Late yesterday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) at around 4:00 ET launched “Operation Hawkeye” against ISIS forces across Syria. This operation is a response to last Saturday’s attack in the city of Palmyra on US partner forces that led to the death of two U.S. Iowa National Guard soldiers- Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29.
CENTCOM claims to have launched strikes using artillery, attack helicopter and fighter jets, and along with fighter jets from the Royal Jordanian Air Force struck over 70 targets across Syria.
F-15E “Strike Eagle” Multirole Strike Fighters and A-10C Thunderbolt II “Warthog” Close-Air Support Attack Aircraft, and AH-64E “Apache” Attack Helicopters launching for strikes in Syria.
“This operation is critical to preventing ISIS from inspiring terrorist plots and attacks against the U.S. homeland.” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. “We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists who seek to harm Americans and our partners across the region.”
U.S. soldier writes the names of the two Iowa national Guard who were killed in last week’s ISIS affiliated attack on Saturday.
CENTCOM says the operation utilized over 100 precision munitions to target know ISIS infrastructure and weapons sites.
Video showing what is believed to be the launch of US ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) ballistic missiles.
Video of some of the strikes was posted by CENTCOM several hours after the strike.
Locals in a central Syrian town caught a glimpse of an A-10 roaring overhead.
Miguel Uribe, a presidential candidate for Columbia has been shot at an event in Bogotá according to a video as well as a statement put out by the Colombian National Police.
Uribe, a member of the Colombian senate , was attacked while giving a speech in the Fontibon district in the city ofBogotá, when he was fired on by an unknown assailant. His personal bodyguards got into a shootout with the would-be assassin that can be heard in the video. Uribe was transported to the Engativá Medical Center in west Bogotá
The mayor of the city told reporters that the suspect had been arrested by police shortly after the attack. The shooter is a 15 year old boy.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un revealed the country’s new airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) jet at an event at Pyongyang International Airport.
The plane is designed around the body of a Ilyushin Il-76 Candid, the same plane used for the Russian’s Beriev A-50 “Mainstay” and the Chinese Shaanxi KJ-2000 “Mainring”. The name of the new North Korean airplane has not been released as of yet.
Russian “Mainstay “ flanked by two Russian MiG-31’s.Chinese “Mainring”
One thing noticed about the North Korean version of this aircraft is that it lacks the normal amount of antenna one would usually expect in these types of planes. This could signal a lack of features found in Russian and Chinese version. Another difference, at least to the Russian Mainstay is that the radome on top does not spin. This is similar to the Chinese version. Fixed radomes like this house 3 fixed phased array radars that each cover 120 degrees of the sky for a fill 369 degrees.
North Korean leader Kim Jung Un climbs aboard new NK AWAC’s. Diagram showing the degrees of coverage from the plane.
Images of the interior of the plane were also released showing at least seven individual workstations and several flatscreens for displaying mission data. AEW&C aircraft typically have large crews for operating the radar as well covering traffic control duties for friendly aircraft and mission control for different units. The exsist acne of this plane has been known for over a year as satilite pictures were released showing the plane under construction. The Warzone has an older write up on the possible capabilities of North Korean AEW&C’s that I would like to include.
Kim Jung Un tours the interior of the NK Airborne Early Warning & Command airplane.
“While it’s questionable to what degree more complex battle management and command and control functions could be mastered by North Korea, and hosted aboard an AEW&C aircraft, the ability to extend airborne radar coverage over considerable distances would be a great advantage, either providing prior warning of a potential attack from South Korea and/or tracking incoming aircraft and missiles during at least the opening moments of a conflict. The data it collects could also be shared with surface-to-air missile operators to help provide extra warning to enhance their operations. More importantly, it would provide a new tool for daily surveillance of North Korean and South Korean airspace and an avenue to learn to better perfect AEW&C capabilities.”
They went in to include.
“Ultimately, an airborne radar, as found in an AEW&C aircraft, provides a ‘look down’ capability that can spot aircraft, cruise missiles, or drones among the ground clutter and is far less restricted by high terrain compared to ground-based radars. No such radar was previously available to North Korea.”
“On the other hand, there are no signs that North Korea is converting more than a single Il-76 for the AEW&C mission, which means this kind of coverage would be necessarily limited.”
A shot of the plane under construction back in 2024. Shot from earlier this year.
It’s likely but unclear how much support North Korea received from China or Russia in the construction of the craft. One thought is that Russia provided help with the project in exchange for North Koreas recent aid in Russia’s invasion into Ukraine. North Korea earlier sent around 10,000 soldiers to help in Russia Kursk region and just recently it was announced that 2,000 more were being dispatched to the region.
A video, taken by Chinese beach goers shows one of Chinas new invasion ships.
Several weeks ago, satellite imagery was taken of a number of Chinese PLA Navy harbor ships being in various states of being built and near complete. These ships have large bridges that can be deployed from the front as well as a system for raising the ships out of the rough waters making loading and unloading of equipment quick.
This image released by Allsource analysis shows the shipyard where the harbor ships are being built. 4 are shown here with more being expected to be built. Image from Navel News shows a diagram of how the ships operate. The “Mulberry harbor” pulls up to the beach and deploys its stabilizers and bridge, other ships holding troops and vehicles pull up to the rear of the ship and unload straight through to the beach.
These ships would allow China’s Navy to attempt to quickly land a sizable ground force at whatever point of an island as they wanted to. In a Taiwan invasion scenario these could be used to overwhelm defenders by spreading out the insertion points all across the island. China would also be able to quickly deploy such a large ground force that the U.S. would have little hope of managing to get them all off of the island without a long,drown-out confrontation that even if they could carry out would leave much of the island in ruin.
There is little to these ships making the build time very quick.
I reached out to PACOM but I’m still waiting on a statement. I’ll update if I get a response.
Most amateur analysts seem to believe that these ships would make easy targets and wouldn’t last more than a few minutes under fire. However. These ships are ment to be deployed into any sort of direct combat, and would also have the cover of the missile defense of the Chinese PLA Navy. These ships would be deployed after the bulk of any resistance was taken care 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.
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.
M/V Golbon and M/V Jairan, Two Iranian flagged containerships have reportedly been loaded with over 1000 tonnes of sodium perchlorate at a Chinese port over the past several days.
M/V JairanM/V Golbon
Sodium perchlorate is used to make ammonium perchlorate which can be used as a solid propellant in ballistic missiles and is controlled under the Missile Technology Control Regime, an international Anti- Proliferation group.
Good afternoon. This is the return of the GCR Daily Briefing. For those who are new this is a daily article I used to do where I pick a couple headlines from around the world and I do a little write up on it. The world is increasingly turbulent and it’s more important than ever to stay up to date in the events taking place in our world.
US President Trump orders 1000 national guard to the border.
The Pentagon-on the orders of President Donald Trump, has ordered 1,500 troops to join the already 2,500 soldiers to the US and Mexican border.These forces are ordered to “to support the activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security in obtaining complete operational control” and provide troops and supplies. The soldiers will also help build border fortifications and walls. These troops are apart of a larger force of 10,000 that will eventually make it to the border to help Customs and Border Protection (CBP) according to a leaked CBP memo being reported in the press.
This is all apart of a larger immigration policy put in place on the Trumps administrations first day in office. Surging troops to the border as well as using DoD bases as makeshift “holding facilities” until ICE can build more facilities. The above mentioned memos show that ICE will be drastically increasing the number of ICE holding facilities.
Trumps plan is to use the military to completely seal the border from migrants and asylum seekers. Migrants, who have long come to the U.S. to work in the farm industry will be picked up crossing into the US and deported before being able to ask for asylum or any sort of hearing.
At this point the southern border is effectively closed. Even those trying to enter the country legally have been turned away. This policy is likely to affect food prices for a time as the USDA Economic Research Service reported that in agriculture the number of migrant laborers was 59 percent and another 45% in the animal farm industry.
//UK
UK navy shadows Russian spy ship through the English Channel.
HMS Somerset shadows Russian Spy ship Yantar.
This week a Russia Spy ship (technically an oceanography ship),Yantar (also know as Cruys) has been shadowed by the UK Navy this week as the ship made its way through the English Channel.
In November this ship had been loitering above the area where several undersea cables were but was surprised by a Royal Navy Submarine when it surfaced near them to let the Yantar crew know that they were being closely monitored and warned them off. The ship left the area for the Mediterranean but returned this week and has been shadowed by the HMS Somerset(F82), a Type 23 Frigate.
The Russian Spy Zship Yantar.
Russian ships have even connected to sabotage of undersea cables in the recent past in the Baltic so no chances are being given in in the English Channel.. The Yantar is equipped with a small submersible that can be used to go down to the ocean floor and tamper with communications and power cables, potentially adding devices to the cables so Russia can access the data.
The UK has taken a lead role in countering the threat of Russian attacks on critical undersea infrastructure in the European seas and oceans. They have announced they will send several P-8 Poseidon and Rivet Joint maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft for the Baltic Sentry activity announced after the damage to the ESTLINK2 cable. Baltic Sentry is a NATO mission that aims to bring different maritime and aerial assets into the Baltic area and integrate them into the protection of the area.
Once hailed as a beacon of hope for democracy in Southeast Asia ,Myanmar has descended into chaos and violence. Two years after a military coup toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the country teeters on the brink of collapse.An ongoing crackdown on civilians and ethnic minorities by the military Junta has claimed the lives of at least 5,000,(according to a report from the Untied Nations)imprisoned thousands and sparked a humanitarian crisis-and a civil war.
Myanmar’s military crackdowns have intensified with attacks on ethnic minority groups and towns of late. These attacks have caused widespread destruction. Town such as Kale, in Sagaing Region and Loikaw in Kayah state have been bombed and burned by junta airstrikes and artillery attacks.
The communities of ethnic Shan, Rohingya and Chin minorities have also faced sporadic targeted violence and displacement. The accusations against the military towards these groups are grim and include extrajudicial killings, gang rapes, arson and infanticides.
Since 2021, the Kyat (Myanmar currency) has fallen by 60% and has caused hyperinflation. The Kyat, today is worth 2101 Kyat compared to 1 US dollar. This inflation has caused banks and services based on currency to struggle with cash shortages.Some in the country have struggled because their bank accounts have been frozen.
International corporations and businesses have moved their business away from Myanmar and Trade in the country has also been affected with exports down 30% and imports down 40% year over year. Food and fuel prices have skyrocketed to unbelievable prices.
All of this has left the economy gasping for air and contributed vastly to an ongoing humanitarian crisis with 46% of the population estimated to be beneath the poverty line.
The coup was carried out on the orders of one man. Former Burmese Army General and chief of the Bureau of Special Operations, Min Aung Hlaing. Hlaing, before the coup has been the leader of the Tatmadaw (the armed forces of Myanmar) officially called the Commander-In-Chief of Defense Services since March of 2011. He was born in 1956 which makes him 69 this year. That will come up later.
In January of 2021 Hlaing, as the commander in chief of defense services approached the different political parties of the country and hints at their being “instability” in Myanmar. In Myanmar, even before this latest takeover the Tatmadaw held a considerable of power in the government. A clause in the 2008 constitution (that the military wrote) lets the military hold up to 25% of the legislative seats. Another clause(known as the coup-i-waiting clause) allows the president to declare an emergency and hand power to the military leadership.
The instability brought up to the Myanmar political party’s (some of them being just the military) was likely just the election of parliament chancellor Aung San Sui Kyi in 2020 who is noted as being a “dissident”. The old guard of military political generals didn’t like that their military political party lost some of its power Min who was being forced from his position because of his age (told you it would come up) he had already delayed his retirement by 5 years and had presidential ambitions for after his military service but his party’s loss in the 2020 election ruined this plans. At this point the military took power on the day parliament was set to open, arresting Aung and the president and giving control to General Min- now Prime minister Min.
Since then the military has responded harshly to both peaceful protest and armed resistance with no sign of any return to democracy. The international response (besides Russia and China) condemn the military of Myanmar and have levied sanctions against them however there is no end in sight and no rescue for the citizens of this tragedy. However. It does seem the tide is somewhat turning as various ethnic militias who in the past have fought against each other in Open combat have come together and picked up arms against the military who have been losing ground steady since the start of the coup.
The past several days firefighters from multiple departments across different states and nations have aided the city of Los Angeles California as they battle a number of apocalyptic wildfires raging across parts of the city and the hills surrounding the city of angels.
Video shows a one part of those efforts a C-130H ‘Hercules’ equipped with Modular Aerial Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) and used to drop fire retardant chemicals on the fires. This one is owned and operated by The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection however MAFFS equipment can also quickly be installed in other C-130s (supplied by the Department of Defense)if a situation overwhelms firefighters and extra surge aerial units are required. Which is whats happening in California. The C-130 equipped with MAGFS can water bomb almost 14 tons of fire retardant in less than 5 seconds making this a valuable asset in a situation like this where the combined fires have ate up tens of thousands of acres of land.
US military units have been arriving since yesterday to assist the exhausted fire fighting crews. US NORTHCOM specifically sent 8 C-130s to assist.
These units were sent to the Channel Islands in Southern California. March Air Reserve Base has been designated a FEMA incident support base and being used for the forward logistics of the firefighting operation.
The condition in Los Angeles is dire with crews working nonstop to contain all 4 of the major fires currently destroying parts of the city. The Palisades fire is currently estimated to be around 11% contained however it’s now moving inland towards Brentwood and other communities.
Latest reports from city officials puts the total deaths caused at 16 although that number is likely to be higher yet when all is said and done. A number of people are reported missing during all of this as they never showed up to safety after staying behind to protect their properties.
Multiple factors led to this specific outbreak of fires being as devastating as it is. Hurricane level winds that reached around 100MPH kept air crews grounded at the start of the fire which could have played a huge role in minimizing its damage. Another issue was water as firefighters could be heard calling “we got dry hydrants” on the radio last Wednesday. While improved water pressure in the Pacific Palisades region would have helped it still wouldn’t have been enough to battle a wildfire in its own, the city’s water system isn’t designed for that kind of strain all at once.
Another huge issue being talked about is funding for the fire department itself. Los Angeles is no stranger to wildfires and it’s reckless and almost criminal to defund these guys when the rate of wildfires per year is growing yearly. The lack of humidity for this time of year in the area played a huge role creating a bunch of fried up trees and overgrown but dry brush.
-Scott
Please bear with me as I learn how to operate the website. I know things are a little wonky right now but I wanted to get things running sooner rather than later. I hope you all enjoy!
Global Conflict Reporting 
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