”, accusing Washington of seeking to establish a Kurdish-controlled entity along Turkish and Iraqi border zones.

Speaking at an annual press conference in Moscow to review the past year’s diplomatic activities on Monday, Lavrov also said Russia would not support Washington’s attempts to change the Iran nuclear deal.

“The [US’] actions that we have been observing indicate that the US does not want to keep Syria as a state in its current borders … The US wants to help the Syrian Democratic Forces to set up some border security zones,” he said, referring to a US-backed rebel alliance dominated by Syrian Kurds, known as the SDF.

“There is a fear that they are pursuing a policy to cut Syria into several pieces,” he said.

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Kurdish forces in Syria receive MANPADS from US as part of secret deal

Source: ALMASDAR NEWS

Kurdish forces have received a shipment of shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile systems (commonly abbreviated as MANPADS) from the United States per a backdoor agreement according to oppositions sources.

In what opposition sources are referring to as an ‘independent secret deal,’ the US has supplied Kurdish forces in the Afrin region of Syria’s Aleppo province with heat-seeking man-portable surface-to-air missiles.

The transfer of the sophisticated weapons systems by the US to Kurdish militias is claimed to have taken place some time last week.

Opposition reports say that the arms transfer is part of an exclusive agreement between the US and Kurdish forces, having been outside the authority of the collective decision-making apparatus of the anti-ISIS coalition.

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America’s shadow war in Africa

Source: Politico

A central focus of the mission is the vast desert nation of Niger, nearly twice the size of Texas, which has been a magnet for jihadists of many stripes, including those recruited locally and so-called foreign fighters drawn from North Africa, the Middle East and beyond.

In June, the official number of U.S. troops supporting Niger’s military as it fights the militant groups was 645, up from 575 in December 2016. But now it’s at least 800, according to the Pentagon.

Many of the troops are Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Marine Raiders, but officials said the reinforcements have mostly been Air Force personnel who are there to manage a surge in surveillance flights by unmanned drones and manned spy planes.

That’s a significant jump from the 100 troops that then-President Barack Obama deployed to Niger in 2013, notes a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, the research arm of Congress. “This trend has coincided with sizable increases in U.S. security assistance for African countries over the past decade, of which Niger has been a major beneficiary.”

Plans are also underway to accommodate more forces, including $50 million that the Air Force requested to construct an air strip in the northern city of Agadez, considered one of the most volatile areas of the country.

The U.S. military presence has also been expanding elsewhere in the region.

As of June, another 300 U.S. troops were operating in neighboring Cameroon, up from 285 in December, according to the White House notifications to Congress required under the War Powers Act.

At least 410 more U.S. military personnel are nearby in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Uganda and South Sudan, targeting the Lord’s Resistance Army. Those numbers, also from June, were the first public estimates of the U.S. military presence in that area.

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