Fighting in Yemen has continued in places despite a ceasefire being in place ahead of planned peace talks to take place in Kuwait.

At least 13 pro-government fighters were killed in a rebel attack on their positions near the Yemeni capital despite a UN-brokered ceasefire taking effect this week, military sources said on Thursday.

The rebels attacked positions of Gulf-backed loyalist fighters in Nihm, northeast of Sanaa, where clashes have occurred for two weeks despite warring parties promising to abide by a ceasefire that took effect on Sunday at midnight.

A number of Houthi rebels were also killed in fighting that erupted after the Wednesday attack, loyalist military sources said.

The fragile truce is meant to pave the way for peace talks next Monday in Kuwait.

Military sources said on Wednesday that rebels had killed a senior loyalist officer and wounded six troops in Nihm.

Two pro-government fighters and a rebel were also killed in other clashes east of Sanaa.

In the southern loyalist-held province of Shabwa, rebels fired a mortar round on a village, killing three children aged between six and 10, according to a provincial official.

Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-dominated Arab allies are backing the Yemeni government in the conflict against rebel Houthis, who have seized the capital Sanaa and other parts of the country.

The war has left more than 6,300 people dead since March 2015 and worsened living conditions, with more than 80 percent of the population now on the brink of famine.

middleeasteye.net

The S-300 missiles deal between Russia and Iran is today more of a symbolic rather than an actual threat. While Israel was waging a campaign against the Iranian nuclear program, this deal not only symbolized the breaking of the embargo on Iran, but also, primarily, that Iran will be able to build fortifications to defend against a potential Israeli air strike on its nuclear weapons facilities.

Today we are in a different position. The global embargo against Iran no longer exists, and it’s safe to assume that Israel, for all intents and purposes, has conceded attacking Iran in the near future.

From Israel’s perspective, as long as these missiles remain on Iranian soil and don’t reach Syria or Lebanon, the weapons deal only has political implications. Russia is attempting to defy NATO and the West, while Iran has garnered another international achievement after signing the nuclear deal.

As of yet, the Russian Foreign Ministry has not approved the deal, which was originally signed in 2007 and again in 2015. The Iranian reports claiming that the deal has been implemented do not mean that it actually has been. Six months ago, it was reported that the agreement had been implemented, but the Russians stopped the delivery of the missiles at the last second because the Iranians did not transfer the required payment.

It would not be surprising if Monday’s one-sided Iranian report (which included a photo of a truck carrying something covered) is a part of the bargaining process between the two states.

The original deal included four batteries of S-300 missiles. But after Iran decided to pursue Russia in justice to receive financial compensation for delaying the implementation of the deal, the Russians agreed to increase the number of batteries that will be transferred to Iran. The exact number is still unknown.

If Israel nevertheless acts against Iran in the future, it will do so in the framework of an international coalition. There are other technological solutions to stand against S-300 missiles coming from all over the world. Greece, which acquired S-300 in the distant past, is used as a training grounds for NATO to combating these missiles, while Israel is due to receive stealth F-35 jets by the end of this year.

The existence of S-300 missiles on the border of Israel, on Syrian or Lebanese soil, will put every aircraft in Israel’s skies at risk. This is a serious military threat.

Incidentally, Russia already challenged Israel with anti-aircraft missiles such as SA-5 missiles, which it sent to Syria in the early 1980s. It was not the end of the world, and Israel learned to live in the missiles’ shadow and continued to operate in Lebanon and Syria whenever it deemed it necessary.

It seems that the Russians will indeed honor their deal with the Iranians and supply them with the missiles Moscow no longer produces S-300 missiles; its army now possesses the more advanced S-400 missiles.

The S-300 missile agreement is the first sign of the world opening its doors to selling advanced weapons to Iran, which will reportedly invest $20 billion in rehabilitating its army. The Russians alone already sell the Iranians cargo planes, fighter planes, training planes, command and control planes and P-800 Oniks anti-ship missiles.

The Sunni coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, is also concerned about this development. It is in an ongoing confrontation with Iran and is trying to undo Shiite influence in the region. To that end, it is undertaking $60 billion of arms deals with countries that are not necessarily friendly with Israel.

Israel cannot ignore this regional arms race and therefore needs to sign—and the sooner the better—the military aid deal with the United States.

ynetnews.com

America and its coalition partners have begun arming the Kurdish peshmerga with heavy weapons such as armored personnel carriers, mortars and anti-tank weaponry to bolster their capability against the Islamic State.

Brig. Gen. John E. Novalis II, deputy commander of the 101st Airborne Division, said this week that the U.S.-led coalition is providing the peshmerga with a significant amount of new gear as it prepares to take part in a planned assault to recapture the city of Mosul from the Islamic State.

“We have decided to give them about two U.S. Army brigades-worth of equipment – heavier stuff,” he said by telephone from Baghdad, where he is overseeing coalition training of Iraqi security forces.

The new gear will likely be welcomed by the Kurds, who have long complained that their weapons are inferior to the U.S.-made hardware seized by the Islamic State when it drove Iraqi forces out of Mosul in 2014.

Iraqi officials had balked at the coalition directly arming the Kurds for fear the weapons could be used later to press longstanding Kurdish aspirations for an independent state. The Kurds, meanwhile, had complained that the central government was holding up delivery of coalition-supplied equipment.

Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S.-led international coalition targeting the Islamic State, said Wednesday the Iraqi government still approves all arms deliveries.

“One hundred percent of the arms and equipment that we provide goes through the central government of Iraq,” Warren said.

There may be times when, after coordination with Baghdad, weapons are delivered to the Kurdish Regional Government, Warren said. “The central government decides where every piece of equipment goes,” he said.

The brigade sets are being provided directly to the Ministry of Peshmerga, U.S. Army Maj. Allen Hill, a coalition spokesman in Irbil said in a telephone interview Wednesday. The Iraqi government in Baghdad has been notified of the process and approves. No Iraqi government officials could immediately be reached for comment.

The Kurdish fighters, known as the peshmerga, are considered the most effective force in Iraq that’s facing the Islamic State.

Despite their differences with Baghdad, the peshmerga will likely be involved in Iraq’s plan to retake Mosul, Novalis said. “If they are doing operations across the FLOT (the forward line of troops) they will probably need heavy equipment,” he said.

Peshmerga occupying front line positions near Makhmour last week hadn’t received the new gear yet. Troops near the front had light weapons, armored Humvees and trucks protected by make-shift armor plating.

Information provided by U.S. military officials in Irbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of Kurdistan, shows that the new equipment includes more than 150 vehicles, including 40 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored personnel carriers, 15 of which are equipped with mine-rollers.

The Kurds are also getting 56 million rounds of ammunition, 56,000 anti-tank rounds including 1,000 U.S. AT-4s, 5,000 anti-tank weapons, 45,000 rifles and machineguns, 700 mortar tubes, 80,000 mortar rounds and 3,600 gas masks, officials said.

Another Baghdad-based member of the 101st Lt. Col. Cory J. Mulhern, said the brigade sets include logistical, recovery and medical vehicles.

The equipment is being funded out of $2.6 billion of assistance that the U.S. and other nations have provided to Iraq over the past two years.

“The brigade sets are in the process of arriving,” he said.

On Monday some of the MRAPs rolled into Irbil on the back of trucks.

The process of equipping the peshmerga is made more complicated by the need to pull units off the front lines, where they are fighting the Islamic State, so that they can train on the new gear, Mulhern said.

British Army Maj. Ben Salt is planning the effort to train and equip the Kurds from his office in the old passenger terminal at Irbil International Airport, now surrounded by sand-colored tents, Special Forces Osprey aircraft and Iraqi helicopters.

International trainers began a “Modern Brigade Course” last month to get the Kurds up to speed on their new gear, he said.

The goal is to train two peshmerga brigades that each include motorized infantry companies, light infantry companies and companies with anti-tank, anti-aircraft, explosive ordnance disposal, medical and mortar capability.

“All the soldiers have experience fighting with Daesh already,” Salt said, referring to the Islamic State by its Arabic acronym.

The peshmerga are being trained to conduct mounted and night operations, casualty collection, convoys and force protection. They also receive specialized training based on their jobs. Snipers, for example, learn camouflage, land navigation and marksmanship. Mortar crews learn to hit targets beyond the line of sight, he said.

The fighters are learning to use .50 caliber machineguns and Mark-19 grenade launchers that can be mounted on their new armored vehicles and they are being trained to fire Milan and rocket-propelled anti-tank weapons, he said.

Meanwhile, the trainers are teaching peshmerga commanders military decision-making that will allow them to operate at battalion and company level, Salt said.

Novalis, who oversees 14 “Building Partner Capacity” training sites in Iraq, said the training program for Iraqi and Kurdish forces is having a clear impact.

“So far it’s pretty darn effective,” he said. “We see it on a day to day basis on the FLOT in Kurdistan or in the Euphrates River valley or the Tigris River valley.”

Troops that have been trained by the coalition are showing more desire and achieving better outcomes in battle than troops that have not been trained, he said.

U.S. troops are teaching the Iraqis about U.S. equipment such as the Abrams M1A1 tank but most of the training is being done by troops from other nations, Novalis said.

The Kurds and other Iraqis have been through a lot of political turmoil, he said. “They work together because they have a common enemy, which is Daesh,”

The new gear is only being fielded where it is needed, Novalis said. “We don’t just hand them 400 M-16s and go. We are filling capability gaps. They have quite a bit of NATO and non-NATO equipment,” he said.

stripes.com

At least five Yemeni soldiers were killed in a suicide attack Tuesday in Yemen’s temporary capital Aden, two days after a UN-brokered truce came into effect, security sources told DPA.

A suicide bomber blew himself up among a gathering of soldiers loyal to the government of internationally recognized President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi near a sports stadium in the southern city, the sources said, adding that about 10 others were injured.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Aden has recently witnessed several attacks, mostly claimed by Islamic State.

A ceasefire had come into effect between mainly Shiite Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition backing the Hadi government at midnight on Sunday (2100 GMT).

The truce came ahead of UN-brokered peace talks due to start April 18 in Kuwait, where the Iran-backed rebels, who control the capital Sana’a, will discuss peace terms with Hadi and forces loyal to him.

Saudi Arabia and its allies, mainly Sunni Gulf countries, launched an air campaign in March 2015 in Yemen against the Iran-allied Houthi rebels in the impoverished country.

Saudi Arabia fears that the rebels will give its regional rival Iran a foothold in the Arabian Peninsula.

albawaba.com

syriadirect.org

Two military pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed near Homs, central Syria, the Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday, adding that the aircraft had not been under fire.

“Two crew members died,” the ministry said in a statement.

The crash of the Mi-28 attack helicopter happened in the early hours of Tuesday, the ministry said, adding the bodies had been recovered and brought to Russia’s Hmeimim airbase.

“According to a report from the crash site, the helicopter was not fired at,” the defence ministry added, saying experts were looking into the reasons of the accident.

The crash takes Russia’s official combat death toll in Syria to seven.

Moscow said that five Russian servicemen were killed while on combat duty in Syria, including the pilot of a fighter jet shot down by Turkey and a special operations officer who called an air strike on himself after being surrounded by ISIL near Palmyra.

Another serviceman committed suicide while on duty in Syria, the defence ministry said.

The helicopter crash came less than a month after Russian president Vladimir Putin surprised the West by ordering the bulk of his forces to pull out of Syria after a five-and-half-month bombing campaign.

thenational.ae

Since international sanctions were lifted in mid-January 2016 under the nuclear agreement (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-a-deal-with-iran-and-a-new-direction/)  between Iran and the international community, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has launched significant diplomatic initiatives (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-iran-moves-past-the-nuclear-deal/)  that serve a multitude of Iranian interests (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-irans-strategic-expansion/) . The outreach has attracted new investment in Iran’s economy and is establishing Iran as a potential major regional energy, trade, and transportation hub. The economic gains, in turn, will strengthen Iran’s regional security (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-irans-regional-reach/)  and political strategy.

Immediately after sanctions were lifted, Rouhani signed several major business deals in Italy and France, including investments in Iran’s energy and auto production sectors. In late January 2016, China’s President Xi Jinping visited Tehran and announced plans to include Iran in China’s expansive ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative to strengthen infrastructure on the westward land route from China through Central Asia (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-irans-energy-goals-in-central-asia-europe-face-resistance-from-russia/) . China is Iran’s largest crude oil customer (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-oil-power-and-geopolitics/)  and an ally in opposing U.S. and Sunni Arab state efforts to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-assads-fight-for-leverage-in-syria/)  from power. China, and Russia (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-iran-and-russias-delicate-partnershi/) , are key to granting Iran full membership in the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO), a security alliance that groups Russia, China, and several Central Asian states. To date, Iran has only been allowed observer status in the SCO.

In late March, Rouhani visited Pakistan to push for the completion of a $7 billion Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline. Iran has completed the pipeline on its side of the border, but Pakistan, citing international sanctions, did not construct its side of the line. Rouhani did not get a commitment from Pakistani leaders to finish the project, even though sanctions no longer apply and despite Pakistan’s pressing need for more electricity. Pakistan faces pressure to commit to alternative projects, including one being promoted by China, a key ally of Pakistan. Strategically, Rouhani obtained pledges of increased cooperation against South Asia-based affiliates of the so-called Islamic State (http://soufangroup.com/the-islamic-state/) , while also seeking to halt Pakistan’s move closer (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-overlapping-orbits-iran-saudi-arabia-circle-each-other-in-pakistan/)  to Iran’s main adversary, Saudi Arabia
(http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-saudi-arabias-escalating-fight-with-iran/) . In December 2015, Pakistan joined the Saudi-led ‘anti-terrorism coalition’ (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-deciphering-the-saudi-islamic-military-coalition/)  of 34 mostly Sunni-led countries which was announced as a response to the Islamic State but which Iran fears is directed at reducing Iran’s regional influence.

Rouhani had also planned to visit Iraq in late March to formally unveil a newly-constructed natural gas pipeline that will improve the electricity supply to Baghdad and Basra by July 2016—peak summer demand. Large protests over electricity shortages took place in Baghdad in 2015, and added supplies will presumably strengthen Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a key ally of Tehran. The Rouhani visit was canceled by Iran ostensibly for ‘security reasons,’ but Iran retains significant influence in Iraq through its provision of arms and training to several Shi’a militias (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-irans-iraq-strategy-militia-support-and-military-intervention/) . Iran revived the militias in 2014 to help the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-iraqi-forces-central-to-fight-against-islamic-state/)  recapture Iraqi territory from the Islamic State, and the militia commanders are powerful allies for Iran inside Iraq. Yet, the Iraqi government
relies on armed support from Iran’s foremost rival, the United States, which is preparing to help the ISF recapture Mosul (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-one-year-since-mosul/)  and thereby shatter the Islamic State’s declared ‘caliphate (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-the-caliphate/) .’ Iran seeks to ensure that the Shi’a militias are integrated into the battle for Mosul and that the United States does not use its role in the operation to secure an indefinite U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Iran sees no contradiction between re-integrating into the global community and defending Iran’s core regional interests, such as keeping Assad in power and supplying Lebanese Hizballah (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-iran-and-the-fight-for-syrias-future/) . Rather, Rouhani and other Iranian leaders believe that diplomacy will provide Iran with additional economic resources to pursue its regional strategy with increased vigor. Iran is in discussions to forge new energy and transportation projects with Russia, Armenia, Georgia, and even some Persian Gulf states. In so doing, Iran seeks to use its energy resources and central geopolitical position to ensure the support of additional powers, particularly Russia, for Iran’s regional policies. Russia and Iran are the two main backers of Assad in Syria. Iran’s economic dealings with Armenia and Georgia help Iran in its competition with neighboring Azerbaijan, which is Shi’a-inhabited but is allied with the United States and,
to some extent, Israel against Iran (and Russia).

By proposing new energy pipelines and joint industrial ventures with those Gulf states most amenable to dealings with Iran, such as Kuwait and Oman, Tehran is trying to break Gulf state unity and weaken Saudi regional influence. Iran hopes to promote a settlement in Yemen that is favorable to the Houthi rebels and to blunt Saudi-led insistence that Assad relinquish power soon. Iran sees Assad as critical to maintaining a route to keep Lebanese Hizballah well-supplied. As part of its seemingly existential conflict (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-the-greatest-threat-in-the-middle-east/)  with Saudi Arabia, Iran also seeks to contrast its economic diversity with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states. Iran is attempting to show that it is a viable economic partner because it has reduced its dependency on oil revenues and is emerging as a competitive light industrial power with a trained workforce. Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries remain dependent on oil and, as a
result of low oil prices (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-opec-the-oil-market-and-middle-east-crises/) , face a deteriorating economic future (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-accelerating-threats-amid-slowing-economies/).

soufangroup.com/

Daesh terrorists have captured 11 localities in the north of the Aleppo province near the Turkish border, local media reported Monday.

Loyalist Syrian troops are preparing a major operation to retake control of the northern city of Aleppo with Russian air cover, Syria’s Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi said Sunday.

“With our Russian partners we are preparing an operation to free Aleppo and block all illegal armed groups that have not joined or have broken the ceasefire deal,” Interfax news agency quoted Halqi as saying following a meeting with Russian lawmakers in Damascus.

He said that regaining control of Aleppo from rebels hostile to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad would allow government forces to advance east to Deir Ezzor, some 60 percent of which is under the control of the Islamic State group.

Damascus has vowed with the support of its Russian allies to drive IS out of the area after its recent victory over the group two weeks ago in the ancient city of Palmyra.

Aleppo, formerly Syria’s economic capital and the country’s second city, has since 2012 been divided into zones held between rebel groups and areas still under government control.

A February 27 truce brokered by the United States and Russia, which back opposing sides in Syria’s war, does not apply to the fight against jihadist groups, which Damascus is now concentrating on dislodging.

Around Aleppo “the ceasefire has all but collapsed along the main front lines” of the conflict, Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Sunday.

The Observatory said earlier that 24 hours of clashes around Aleppo had left at least 16 pro-regime fighters and 19 members of Al-Qaeda’s affiliate and allied rebel groups dead.

More than 270,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict first broke out in March 2011.

france24.com

A source in Nineveh Operations Command announced on Sunday, that the Iraqi Army forces had foiled ISIS attack on the outskirts of a village south of Mosul.

The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “A force from the army’s 15th brigade repulsed ISIS attack on the outskirts of al-Nasser village in Makhmur District, and killed 10 ISIS militants.”

The source, who requested anonymity, added, “coalition aircraft also bombed a booby-trapped vehicle during the attack and killed its occupants.”

iraqinews.com