For the first time in over two years, carrier-launched U.S. aircraft conducted an airstrike against Islamic State targets in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the global coalition battling the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria, like reported by stripes.com.

A pair of Navy F/A-18F Super Hornets from Carrier Air Wing 17, embarked on the USS Nimitz, conducted the strikes on Sept. 23, Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, confirmed via email on Monday.

“The last such strike was by USS Theodore Roosevelt in [March] 2018,” said Rebarich, who said the Super Hornets’ strike last Wednesday was carried out in Iraq.

A coalition strike that day, coordinated with the Iraqi military, took out a cave and three shelters used as ISIS hideouts in Iraq’s Wadi al-Shai, a rural area in Kirkuk province, Inherent Resolve spokesman Army Col. Wayne Marotto said on Twitter Thursday.

“Daesh operatives will continue to try and take advantage of safe havens; but there is no safe place for terrorists to hide,” he said.

It was not clear whether that strike was carried out by the carrier-launched sortie. Rebarich referred questions about the Navy strike to Inherent Resolve, which did not immediately respond to an inquiry on Monday.

While there had been no carrier-launched strikes before last week for about 30 months, aircraft embarked on amphibious landing ships in the region have conducted strikes during that time, Rebarich said.

The Nimitz, which is the Navy’s oldest carrier in operation, has been deployed to the 5th Fleet area of operations since late July, accompanied by the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton, and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Sterett and USS Ralph Johnson.

On Sept. 18, the flattop entered the Persian Gulf along with the Princeton, Sterett and the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, becoming the first carrier strike group to operate in the Gulf since the Abraham Lincoln departed in late 2019, the Navy said earlier this month.

The patrol, meant to deter aggression and ensure the free flow of commerce, comes amid high tensions between Washington and Tehran that have been ongoing since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from an Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018.

A series of incidents since last year, including rocket attacks against bases and diplomatic compounds housing American and coalition personnel in Iraq, and U.S. strikes in response, have ramped up tensions in the region.

The U.S. reportedly warned Iraq over the weekend that it was preparing to pull out of its embassy in that country’s capital if Baghdad does not do more to quell the attacks, which American officials have blamed on Iran-backed militias.

The Islamic State (ISIS) carried out a large attack against the Syrian Armed Forces near the Raqqa-Homs administrative border this week, like reported by syrianobserver.com.

According to reports from the front, a group of ISIS terrorists ambushed the Syrian army and National Defense Forces near the historical ruins of al-Rusafa, resulting in heavy casualties in the ranks of the latter.

The reports said the Syrian Arab Army quickly moved in reinforcements to the area after the ISIS attack.

ISIS continues to wreak havoc against the Syrian Arab Army in the vast desert region that stretches across the governorates of Raqqa, Homs, Deir ez-Zor, and Suweida.

These attacks by the Islamic State have prompted the Syrian military to increase their presence in the Badiya al-Sham region of Syria, which is where the terrorist group mostly carries out their attacks.

Since the Islamic State lost its de-facto capitals in northern and eastern Syria, the terrorist group has resorted to ambushes inside the country’s desert region, where they can quickly disappear after carrying out attacks.

Under the strategic agreement that was signed recently between China and Iran, the countries agreed to establish joint intelligence collection capabilities in the area of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea (with ranges of up 5,000km from the Iranian coast), like reported by israeldefense.co.il. The project for building the joint collection center is expected to begin in the second week of November this year.

The intelligence collection base will be at the port of Chabahar, where a joint control room for the collection, analysis and sharing of intelligence will be established. The collection of intelligence, which will be carried out by means of Chinese and Russian systems that will be supplied by Russia, will enable maritime and aerial monitoring using SIGINT, COMINT and ELINT collection systems.

The intelligence collection center at the Iranian port is expected to be one of the biggest intelligence collection centers in the world, and will be operated by more than 1,000 Chinese intelligence staff, together with Iranian and Russian intelligence officers. The collection center will be also be connected via the internet to the Russian-Iranian collection centers in Syria, in Tartus and Latakia.

The Chinese and the Russians will also install at the Iranian port electronic warfare systems for disrupting the transmissions of missiles, aircraft and even air defense systems. A Chinese-Iranian-Russian joint center for carrying out cyberattacks will even be set up in the area of the port.

The strategic concept being implemented via the intelligence systems by the Chinese in Iran is Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD), based on a Russian concept, which has been implemented for many years by China in the South China Sea and by the Iranians in the Persian Gulf. The object of this strategic concept is to create airspace and waters in which the rival cannot maneuver and operate his weapons, using layers of detection, defense and attack systems.

The building of the new Chinese-Russian-Iranian capability will enable the three partners to surveil and monitor the air and sea areas all the way to Austria in the west, including the airspace of Israel, Turkey and Greece; from the south to Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya; and from the east, to Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan all the way to Thailand.

Besides the impressive and significant intelligence collection capabilities, the joint intelligence collection center that is expected to be established constitutes a response and significant counterweight to the US and its allies operating in the area of Iran and in the South China Sea.

There are more than 10,000 Islamic State militants who are still active in Iraq and Syria, the United Nations’ top counter-terrorism expert said, two years after the group’s caliphate was declared destroyed.

Although the terrorist group known as ISIS or ISIL has been stripped of its caliphate in Syria and Iraq, military officials have warned that the group remains active and bent on recruiting a new generation of jihadis.

Speaking to the U.N. Security Council Monday, Vladimir Voronkov, under-secretary-general of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, said that ISIS fighters move throughout “in small cells between the two countries.”

He warned that despite successful coalition efforts to diminish the organization, ISIS fighters are increasing in Iraq and Syria but also in nearby countries including Africa’s Sahel region.

“In non-conflict zones, the threat appears to have decreased in the short term,” he told the 15-member council. “Measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19, such as lockdowns and restrictions on movement, seem to have reduced the risk of terrorist attacks in many countries.”

Mr. Voronkov, however, said that “there is a continued trend of attacks by individuals inspired online and acting alone or in small groups, which could be fueled by ISIL’s opportunistic propaganda efforts during the COVID-19 crisis.”

Pentagon leaders have expressed confidence that ISIS no longer poses the direct global and U.S. national security threat it represented at its peak five years ago, but the top commander responsible for U.S. operations in the Middle East suggested last month that a robust and long-term deradicalization initiative is missing.

Iraqi commandos killed a suspected Islamic State (IS) financier and captured an IS leader in an operation in western Anbar province on Monday, according to Iraq’s Defense Ministry and like reported by al-monitor.com.

Soldiers of Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) were dropped in al-Rutba district by helicopters of the US-led coalition, coalition spokesperson Capt. Jose Uriarte told Al-Monitor via email.

Iraq’s Security Media Cell described the killed suspect as a “major financier” of IS in the predominantly Sunni Anbar province.

Neither a spokesperson for Iraq’s Defense Ministry nor one for Iraq’s CTS returned requests for comment.

Iraq’s security forces have arrested more than a dozen suspected IS operatives across the country over the past several days. The CTS said today its soldiers thwarted an attempted bombing in a Baqubah market.

Earlier this week, Iraq’s Defense Minister Juma Inad Saadoun visited the Anbar Operations Room to discuss continuing operations against IS cells in the western desert. On Saturday, Iraqi forces got into a skirmish in the Anbar desert with suspected IS militants, the Defense Ministry said.

Iraq’s military also continues to uncover weapons stashes in the desert near the Syrian border, the Defense Ministry said.

IS lost control of western Anbar in 2017, but a recent United Nations report said as many as 10,000 IS fighters remain at large in Iraq and Syria.

US-led international coalition troops rarely accompany Iraqi forces on joint ground operations anymore. The coalition, which underwent a routine change-of-command ceremony in Baghdad last week, has consolidated in the Iraqi capital and withdrawn from smaller bases around the country as it transitions to focus on advising and mentoring Iraqi commanders.

The transition earlier this year was hastened by the impending coronavirus pandemic and rocket attacks by suspected Iran-linked militias.

The Trump administration says it will withdraw more than a third of its coalition military personnel from Iraq before the 2020 US presidential election, which is scheduled for November.

In March of last year, Syrian Kurdish-led forces backed by the US-led coalition captured IS’s last redoubt, a town called Baghouz on the Syrian side of the Syria-Iraq border.

Thousands of foreign suspected IS fighters and their family members remain in makeshift prisons and detention camps in northeast Syria, with little prospect of trial or extradition.

A British Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft System has attacked an Islamic State position and provided surveillance support to a coalition air strike in northern Iraq.

The Ministry of Defence say that as part of the UK’s contribution to the Global Coalition in the fight against Daesh, the Royal Air Force continues to fly daily missions against the terrorist movement in Syria and Iraq.

It is understood that an RAF Reaper maintained surveillance on a set of caves in Northern Iraq on Wednesday the 26th of August, which confirmed the presence of a number of extremists at the site.

“When terrorists were observed at the mouth of one of the caves, the Reaper’s crew engaged successfully with a Hellfire missile, then provided surveillance support to a follow-up attack by two coalition fast jets which struck the rest of the Daesh position.”

The Ministry of Defence say that since liberating the last territory held by Daesh, in March 2019, the RAF has flown daily armed reconnaissance patrols to “prevent the violent extremists from re-establishing footholds in Iraq or Syria”.

This section is intended to provide a bit of background on British efforts in the region and if you’ve read it before, please remember others may not have.

In September last year, the Ministry of Defence had announced that over 1,000 personnel were engaged in theatre and that the Royal Air Force had conducted around 1,000 airstrikes, flying over 2,800 sorties, killing over 3,000 Islamic State fighters.

Last year, it was reported that the Royal Air Force was operating at its most intense for 25 years in a single theatre of operation which far outstripped the UK involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan – RAF jets have dropped 11 times more bombs (1,276 strikes) on Syria and Iraq in the preceding 12 months than they had in the busiest year of action in Afghanistan a decade previously.

An Islamic State attack against Iraqi security forces in western Anbar province left at least five casualties, sources said on Thursday.

A security source confirmed to several local media outlets that in a sudden attack, late at night, the Islamic State targeted the border guards’ headquarters in the Makr al-Naam region, near the Iraq-Saudi Arabia borderline, killing two policemen and wounding another three soldiers.

In the past few weeks, the Islamic State has escalated its insurgent attacks, especially outside cities, using guerrilla warfare methods following its defeat in 2017. Senior Iraqi officials say the Islamic State continues to be a threat in many areas that were under its control during its takeover of large territories in the country six years ago.

Iraqi Security Forces recently launched a new military sweep and capture operation in the “Wadi Houran” area in the border town of Al-Qaim, as part of military campaigns included in the vast areas to take down Islamic State members. The Iraqi army has stated several times that the sprawling and rugged area is a stronghold of the terrorist group’s remnants.

Elsewhere, eyewitnesses and a security source confirmed to Kurdistan 24 that a Katyusha rocket targeted a security company headquarters in Al-Qadisiyah neighborhood, next to Al-Karkh in Baghdad.

At the same time, the Iraqi army, in a statement, said an explosive device (bomb) detonated on the international highway in Babil province, after a convoy of a civilian transport company contracted with the International Coalition passed, causing damage to a civilian vehicle.

“The civilian convoy was carrying supplies for the US-led coalition forces in southern Iraq, and as a result of the blast, a civilian was wounded,” security sources confirmed.

This is the most recent targeting of civilian convoys in contract with the international coalition in Iraq, as a series of similar attacks in Dhi Qar, Diwaniyah, and other southern cities occurred in the past weeks.

The attacks that targeted the convoys in the past did not result in loss of life but did cause material damage, in a series of similar incidents in recent weeks.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Multiple sources reported earlier this week that a German state intelligence agency has confirmed that the Iranian government was seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMD) technology and ballistic missile systems. Saarland’s Department for the Protection of the Constitution said the Islamic Republic was one of three foreign countries that sought to advance its WMD program on German soil, like reported by nationalinterest.org.

“Iran, Pakistan and to a lesser extent Syria, made efforts to procure goods and know-how for the further development of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems,” wrote the intelligence officials for the Saarland reported The Jerusalem Post.

“Delivery system” would refer to the capability to launch missiles. Israel, the United States and many Persian Gulf nations all believe Iran has continued to seek to develop nuclear weapons and could obtain such technology by the end of this year.

Germany, along with France and Great Britain, has supported the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal.

Multiple German intelligence reports have also confirmed that Tehran sought to purchase components used in the development of nuclear and missile weapons in 2019.

Saarland’s Department for the Protection of the Constitution is just one of the domestic intelligence services. Each of the sixteen German federal states has its own intelligence agencies, and each issues an annual report that documents threats to the state’s democratic system.

A report from the Baden-Wurttemberg state intelligence agency also reported that “countries like Iran, Pakistan and North Korea are making efforts to optimize corresponding technology,” Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Sunday.

An additional report from Baden-Wurttemberg on the proliferation of atomic, biological and chemical weapons also revealed how those countries listed above have continued illegal procurement efforts in Germany to perfect the range, deployability and even the impact of the respective weapons.

Saarland’s intelligence service also noted the apparent illicit nuclear weapons of Pakistan in Germany and abroad and reported, “Pakistan also operates an extensive nuclear and carrier technology program and continues to endeavor to expand and modernize, in order to retain a serious deterrent potential against the ‘Arch enemy’ India.”

Many experts believe Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile has been steadily growing, and the German report only confirms such concerns.

Russian Style Tactics

The Saarland agency also reported that Iran—along with China—is replicating Russia’s tactics to target dissidents and opponents within Germany.

“The intelligence staff there (Iran), supposedly working as diplomats or journalists, conduct open or covert information gathering themselves or provide support in intelligence operations that are carried out directly by the headquarters of the intelligence services in their home countries. In addition, intelligence services also carry out operations without their legal residences being involved. The focus of their respective procurement activities is based on current political requirements or economic priorities.”

The Jerusalem Post also reported that Tehran has used German territory for surveillance and assassination operations targeting Iranian dissidents, pro-Israel advocates and Israeli and Jewish institutions. The Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security has been known for its secrecy and efficiency, and now it appears that it has taken root—deep roots at that—within Germany.

An al-Qaeda commander was arrested in Yemen on Saturday while he was planning a terrorist attack in the capital Sana’a, according to the Tasnim News Agency.
The Yemeni official said that the terrorist was coming from the central province of Ma’rib to carry out a terrorist operation in the capital, like reported by jpost.com.

Brig.-Gen. Abdul Khaleq al-Ajri, spokesperson of the Yemen’s Interior Ministry said that the detained al-Qaeda commander had led the terrorist forces in the Qaifa area of the central province of al-Bayda, where they were forced to flee after suffering defeat from the Yemeni forces.

Besides, the Yemeni military is also fighting on the Saudi front, since Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen in March 2015.

While a blockade imposed on Yemen extremely impoverished the country, the ongoing war have already killed tens of thousands of Yemenis, have made immense damages on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospital, schools and factories, and have pushed the country to the brink of famine.

Yemen’s health system is already on the brink of collapse, kept going through aid. Cholera, malaria and dengue were rife amid a malnourished population even before the coronavirus outbreak.

The war has provided an opportunity for terrorist groups in the region such as ISIS and al-Qaeda to secure a foothold in Yemen.

According to Yemen’s Interior Ministry’s Security Information Center, ISIS and al-Qaeda have carried out more than 320 attacks in the al-Bayda province in the past five years. Consequently, the Yemeni military decided to clear more than 1,000 square kilometers of al-Bayda of terrorists, an operation where over 250 members of ISIS and al-Qaeda had been killed or wounded.

Yemen has been wracked for more than five years by a civil war pitting the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that controls much of the country and a Saudi-led coalition that supports the internationally-recognized government based in the South.

Tens of thousands of people have died, many of them civilians, and the ensuing humanitarian crisis has been called the worst in the world.

The Russian and US governments have blamed each other for a collision between Russian and US armoured vehicles in north-eastern Syria in which several US troops were injured. Video of the collision was broadcast by a Russian nationalist website, Rusvesna.su, then widely retweeted, like reported by bbc.com.

The video appears to show a Russian military vehicle in a desert convoy ramming a US armoured car, as a Russian helicopter flies low overhead.

Russia says the US obstructed a patrol.

News of the incident broke on Wednesday and the Russian defence ministry said it had given the US military prior warning that it would be patrolling in the area.

“Despite that, in violation of existing agreements, the US armed forces soldiers tried to block the Russian patrol,” said a ministry statement quoted by Tass news agency.

“In response to that, the Russian military police took necessary measures to prevent an incident and to carry on fulfilling the mission they had been given.”

The White House National Security Council (NSC) said a Russian vehicle struck a US mine-resistant all-terrain vehicle, “causing injuries to the vehicle’s crew”.

An unnamed US military source told the Politico website that four US soldiers suffered mild concussion.

The US has about 500 troops in the area – far fewer than previously – to help secure it against any further threat from Islamic State (IS) jihadists. The US military is assisting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance.

NSC spokesperson John Ullyot, quoted by Politico, said the incident occurred at about 10:00 local time on Wednesday, when a routine security patrol encountered Russian troops near Dayrick in north-east Syria.

Condemning the Russian military for colliding with a US vehicle, he said the coalition patrol then left the area “to de-escalate the situation”.

“Unsafe and unprofessional actions like this represent a breach of de-confliction protocols, committed to by the United States and Russia in December 2019,” Mr Ullyot said.

Russia has provided huge firepower, including heavy bombers, for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces battling various rebel groups, including IS.

There have been numerous incidents involving US forces in north-eastern Syria. A week or so ago they came under fire from Russia’s Syrian allies.

Back in February 2018 a large force of Russian mercenaries launched an assault against US positions near a major oilfield. They were repulsed, suffering heavy casualties.

This latest incident though is different. It results from a direct confrontation between the official Russian military and US troops. The Americans contend that this is part of a pattern of incidents. Russia is breaking a variety of local co-ordination agreements, they say, and is essentially harassing US forces.

So why is this happening now? Moscow sees the US as on the way out in Syria. Last October, President Donald Trump famously decided to withdraw 1,000 US troops that were operating in support of Kurdish allies, only to change his mind, retaining a much smaller force in a more restricted area.

But Russia knows Mr Trump wants to reduce Washington’s overseas military footprint. Moscow seems intent on showing the Americans the door.