Security SITREP- What's happened on the continents and a review of terrorism this week that you
Asia
The US has reportedly lost an F-18 Super Hornet attempting to land on the USS Carl Vinson now heading to the Sea of Japan to join two other Carrier Strike Groups built around the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Nimitz. Japan has announced that it is sending warships to join the American Carrier Strike Groups. China’s strategic bomber force remains on high alert and they have 150,000 troops poised on the North Korean frontier. Russia has reinforced its 11-mile border with North Korea with an unspecified number of troops and main battle tanks. The UN Security Council has passed a resolution with Chinese and Russian support warning North Korea to abstain from a nuclear test and the launching of ballistic missiles or face further sanctions. North Korea maintains itself at a state of high readiness to conduct a sizeable nuclear test and to launch its ballistic missiles.
Europe
As NATO continues to build-up forces to deter Russia in the Baltic States, Poland and from further interventions in Ukraine, Russia launched military exercises in the Baltic and deployed more than 10 of its warships in the Baltic Sea, to test-fire missiles off the coast of Kaliningrad.
Middle East
It was reported that Syria had redeployed its fighter and military aircraft to Russian military bases in the country, and that Syria still has a significant chemical weapons stockpile for use against her enemies including Sarin nerve gas. Today, Israeli warplanes launched a missile attack on Syrian army positions in the province of Quneitra bordering Israeli-controlled Golan Heights after three rockets or shells from Syria fell on Israel.
North America
For the fourth time in four days, Russian military aircraft were spotted flying off the coast of Alaska. On Wednesday, evening two IL-38 maritime patrol aircraft flew off Alaska’s coast while on Thursday two cruise-missile Tu-95 nuclear-capable Bear bombers were spotted. The Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers did not enter US airspace, but the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) dispatched US F-22s and Canadian CF-18s to perform an intercept during Thursday's meeting. On Thursday, the Russian strategic bombers entered the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone some 700 nautical miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska, significantly further in board than any of the previous sorties to date.
Terrorism
As the Islamic State (ISIS) gets squeezed in Iraq and Syria it has reportedly entered talks with Al Qaeda, a group it split from in 2014, about forming an alliance.
Two Virginia men have been indicted after authorities charged them with lying to the FBI last year to protect, Haris Qamar, a suspected ISIS operative. Qamar had reportedly attempted to travel overseas to join ISIS in 2014.
On Thursday, April 21st, a French police officer was killed and two others wounded on the Champs Elysees boulevard, in Paris by a terrorist believed to be associated with the ISIS. The terrorist was known to French security forces and is believed to have been living in Belgium. This could further impact the French Presidential election.
A state of emergency that has been in force for 17 months in Mali was extended after a spate of jihadist strikes. On Tuesday, Al Qaeda-linked terrorists killed five soldiers and injured 10 others in an attack on an army post in the Timbuktu region.
Boko Haram terrorists killed nine Nigerian soldiers and 14 others are missing feared abducted after an attack this week in the Northeast. On Tuesday five soldiers were killed and five others injured in the raid on a military post near the village of Sabon Garin Kimba.
Kenyan soldiers reportedly killed 52 Al Shabaab fighters in an attack on the militants' camp in southern Somalia on Friday.
ISIS has reportedly claimed responsibility for an attack on a security checkpoint near the ancient St. Catherine’s monastery in Egypt that killed at least one policeman and wounded four others.
Saudi Arabia has warned that Iran wants to turn Yemen into a “missile base” from which it can threaten Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia also claimed that it had thwarted an “Iranian plot” to use Yemen’s Houthi rebels and use Hezbollah suicide bombers against the country. Houthi rebels have reportedly targeted Saudi Arabia with 48 ballistic missiles since the Saudis began joint military operations in 2015. A total of 138 missiles have targeted either Saudi territory or its forces. Iran is believed to be supplying Yemen’s Houthi rebels with military equipment.
After almost a year and a half in captivity, 26 hostages, including members of Qatar’s ruling family, were released on Friday to Iraqi government forces in what has been the region’s most complex hostage crisis. ISIS reportedly launched a Mustard gas chemical attack against advancing Iraqi security forces in Mosul on Wednesday, injuring several troops. US military forces have reportedly killed a close associate of ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who planned the Istanbul New Year’s Eve attacks in a Syria ground raid on April 6th.
In Afghanistan, a Taliban attack has killed and wounded more than 50 Afghan troops in a strike directed at a mosque on the military base near Mazar-i-Sharif. US troops are still fighting ISIS militants near the Achin district of Nangarhar province where the US dropped a GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb last Thursday killing more than 90 terrorists.
Pakistan's military announced Saturday that their security services foiled a "major terrorist attack" on Christians after killing a militant and detaining his accomplice in Lahore. Four soldiers were wounded during an overnight raid. Some 70 people were killed in Easter 2016 when a suicide bomber attacked at a park, which was crowded with Christians and Muslims at the same time.
