Special to WorldTribune.com In an age of increasingly precise munitions, Russia is almost exclusively dropping “dumb” bombs in Syria, the U.S. military said. “They’re using mostly dumb bombs, guided only by gravity and fins,” said Army Col. Steven Warren, the top military spokesman in Baghdad, according to a report by national security correspondent Rowan Scarborough […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Despite some recent military successes against the Islamic State (ISIL) forces, both the security and the humanitarian situation in Iraq remain fragile and precarious. That’s the assessment from Jan Kubis, the UN special representative in a sobering report to the Security Council on the road […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs U.S. voters and political parties were, by mid-February 2016, well down the path toward selecting the final candidates for the November 2016 Presidential election. This determines how the United States would face the most decisive challenges for more than a century to its […]
Special to WorldTribune.com In a show of force aimed squarely at North Korea, four U.S. F-22 stealth fighters flew low over South Korea on Feb. 17. The F-22 Raptors flew alongside Korea’s F-15K Slam Eagle aircraft and U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets in a joint exercise out of Osan Air Base. “The F-22 Raptor […]
Special to WorldTribune.com The U.S.-led coalition bombed ten Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) cash depots this past weekend, incinerating hundreds of millions in currency. Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for the American-led campaign against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, said the targeting of ISIL’s cash hoards is having an impact on the terror […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Satellite images show China has deployed the advanced HQ-9 surface-to-air missile system to a disputed island in the South China Sea. Taiwanese and U.S. officials confirmed that batteries of the HQ-9 surface-to-air missile launchers were set up on Woody Island in the Paracels chain, according to a report by Reuters. China, Taiwan […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Syrian forces are set to move into Raqqa province, held by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), to pre-empt the U.S.-led coalition sending in ground troops to fight the jihadists, reports say. U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Feb. 12 he expected Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to […]
Special to WorldTribune.com The U.S. and Russia have traded accusations over recent airstrikes in Aleppo, Syria. After the U.S. said Russian warplanes destroyed two hospitals in the besieged city, Moscow responded by claiming U.S. warplanes bombed Aleppo on Feb. 10, an accusation the Pentagon said was a total “fabrication.” “Just before 2 p.m. Moscow time […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com North Korean rocket launches and nuclear tests risk getting boring. The pattern is familiar: expressions of outrage, loud condemnation ― then nothing. Has the latest one-two punch of nuclear test and rocket launch changed a thing? The easy answer is not really ― but think again. The lines […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Norman Bailey The U.S. and Europe — the traditional pillars of Israeli foreign diplomatic and economic relations — are crumbling. Since Israel’s independence, its most important economic and financial partners have been in Europe and the U.S. In the past few years, however, this situation has changed dramatically. On the plus […]