The parliament of the Baltic nation of Lithuania, last July , voted to withdraw from the convention banning the use of cluster munitions. That vote put a 6 month timer on the withdrawal which ended this month on the 6th.
Lithuania pulling out of this treaty was a clear message. They will defend their homeland by any means necessary.
“Russia uses all available tools in a conventional war, and this shows that we must act to ensure effective deterrence and defense… Withdrawing from the convention gives us the opportunity to increase the effectiveness of our defense against wide-area targets …The most effective deterrence and defense is achieved when you possess these weapons and know how to use them.”
Lithuanian Deputy Defense Minister Karolis Aleksa
Lithuania is a small country but all makes between 18-23 serve in the armed forces,
A US Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk operated by the 1st Battalion, 228th Aviation Regiment under Joint Task Force-Bravo crashed in Honduras on Wednesday.
I reached out to US SOUTHCOM for any info they could give me and received this via email.
Pilots flying a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter made a precautionary emergency landing approximately five miles east of Soto Cano Air Base at 9:34 a.m. Wednesday. All five crew members were evaluated by medical personnel, and no significant injuries have been reported. The aircrew was performing routine training in the area. An investigation is being conducted to determine the cause of the incident. The aircraft and aircrew are assigned to 1-228th Aviation Regiment out of Soto Cano Air Base near Comayagua, Honduras.
Steven Mcloud (SOUTHCOM Media relations officer)
The crashed Sikorsky Uh-60 Blackhawk.
The Blackhawk received significant damage on impact appearing to have snapped its tail off. The fuselage appears mostly intact, likely saving the crews life, although injuries were initially reported. Those injuries haven’t been confirmed but were reported by other outlets who spoke with Carlos Padilla, head of Air Navigation at the Honduran Civil Aeronautics Agency (AHAC).
Before the crash the crew had declared an emergency Mayday distress signal according to AHAC.
Video of the aftermath of the crash.
The military will conduct its investigation and depending on the findings will release its report sometime in the future. Whether this crash was mechanical or pilot error is yet to be determined.
At 10:04am local time, Thursday, during a training exercise, a South Korean fighter jet, a KIA KF-16 dropped 8 bombs on the town of Pocheon in South Korea, near the border with North Korea.
Some of the damage shown as well as a quick snap of the aftermath of the explosion.
While only one of the bombs is thought to explode the damage destroyed a church and several other buildings. Thankfully although a reported 7 that were injured, some in critical condition and were hospitalized, there were no fatalities. All injured remained conscious, many involved had bone fractures and breaks and one man caught shrapnel in his neck while driving.
A South Korean Air Force official said ” Our KF-16, abnormally dropped 8 shells of MK-82 bombs, it landed outside of firing range.” The Air Force continued that they would be investigating the incident and apologized for the damage cause.
Korean KF-16 the licensed South Korean version of the F-16. MK-82
Rumors were pretty heavy across social media last night, most people were trying to push a narrative that the U.S. accidentally bombed a South Korean town which isn’t true. The U.S. and South Korea havent trained together yet since the new presidential administration and will be conducting their first drills on March 10-20 as reported several days ago by AP. Ever since twitter did away with the old way it used to do verifications, you very often will see supposedly verified blue check mark accounts, lying for clicks. Just something to be aware of.
Today during a legislative session led by The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in Serbia’s parliament chaos erupted when opposition members, in an effort to support the demonstrations currently ongoing in the country, threw smoke grenades, waved flares and scuffled with security guards.
Video showing the start of the smoke bombs.
A massive student-led protest has been ongoing in Serbia for around 4 months, ignited by the deaths of 15 people when a railway station roof collapsed in the town of Novi Sad. The protest have drawn in teachers, farmers and more. Since then they have become the largest threat to President Aleksandar Vucic’s decade-long rule, calling for a stop in the rampant corruption and incompetence in government.
At the start of the meeting after the SNS has approved the agenda, several members of the opposition party ran towards the speaker and fought with security guards. Others started throwing smoke grenades and waving flares around, filling the room with thick black and red smoke. Others used pepper spray.
Speaker Ana Brnabic said three of the PMs were injured and one, Jasmina Obradovic of the SNS party, had suffered a stroke and was taken to the hospital. Zlatibor Loncar, the Health Minister later commented on Obradovic, saying she was in serious condition.
While the session continued several minutes later opposition party members started using noisemakers and blowing whistles. Holding signs up saying things like “general strike” and “justice for those killed”.
The filling party has put the blame outside of its country, claiming western countries are using their intelligence agencies against them to destabilize the country.
Parliament was set to vote on a bill to increase funding to universities, one of the demands of the protesters. However another item on the agenda, that being the noting of the resignation of Prime Minister Miloš Vučević, upset the opposition and seems to have been what set off today’s events as well as President Alexander Vucic’s statement on Tuesday that he would decide in the next ten days on whether to hold elections or to form a new goverment.
PM Miloš Vučević resigned at a press conference in January after months of mass protest from the deaths from the train station collapse. “in order to defuse tensions” He along with the current mayor of Novi Sad, the site of the train station roof collapse, are both views as somewhat responsible as the Chinese construction consortium was brought into do work during their time in service to Novi Sad.
Firefighters across North and South Carolina are currently battling a staggering 175 wildfires. Windy and dry conditions across the states has caused for growing concern as evacuation orders are issued.
The ongoing fires have burned over 4000 acres over the weekend and continued into Monday. South Carolina governor Henry McMasters issued some localized evacuation orders as well as a state of emergency allowing for federal funds and resources to be made available although I don’t have specifics for that as of yet.
The cause of these wildfires is unknown in most cases however one in Polk County, North Carolina was caused by a downed power line. Conditions on the ground with low humidity and little rain haven’t helped matters. U.S. forest service put out an alert that improper and careless debris burning had caused some of the blazes. The U.S. forest Service was one hit with a wave of layoffs recently, some expect wildfires to increase as part of the forest services job is brush cleanup as well as other wildfire preventative measures.
(I’ve reached out to the forest service and will update when I hear back.)
Map shows the location of some of the larger blazes.
The Myrtle beach area of South Carolina has been impacted by heavy fires. As always local reporting can’t be beat so I’m including it here:
The Blue Ridge Mountains fire in North Carolina is threatening the communities of Saluda and Tryon, which are located near the South Carolina border. Reporting here.
The South Carolina National Guard has been mobilized to aid in the fire fighting efforts. Several Blackhawk Helicopters have been dispatched to carry water. No word from the White House on the ongoing situation.
On February 23rd US Central Command (US- CENTCOM) forces carried out a targeted airstrike on an automobile driven by Muhammed Yusuf Ziya Talay, a military leader of the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din (HaD), an Al-Qaeda affiliate operating in Northern Syria.
Video shows the airstrike on a vehicular claimed to be occupied by Muhammed Yusuf Ziya Talay.
The airstrike took place in Northern Syria on February 23rd while the video was not released until yesterday. The attack was carried out with a Hellfire AGM-114 R9X “Flying Ginsu” or “knife missile”. The AGM-114 R9X is a regular hellfire missile with the
AGM-114R9X
As we have said in the past, we will continue to relentlessly pursue these terrorists in order to defend our homeland, and U.S., allied, and partner personnel in the region,”
Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander, U.S. Central Command
The strike was the 3rd strike in February that targeted a member of one of the groups located in Northern Syria and the 4th strike of this nature since U.S. President Trump took office. During the Biden administration the group, made up of about 2,500 soldiers at best estimate, was given the designation as a terrorist outfit and strikes were carried out periodically that would target upper leadership. The group made a standby after the fall of Assad that they would be disbanding however US surveillance drone flights have increased in the northern Syria and Idlib region to make sure that the groups members don’t migrate to other theaters of conflict.
Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships, first spotted last week according to Australian officials, have carried out a military drill in the Tasman Sea, the area between Australia and New Zealand. The drill, carried out on Friday, consisted of ship maneuvers as well as a live-fire component. Air traffic in the region was warned only moments before the live fire drills started and were forced to divert to other routes.
“We haven’t been given a reason as to why they’re here in this configuration with this set of ships, with these different set of capabilities, and we don’t really have a sense of, you know, we haven’t been told where they’re going and why.”
Said New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. He continued
“They are in international waters, they are completely within the balance of international law and the UN Convention on the law on the sea, which is important, it is important that all countries have freedom of navigation, it works for us when we are out and about in the world as well.”
The task force of Chinese ships was led by Type 055 destroyer Zunyi. Also was the Type 054A Frigate Hengyang, and Type 903 replenishment ship Weishanhu.
Global Conflict Reporting 
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