MILITARY
Military assets, troop strength, readiness, morale, capabilities, skirmishes, battles, war, exercises, bases, training areas, no-fly zones, defense zones, identification zones.
“The U.S. has decreased its troop presence in Niger by almost half according to figures in a White House letter sent to Congress last week.
The number of U.S. troops deployed to Niger appears to be 648, according to the White House letter, down by at least 400 since September, when military forces in Niger took over the government. In October, the U.S. officially recognized the events as a coup d’etat, which restricts what it can provide to Niger in terms of hundreds of millions in foreign assistance, military training and equipment.”
“The United States announced joint military flight drills in Guyana on Thursday as tensions over a contested oil-rich region with neighbor Venezuela prompted the U.N. Security Council to call an urgent meeting.
A border feud has been spiraling over the Essequibo region, which has been administered and controlled by Guyana for more than a century, although Venezuela also claims the disputed area. Venezuela recently conducted a referendum, which it claims citizens supported, that aims to give Venezuela authority over the Essequibo region. Guyanese officials said in response that the country is preparing to defend itself and its borders in case of an invasion.”
More details emerge regarding the October 7th Hamas attack:
“An air force colonel has said that Israeli airstrikes may have intentionally killed Israeli captives rather than let them be taken to Gaza…
Asked by Haaretz interviewer Lior Kodner about ‘rumors that the army exploded all kinds of houses inside the settlements’ and about the Hannibal Directive, Erez confirmed that the air force did indeed ‘explode houses’ but insisted they never did so ‘without permission’…
Erez explained that helicopter pilots had been reduced to using mobile phones to call the settlement emergency squads, effectively local Israeli militias in the area, who were trying to stop the Palestinian assault.
These militias apparently directed the pilots, telling them which houses to blow up. It seems that they often did so even at the expense of killing the captive Israelis…
After weeks of claiming that 1,400 ‘civilians’ were killed that day, Israel last month revised its death toll down to about 900 civilians plus around 300 soldiers and police. An official Israeli account posting to X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday appeared to lower the death toll even further to ‘over 1,000.'”
“A former Ukrainian lawmaker regarded by Kyiv as a traitor was shot dead near Moscow on Wednesday and a Ukrainian source said he was killed by the country’s security service.
Illia Kyva was a pro-Russian member of Ukraine’s parliament before Moscow invaded in February 2022, but had been in Russia throughout the war and frequently criticised Ukrainian authorities online.”
“On Tuesday Israeli shelling in response to ongoing Hezbollah rocket and mortar attacks killed a Lebanese Army soldier – a first in the conflict. Three other soldiers were wounded in the mortar attack. It comes after repeat warnings from Israeli officials, including PM Benjamin Netanyahu, that all of Lebanon could suffer if Hezbollah persists in escalating the attacks.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement to “express regret” for killing the Lebanese soldier, and explained in a post on X that its fire had targeted a known launch area used by Hezbollah.”
“Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro says disputed region in Guyana is now part of Venezuela”
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Gaza must be demilitarized after war, military will control security.”
“Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) lifted his blockade on 425 military nominations Tuesday, keeping holds in place just on a handful of four-star officers in some of the Pentagon’s most senior positions.
By Tuesday evening, the Senate had voted to confirm the nominations of all 425 officers released by Tuberville, putting them immediately into the jobs they have been waiting to assume — with the commensurate paychecks — for as long as 10 months.”
“Several commercial vessels were attacked on Dec. 3 in the Red Sea, the Pentagon confirmed.
‘Today, there were four attacks against three separate commercial vessels operating in international waters in the southern Red Sea. These three vessels are connected to 14 separate nations,’ U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
Over the course of around five hours, the Arleigh-Burke Class destroyer USS Carney responded to multiple distress calls from the ships and provided assistance, while also taking preventative action against UAVs launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen toward the U.S. warship.”
“The Philippines has built a new coast guard station on the contested island of Thitu in the South China Sea, boosting its ability to monitor movements of Chinese vessels and aircraft in the busy disputed waterway.
As tension mounts over territorial claims in the area, the Philippine coast guard had early this year spotted a Chinese navy ship and dozens of militia vessels around the island, one of nine features Manila occupies in the Spratly archipelago.
Inaugurated on Friday, the new three-storey facility is equipped with state-of-the art technology such as radar, automatic identification, satellite communication, and coastal cameras, the Philippine coast guard said in a statement.”
The Israel-Hamas ceasefire has ended. Israel is already calling on Palestinian residents in southern Gaza to evacuate. As previously noted, there is nowhere left for civilians to evacuate to.
“A shooting at a bus station near Jerusalem on Thursday morning left three Israelis dead and 11 others with various injuries.
According to Israeli police, the shooting was carried out by two Hamas terrorists who drove to the Givat Shaul junction on the outskirts of the Holy City in an armed vehicle and opened fire on unsuspecting victims standing there. Police responded to the bus stop at around 7:40 a.m. local time… Israeli police said the two shooters, who were from east Jerusalem, were shot and killed by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers in the area.”
“NBC News reports that US diplomats in the Middle East are ‘sending emails back to Washington saying their most levelheaded counterparts in the region are warning them that America’s reputation is being seriously damaged by its approach to the war'”
“A Hamas source said that 10 more Israeli hostages will be released from the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening, two of them also holding Russian citizenship, as part of one-day truce extension.
Previous statements by the sides had said eight hostages and three bodies will be returned today. It appeared that the two Russian citizens could be slated for release as part of a side agreement between Hamas and Moscow, as has occurred in previous days.”
“France’s amphibious helicopter carrier Dixmude has docked off the coast of El Arish in Egypt where it will serve as a floating hospital for Palestinian civilians wounded in Gaza”
SkyNews claims IDF opened fire on Palestinian civilians attempting to return to North Gaza to look for survivors.
“UN Relief and Works Agency chief Philippe Lazzarini says that 108 UN staff have been killed since the 7th of October, says the UN has ‘never ever lost as many staff in such a short period in the conflict’.”
“Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend a temporary truce for an additional two days as of Nov. 27, according to the government of Qatar, which has presented itself as a mediator in the conflict.”
As part of the deal an additional 20 hostages will be released from Hamas custody, while Israel will release 60 additional Palestinian prisoners.
An eyewitness claims Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) fired tank rounds at an Israeli home on October 7th, after a stand-off with Hamas terrorists. The Tank rounds killed multiple Israeli civilians inside the home. The Israeli government later blamed their deaths on Hamas.
“Armed clashes erupted in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown on Sunday in what the government said was an attack on a military armoury, as it imposed an immediate national curfew.
Witnesses told AFP they heard gunshots and explosions in the city’s Wilberforce district, where the armoury is located along with a number of embassies.
Other witnesses said they heard exchanges of fire near a barracks in Murray Town district, home to the navy, as well as outside another military site in Freetown.
Video posted on social networks showed groups of men on the streets who were described as escaped prisoners.”
“US thwarted a conspiracy to assassinate a Sikh separatist named Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil and issued a warning to India’s government over concerns it was involved in the plot “
Analyst Comment: This follows a successful assassination of a Sikh separatist in Canada. Canada alleged the Indian government of being responsible for the assassination.
“Israel’s government voted on Wednesday to back a deal for Palestinian Hamas terrorists to free 50 women and children held as hostages in Gaza in exchange for a four-day pause in fighting, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said… A U.S. official briefed on the discussions said ahead of the deal that it would include the exchange of 150 Palestinian prisoners.”
“The Department of Defense (DOD) is requesting approximately $114 million to finance its latest round of diversity initiatives… The funding request is the largest of its kind yet for the DOD, which earmarked $68 million for DEIA initiatives in fiscal year 2022 and $86.5 million in fiscal year 2023, according to reports from the Daily Wire.”
Israel-Hamas War Update
- “A strike this weekend on a school run by the United Nations that was being used for shelter by thousands of displaced people in northern Gaza killed at least 24 people, a U.N. official said Sunday.”
- Israel has announced it will soon begin operations in southern Gaza, where it told Palestinians to flee to. Civilians in Southern Gaza have no where else to go. The border with Egypt is closed. IDF now occupies Northern Gaza. The Israel-Gaza border is locked down, and the sea borders the last side. A/C: As previously assessed, Israel is attempting to create a humanitarian crisis to encourage other nations to take Palestinian refugees. Very little effort is being made to disrupt Hamas ops.
- Israel released video showing them breaking into the underground bunker / tunnel complex under Al-Shifa hospital. There was no evidence the complex was recently occupied or being used by Hamas.
- Former Israeli PM Ehud Barak admitted on CNN that Israel in fact built the reinforced tunnel complex under Al-Shifa hospital it claimed was a Hamas HQ.
- “Major General Giora Eiland, former head of the Israeli National Security Council: ‘They are not only Hamas fighters with weapons, but also all the ‘civilian’ officials, including hospital administrators and school administrators, and also the entire Gaza population that enthusiastically supported Hamas and cheered on its atrocities on October 7th. … Israel is not fighting a terrorist organization but against the State of Gaza.'”
- Israel and Hamas are reportedly close to agreeing on a ceasefire in exchange for a hostage release.
- “A Israeli-owned ship seized in the Red Sea by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in retaliation for the war in Gaza is raising fears over more widespread disruption in one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.”
“Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced additional security assistance to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs. This announcement is the Biden Administration’s fifty-first tranche of equipment to be provided from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021…
The capabilities in this package, valued at up to $100 million, include:
- Stinger anti-aircraft missiles;
- One High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and additional
- 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds;
- Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
- Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems;
- More than 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition;
- Demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing;
- Cold weather gear; and
- Spare parts, maintenance, and other ancillary equipment.”
“In an interview with CBS News on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Hamas terror group has endangered civilians throughout the Gaza Strip and that the Israeli side has not been entirely successful in its efforts to limit civilian casualties.”
Analyst comment: Israel is doing very little to target Hamas military targets. Instead, they appear more interested in creating a humanitarian crisis so other nations will step in and take Palestinian refugees. The goal is not to eliminate Hamas, it is to push all the Palestinians out of Israel and make them someone else’s problem.
Israel-Hamas Updates:
- “Poll by Israel’s Channel 12 shows Netanyahu’s Likud would plunge to 17 seats from current 32, while the National Unity led by Benny Gantz would surge to 36 seats, up from current 12.”
- “Thousands of Leaflets were dropped on the City of Khan Younis in Southeastern Gaza earlier today, as a Signal that the Israel Defense Force may be planning further Ground Operations in the Southern Gaza Strip where some Israeli Officials have stated they now believe the Leadership of Hamas has Escaped to…” A/C: Previously, IDF pushed civilians from North Gaza to South. It’s unclear where Palestinians would escape to as the Egyptian border is closed to refugees.
- “The body of Judith Weiss from Kibbutz Be’eri [Oct. 7th attack] was found on Wednesday near the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the IDF announced on Thursday.”
- IDF located a tunnel inside the Al-Shifa hospital complex with a handful of small arms. A/C: IDF has still not managed to find any evidence of a Hamas HQ and tunnel hub that they claimed was under the hospital. Gaza is filled with Hamas tunnels and there are viable military targets everywhere, yet IDF continues to target hospitals, resulting in medical care disruptions to thousands of civilians. These disruptions have directly resulted in civilian deaths.
“Pentagon again fails annual audit of $3.8 trillion in military assets — this is the sixth time that it failed”
“World Health Organization chief says they have ‘lost contact’ with staff inside Shifa Hospital and are ‘extremely worried for the safety of staff and patients'”
“Jordan’s military says that 7 staff members at Jordanian field hospital in Gaza have been wounded, affirms Israel’s responsibility to provide protection for the hospital.”
Analyst Comment: The IDF have been deliberately targeting hospitals, claiming that Hamas are using them as operations centers. So far, Israel has been unable to provide any clear evidence to substantiate those claims. Hamas certainly has extensive tunnel networks in Gaza, and Hamas fighters are being treated along with civilians in Gaza hospitals, but whether Hamas is making use of hospitals for operations remains an open question. Israel has put itself in a very precarious position as many of these operations deliberately target, injure and kill civilians in direct violation of international law. Unless Israel can definitively show how Hamas is using Gaza hospitals for conducting operations, international condemnation of their actions will grow.