position:military official

#Iran to send warships to the Atlantic, closer to U.S. waters | Reuters
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-usa-navy-idUSKCN1OY0SX

The Iranian navy will send warships to deploy in the Atlantic from March, a top commander said on Friday, as the Islamic Republic seeks to increase the operating range of its naval forces to the backyard of the United States, its arch foe.

Iran sees the presence of U.S. aircraft carriers in the Gulf as a security concern and its navy has sought to counter that by showing the flag near American waters.

A flotilla will leave for the Atlantic early in the Iranian new year, starting from March, Iran’s naval deputy commander said.

“The Atlantic Ocean is far and the operation of the Iranian naval flotilla might take five months,” Rear-Admiral Touraj Hassani was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.

He said Sahand, a newly-built destroyer, would be one of the warships. Sahand has a flight deck for helicopters and Iran says it is equipped with anti-aircraft and anti-ship guns, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles and has electronic warfare capabilities.

Hassani said in December that Iran would soon send two to three vessels on a mission to #Venezuela.

A senior Iranian military official said last month that the navy could sail in the Atlantic near U.S. waters since U.S. aircraft carriers were allowed to move around in international waters near Iran.

Iran’s navy has extended its reach in recent years, launching vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates.

Syria says Israel struck Iranian airbase near Homs - Israel News - Haaretz.com
Reports say Syrian air defenses fired at planes, coming in from Jordan, and heading towards the T4 airbase used by Iran
Jack Khoury
Jul 09, 2018 11:16 AM
▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/syria-airstrike-hits-t4-airbase-near-homs-1.6248915

https://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.6249411.1531125559!/image/646600026.jpg_gen/derivatives/size_1496xAuto/646600026.jpg

Syria accused Israel on Sunday of attacking an air force base near Homs known to be housing Iranian forces. This is the third time in a year that Israel has struck the site, according to foreign reports.

The official Syrian news agency SANA said air defenses were activated as warplanes, reportedly coming into the country from Jordan, approached the T4 base near Tiyas. The planes, which were said to be flying at low altitude to avoid detection, passed through the al-Tanaf area, where U.S. forces have a base.

Syria’s state media said that military air defenses thwarted the act of “Israeli aggression.” An army officer in the southern Syrian desert said the air defense system shot down missiles coming from south of the Tanaf region toward the air base. Reports said that around six missiles hit near the base, causing damage, but added that no one was hurt or killed.

The T4 airbase has been reported to have been used by Iranian forces. In April, a senior Israeli official confirmed to the New York Times that Israel had hit the base.

#BREAKING: Reports: Israeli air strike on T4 base in Homs, Syria; Syria TV reports several air defence missiles in response pic.twitter.com/d52NzJ0YxR
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) July 8, 2018

Video of purported attack near Syria’s T4 base

“It was the first time we attacked live Iranian targets — both facilities and people,” said the Israeli military official.

The official said that the armed Iranian drone that entered Israeli airspace a few days prior “opened a new period,” and that “this is the first time we saw Iran do something against Israel — not by proxy." During the attack, Israel killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force members, including Colonel Mehdi Dehghan, who led the drone unit operating out of T4, east of Homs.

Two weeks ago, two Israeli missiles struck a target near Damascus International Airport, Syrian state media said.

The target was an arms depot belonging to the Lebanese Shi’ite movement Hezbollah, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. According to the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV, a source said Syrian air defense systems had intercepted two missiles in addition to the ones fired at the airport.

Archive 2003: Conspiracy of Silence - The New York Times
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/books/conspiracy-of-silence.html

The theory of ’’Why America Slept,’’ saved for the provocative final chapter of this smart and evocatively written book: the Saudis were in on it.

The basis for this charge, Posner writes, is the C.I.A.’s interrogation of one of America’s biggest catches in the campaign against Al Qaeda — a senior aide to Osama bin Laden named Abu Zubaydah, who was captured in March 2002 in western Pakistan by American and Pakistani forces. Relying on two unnamed government sources to provide new information about the intelligence gleaned from the interrogation, Posner writes that C.I.A. interrogators manipulated the injured Zubaydah’s pain medication to wear down his defenses. They tricked him into believing he was in Saudi custody — and were then shocked to hear what a relieved Zubaydah finally had to tell them. He instructed them to call a senior member of the ruling Saudi family, Posner writes, and gave them a phone number from memory. ’’He will tell you what to do,’’ Zubaydah said. He went on to tell his interrogators that bin Laden had struck a deal in the late 1990’s to gain the blessing and support of top Saudi leaders in exchange for assurances that his holy war would spare the Saudi kingdom. This testimony, an American investigator says, was ’’the Rosetta stone of 9/11.’’ Still more intriguing, three of the Saudi leaders whom the prisoner named as allies (including Prince Ahmed bin Salman, probably best known to Americans as the owner of the Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem) wound up dead within a week of one another in three separate incidents; a Pakistani military official also named by Zubaydah was killed seven months later in a plane crash.

The allegations will no doubt provide grist for those eager to link the Saudis to the Sept. 11 attacks. But as with all conspiracy theories — as Posner himself has shown in his past work — there is reason for skepticism. Qaeda prisoners like Zubaydah have become notorious for providing misinformation to their captors, American officials have not rushed to broadcast the information prisoners have given them and the Saudis have vigorously denied any links to bin Laden, despite the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers hailed from the kingdom. (Last month, in fact, Saudi officials asserted that bin Laden intentionally recruited Saudis for the Sept. 11 mission in order to strain relations between the United States and the kingdom.) Still, Posner’s reputation for sober, exhaustive journalism and his access to classified intelligence signal that his theory should not be dismissed out of hand.

China military official: War with US under Donald Trump ’becoming practical reality’ | The Independent
▻http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-donald-trump-war-us-military-official-practical-reality-preside

https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2015/05/14/15/chinese-army-reuters.jpg

War with the US under Donald Trump is “not just a slogan” and becoming a “practical reality”, a senior Chinese military official has said.

[...]

Mr Trump and members of his administration have consistently voiced a hard line against China. Mr Trump has branded the country a “currency manipulator” and accusing the country of underhand trading and economic tactics.

But more significantly in security terms, Mr Trump has also ignored the US’s longstanding ‘One China’ policy, publicly engaging with the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, in a move that was hugely antagonising for Beijing.

China strongly regards Taiwan as part of its territory and the US has tacitly respected this for decades, but Mr Trump signalled a departure from this policy.

[...]

Further suggestions China is preparing for conflict emerged this week, with unconfirmed reports the military has moved long range missiles closer to the north east border in Heilongjiang province — within firing range of the US.

#it_has_begun

Russian TV stations broadcast secret nuclear torpedo plans | World news | The Guardian

▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/12/russian-tv-stations-broadcast-secret-nuclear-torpedo-plans

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/129b88d39cdc51f01017019ffff178c9461f053a/120_0_1800_1080/master/1800.jpg?w=1200&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=62df0870848300e2b9522a3e4cc519ff

The Kremlin has admitted that Russian television accidentally showed secret plans for a nuclear torpedo system on air.

Two Kremlin-controlled channels, NTV and Channel One, showed a military official looking at a confidential document containing drawings and details of a weapons system called Status-6, designed by Rubin, a nuclear submarine construction company based in St Petersburg.

#bug

Enquête fouillée de The Intercept sur l’ONG H.S.I.G. dirigée par un chrétien évangélique, Kay Hiramine, qui a servi des années 2000 à 2013 de couverture à un programme d’espionnage du Pentagone ciblant notamment la Corée du Nord (mais aussi l’Iran) : ►https://theintercept.com/2015/10/26/pentagon-missionary-spies-christian-ngo-front-for-north-korea-espionag

Because American intelligence has so few assets inside North Korea, much of Hiramine’s task was to find transportation routes to move military equipment — and potentially clandestine operatives — in and around the country. The Pentagon would eventually move sensors and small radio beacons through Hiramine’s transportation network, according to another former military official. Much of what Hiramine was doing was what the military refers to as “operational preparation of the environment,” or OPE, a category that encompasses clandestine intelligence gathering and prepositioning equipment inside a country for future conflicts.
“We needed collection devices, spoofers” — used to disrupt North Korean military devices or radio signals — “and [equipment] to measure nuclear anomalies,” the same former military official told me. The military hardware also included shortwave radios that could be used to help a downed pilot to escape in the event of a future conflict with North Korea.

Disagreement keeps Hamas-Iran rapprochement on ice - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/02/iran-hamas-rapprochement-demands-meshaal-resignation.html

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, has remained silent in the recent media discussion between Hamas and Iran regarding the campaign against Meshaal.

A Hamas military official who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity said, “The al-Qassam Brigades might be the biggest beneficiary from renewed ties with Tehran, given its need for military support. Yet, we will not receive a single bullet [in military assistance] from any party unless there is full consent from Hamas’ political leadership, headed by Meshaal.”

He added, “The al-Qassam Brigades is a Hamas wing and not the entire movement. Therefore, it is committed to the decisions of the regulatory institutions, and we will be supportive of any rapprochement with Iran to the advantage of the resistance. Yet, our commitment to the cohesion of the movement and organizational structure, as well as the symbolism of the leadership, will not be subject to bargaining.”

Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/02/iran-hamas-rapprochement-demands-meshaal-resignation.html#ixzz3SV4TATGv

Clashes kill 12 in southern #Yemen
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/clashes-kill-12-southern-yemen

Two Yemeni soldiers and 10 jihadists were killed Sunday in attempted car bomb attacks on army posts and subsequent clashes in the southern province of Abyan, a military official said. He said dozens of suspected Al-Qaeda militants took part in simultaneous attacks on three army posts in the Mahfad area of Abyan. Two car bombs exploded before reaching their targets, while a third went off at the gate of a base, he added. “The alertness of the soldiers foiled the militants’ attempt to seize the military posts,” the official told AFP, declining to be named. read more

Military Official Says Israel Invasion of Gaza Is Likely - NYTimes.com

▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-strip.html?emc=edit_th_20140717&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=6761714

TEL AVIV — Even as Israel and Hamas agreed to suspend hostilities briefly on Thursday at the request of the United Nations, a senior Israeli military official said that his government was increasingly likely to order a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip that it had hoped to avoid.

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/07/16/world/middleeast/17israel4/17israel4-master675.jpg

Though Israel initially set limited goals of halting the rocket assaults against it and degrading Hamas, the Islamist movement that dominates Gaza, the group’s tenacity and surprisingly deep arsenal have led to widespread calls to expand the mission. The military official said only “boots on the ground” could eradicate terrorism from Gaza and indicated that Israel was even considering a long-term reoccupation of the coastal territory.

#gaza

N. Korea fires missiles from Kaesong | NK News - North Korea News

▻http://www.nknews.org/2014/07/n-korea-fires-missiles-from-kaesong

Kaesong, quelques kilomètres seulement de la DMZ...

North Korea test-fired two more ballistic missiles on Sunday, this time using the border city of Kaesong as the launch site.

▻http://www.nknews.org/wp-content/themes/NKNews/timthumb.php?src=http://www.nknews.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/cruise-missile.jpg&w=657&h=360&q=100

The missiles were believed to Scud variants with a range of 500 kilometers (about 311 miles) launched between 1:20 and 1:30 a.m. Korean time, a South Korean military official told AP. The firing follows a Scud launch on June 29 and KN-09 tests on June 26 and July 2.

What made Sunday’s launch unusual was the venue, as Kaesong is the site of the joint-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex, a symbol of cooperation between Seoul and Pyongyang. North Korea typically uses Wonsan, located further from the border separating North and South Korea.

The North’s last firing on July 2 took place even as it was meeting with Japanese officials over a committee to reinvestigate its abductions of Japanese citizens from 1977-1983 in return for reduced sanctions from Tokyo. The launch came even as Japan protested a previous test-firing during the meeting.

#corée_du_nord

Motorbike gunmen shoot dead Yemeni police commander
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/motorbike-gunmen-shoot-dead-yemeni-police-commander

Two gunmen on a motorbike shot dead a commander of #Yemen's security forces in Sanaa on Monday, a military official said, adding the attack bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda. Military police commander Mohammed Guawza was shot four times while walking down a street in the center of the capital, the source told AFP. The attackers managed to escape, said the official, blaming al-Qaeda which has multiplied attacks against army officers and police across the country. read more

#Top_News

Al-Qaeda militants kill ten soldiers in central Yemen
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/al-qaeda-militants-kill-ten-soldiers-central-yemen

Al-Qaeda militants killed 10 Yemeni soldiers in three simultaneous attacks Thursday on army positions in the central province of Bayda, a military official said. “Al-Qaeda assailants carried out simultaneous attacks against three military positions in Rada” in Bayda, an extremist stronghold, the official told AFP. Ten soldiers were killed and others wounded, while some of the attackers also died, including one wearing an explosive belt who was killed by soldiers. The attacks were followed by clashes between the army and gunmen. read more

#Houthi rebels and Salafis agree to ceasefire in northern #Yemen
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/houthi-rebels-and-salafis-agree-ceasefire-northern-yemen

Rebels and Salafis have stopped fighting in northern Yemeni town after reaching a ceasefire that was urged by the Red Cross, a military official said Saturday. Three days of clashes that killed at least 11 people ended at 5:00 pm on Friday, the official said according to the defense ministry news website 26sep.net. Troops have been deployed in areas evacuated by the two sides, he added. read (...)

#Top_News

Suicide bomber kills five Yemeni soldiers at army base
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/suicide-bomber-kills-five-yemeni-soldiers-army-base

A suicide bomber killed at least five Yemeni soldiers on Friday in a suspected Islamist militant attack on a military base in the south of the country, a Yemeni military official said. Militants linked to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) are increasingly targeting Yemeni army facilities in the US-allied state, which shares a long border with Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, and flanks major shipping lanes. read (...)

#Top_News #Yemen

Lebanese army defuses 50-kilogram car bomb in Beirut suburb
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanese-army-defuses-50-kilogram-car-bomb-beirut-suburb

The Lebanese army successfully defused a 50-kilogram bomb discovered Monday in a southern Beirut suburb, a military official said on Tuesday. A Jeep Grand Cherokee packed with explosives was discovered in the Maamoura neighborhood of #Dahiyeh, which has been swarming with security forces since two car bombs exploded in July and August. The July 9 attack on the Dahiyeh neighborhood of Bir al-Abed injured 53 people. On August 15, a massive explosion killed 27 people in the nearby Roueiss (...)

#Lebanon #Top_News

En recourant aux #forces_spéciales et aux #drones, les officiels américains n’ont pas plus de scrupules à tuer des humains qu’à tuer… des mouches.
►http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2012/10/24/institutionalizing-americas-targeted-killing-program

Recently, I spoke to a military official with extensive and wide-ranging experience in the special operations world, and who has had direct exposure to the targeted killing program. To emphasize how easy targeted killings by special operations forces or drones has become, this official flicked his hand back over and over, stating: “It really is like swatting flies. We can do it forever easily and you feel nothing. But how often do you really think about killing a fly?”

Fighting erupts in Yemen amid protests - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
►http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/11/20111125124426529361.html

Officials in Yemen say heavy fighting broke out in the Yemeni capital between security forces and army defectors despite the signing of a recent deal to transfer power.

One man from each side was killed in Friday’s clashes in Sanaa, a military official said.

Central security forces under the command of Ali Abdullah Saleh’s nephew battled the army’s First Armoured Division, led by a general who defected to the opposition in March, the official said.

The protests in Sanaa and the southern city of Taiz followed Saleh’s signing of a deal on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, brokered by the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council, transferring power in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Many protesters say the deal - under which Saleh will leave the president’s office in 30 days.- falls short of their demands because many crucial positions in the government and the military are held by Saleh’s family and friends.

Five protesters were killed in Sanaa on Thursday as government loyalists dressed in plain clothes reportedly opened fire on the protesters from rooftops and moving cars.

Sujet sur Euronews:
►http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcXAZg86KQI&feature=player_embedded

Genocide-Linked General Otto Pérez Molina Poised to Become Guatemala’s Next President (Relevé sur le net)
►http://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/15/genocide_linked_general_otto_prez_molina

A retired military general has won the first round in Guatemala’s presidential election, leading to a runoff election in November. If elected, General Otto Pérez Molina would become the first former military official to win the presidency since the end of the military dictatorships in 1986. Human rights groups have accused Pérez of being directly involved in the systematic use of torture and acts of genocide in Guatemala in the 1980s. Pérez has run largely on a platform of using “an iron fist” to crack down on drug cartels. Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Mayan activist, Rigoberta Menchú, is one of nine other candidates challenging Pérez. Democracy Now! discusses the election and its implications with human rights attorney Jennifer Harbury. Her husband, Efraín Bámaca Velásquez, a guerrilla leader, was tortured and killed in 1982 by members of the Guatemalan army. (...)

The Associated Press: Israel deploys drones over Egyptian border
►http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iyz3Kkv54rsSqyYukjXmIv1huFqA?docId=040a59c9e1ca455f8204320b74c39052

A senior Israeli military official says the air force has deployed a special unit of unmanned surveillance aircraft along its long, porous border with Egypt after militants crossed the frontier and killed eight Israelis last month.

[...]

Israel, along with the United States, is a world leader in drone technology.

C’est une dépêche, ou une publicité?

#Iran military official: #Israel, #U.S. behind #Stuxnet computer worm - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
►http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/iran-military-official-israel-u-s-behind-stuxnet-computer-worm-1.356287

Gholam Reza Jalali said investigations by Iranian experts show that Stuxnet originated from the U.S. state of Texas and Israel.