Romania Willingly Becomes a U.S. Drone Base Aimed Against Russia

Romania Willingly Becomes a U.S. Drone Base Aimed Against Russia

Anti-Russian Defender-Europe 2020 Exercises Stretch from the Baltic Sea to The Black Sea

by InfoBrics

February 3, 2020

Submitted by InfoBrics, authored by Paul Antonopoulos, Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies…

The already existing tensions in the Black Sea region have heightened because of the Defender-Europe 2020 exercises, which include ten participating states, including the Black Sea state of Romania. Through these U.S.-led exercises, that are mostly aimed against Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave in the Baltics, the U.S.-made MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance and assault drones, made infamous for being used in the assassination of Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani earlier this month, were deployed in Romania.

The presence of the Pentagon’s and CIA’s strategic squadron on the Black Sea and close to Russia does not contribute in any way to maintaining regional security, and rather these offensive weapons that were used in the assassination of high-ranking officials of enemy countries, aims to pressurize Russia further. The deployment of such drones in Romania shows that the former Warsaw Pact country is willingly going beyond its NATO responsibilities by becoming a critical staging point for anti-Russian pressure.

Moscow has mentioned on several occasions that it would consider these assault drones to be the equivalent of medium-range missiles, banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Despite this warning, it had done little to influence the decision of Warsaw to permanently host the drones at the Mirosławiec airbase in western Poland.

The Romanian airbase Câmpia Turzii is the host of these offensive weapons. Although in the event of a military conflict in the Black Sea region, Russian anti-aircraft and missile defense units could intercept and destroy unmanned targets, even those in take-off position, this move to host offensive U.S.-made weapons is part of a larger strategy to pressurize, isolate and contain Russia in the Black Sea. Romania is not the only anti-Russian state on the Black Sea – Bulgaria and Turkey are also NATO members, and Ukraine and Georgia are weaponized states with aspirations of joining NATO. The U.S. are effectively leading efforts for a coalition against Russia in the Black Sea, even though it is unlikely that these states have the combined power to challenge Russian naval and aerial dominance in the region.

Soleimani Was ‘Silently’ Killed by US Drone Equipped With Advanced Missiles – Reports

LISTEN LIVE

SEARCH

• LIVE:Funeral for Soleimani and Al-Muhandis in Baghdad - Video

Soleimani Was ‘Silently’ Killed by US Drone Equipped With Advanced Missiles – Report

On Friday evening, Iraq’s Al-Ahad TV channel published CCTV footage from a camera which was allegedly installed near Baghdad International Airport and which showed the US missiles hit the car carrying the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, earlier that day.

Modified Hellfire R9X ‘Ninja’ missiles were used by the US military to destroy Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’ elite Quds Force, Al Arabiya news network reports.

Instead of an explosive warhead in the centre, the R9X missile has six swing-out sword-like blades designed to minimise collateral damage.

ASTOUNDING! -- Global Bootprints

Global Bootprints

Posted on January 4, 2019

The remarkable Costs of War project at Brown has just released this map of US military deployments in pursuit of counterterrorism operations overseas in 2017-18.  You can download the pdf here.

VIEW FULL MAP

As the lead author Stephanie Savell explains, even though the contours and calibrations are conservative, the results show that the US military is actively engaged in 80 nations on six continents:

Less than a month after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, U.S. troops—with support from British, Canadian, French, German and Australian forces—invaded Afghanistan to fight Al Qaeda and the Taliban. More than 17 years later, the Global War on Terrorism initiated by President George W. Bush is truly global, with Americans actively engaged in countering terrorism in 80 nations on six continents.

This map is the most comprehensive depiction in civilian circles of U.S. military and government antiterrorist actions overseas in the past two years. To develop it, my colleagues and I at Brown University’s Costs of War Project at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, along with Smithsonian magazine, combed through U.S. and foreign government sources, published and unpublished reports, military websites and geographical databases; we contacted foreign embassies in the U.S. and the military’s United States Africa Command; and we conducted interviews with journalists, academics and others. We found that, contrary to what most Americans believe, the war on terror is not winding down—it has spread to more than 40 percent of the world’s countries. The war isn’t being waged by the military alone, which has spent $1.9 trillion fighting terrorism since 2001. The State Department has spent $127 billion in the last 17 years to train police, military and border patrol agents in many countries and to develop antiterrorism education programs, among other activities.

This map can usefully be compared with David Vine‘s heroic cartography of US military bases (from 2015) which I discuss in detail here.

If you want more detail on US deployments in Africa, then the indefatigable Nick Turse has an excellent survey at the Intercept here.

As Nick notes, the ‘light footprint’ claimed for US Africa Command (AFRICOM) in briefing documents (above) resolves into a vast network of bases across the continent.

You can find more in Adam Moore and James Walker‘s “Tracing the US military’s presence in Africa” in Geopolitics 21 (2016) 686-716 (also via ssrn here)  The essay includes this map of drone bases and operational ranges which usefully makes the point that the US military presence is scarcely confined to the pinprick presence of those bases but radiates from each of them:

On which note, I also recommend Jolle Demmers and Lauren Gold, ‘An assemblage approach to liquid warfare: AFRICOM and the ‘hunt’ for Joseph Kony’, Security Dialogue 49 (5) (2018) 364-81.

Valentin Vasilescu -- Ses drones houthis ont ouvert la boîte de Pandore

Les drones houthis ont ouvert la boîte dePandore

par Valentin Vasilescu

Valentin Vasilescu analyse le dispositif de défense anti-aérienne saoudien. Après avoir observé l’impossibilité d’une attaque venant d’Iran non-détectée par les États-Unis, il explique comment une attaque venant du Yémen a pu frapper ses cibles sans être repérée par Riyad.

RÉSEAU VOLTAIRE | BUCAREST (ROUMANIE) | 24 SEPTEMBRE 2019

Système de défense anti-aérienne saoudien.

L’attaque de drones par les rebelles houthis contre les installations pétrolières saoudiennes visait à ouvrir une période de changements dramatiques dans la péninsule arabique. Bien que l’attaque ait commencé au Yémen et ait bénéficié d’un certain soutien de l’Iran, ceux qui ont pris la décision de la préparer, de la faciliter et de la mener à bien se trouvent ailleurs. Le but poursuivi est très clair et pour sa réalisation, j’ai la ferme conviction qu’il y aura d’autres attaques aux effets bien plus spectaculaires pour l’économie de l’Arabie Saoudite et les sultanats riches en pétrole de la région du Golfe. D’autant plus que les armes plus sophistiquées achetées par ces États et les forces militaires américaines déployées dans la région sont incapables d’empêcher ces attaques.

 THE FORGOTTEN WAR

Houthi Drone Attack on Saudi Military Parade in Yemen Kills Top Coalition Officials

Saudi coalition military officials say the dead and wounded include officers and senior military leaders, cohorts that in southern Yemen contain a strong contingent from the United Arab Emirates.

by Ahmed Abdulkareem

January 10th, 2019

Ahmed Abdulkareem

L

AHEJJ, YEMEN — Yemen’s military, loyal to the Houthis, launched a retaliatory drone attack against a Saudi-led coalition military parade at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Anad airbase in Yemen’s southern province of Lahejj, killing several military personnel.

Saudi state-owned media confirmed that multiple high-ranking officials were killed and several others injured when a combat drone struck an airbase where a military parade was taking place.

A source in Aden told MintPress News that 20 people were killed and more than 25 injured, including Saudi coalition military leaders and a high-ranking member of Saudi Arabia’s presidential forces — adding that those figures may increase, as new casualties were still arriving in Aden amid an intense security presence.

A Yemeni military source told MintPress that Yemen’s air force carried out the attack using a new type of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone) dubbed the Qasaf 2k (Canteen 2k). The Qasaf 2k is laden with a large amount of fragmented explosives and has a unique design which allows it to discharge its payload downwards at a distance of around of feet.

Yemen Observer@YemeniObserv

 · 14h

Replying to @YemeniObserv

At least 5 soldiers killed. Commander of the 4-th military region Fadl Hassan among the wounded. Journalist: “We saw the plane approaching us, we thought it was part of the celebration ceremony.”

Yemen Observer@YemeniObserv

The first pictures from Al-Anad and injured Fadl Hassan. pic.twitter.com/NmexJEcgIn

10

8:18 AM - Jan 10, 2019

Twitter Ads info and privacy

See Yemen Observer's other Tweets

Twitter Ads info and privacy

A spokesman for the Yemeni army said the operation came in response to the continuation of Saudi-led coalition airstrikes and the targeting of innocent civilians. A recent Saudi-led coalition airstrike killed two civilians and injured three others when their home was targeted in the village of al-Fara in northwestern Yemen’s Hardh district on Thursday. Coalition attacks and airstrikes are ongoing despite a truce that was reached in Sweden in December 2018.

Senior coalition military figures among the casualties

Saudi coalition military officials say the dead and wounded include officers and senior military leaders, cohorts that in southern Yemen contain a strong contingent from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).  The UAE oversees the Al-Anad base, the coalition’s largest in Yemen.

المركز الإعلامي لأنصار الله@AnsarAllahMC

لحظة تنفيذ #سلاح_الجو_المسير هجوماً على تجمعات للغزاة والمنافقين في قاعدة العند بـ #لحج #انفروا_خفافا_وثقالا #عملية_قاصف2k_بقاعدة_العند#اليمن #Yemen

رابط اليوتيوب:

https://

youtu.be/gl2XGpQSDWI

 

151

2:25 PM - Jan 10, 2019

110 people are talking about this

Twitter Ads info and privacy

According to Saudi and UAE state-owned media, among the wounded were Mohammad Saleh Tamah, the head of intelligence services for rebel forces loyal to the former government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi; senior military commander Mohammad Jawas; and Ahmed al-Turki, appointed by the coalition as governor of the Lahejj province. The report noted that coalition authorities were still searching for wounded among the rubble.

The attack comes after Yemen’s army, supported by the Houthis, announced the resumption of drone and ballistic missile attacks against Saudi-led coalition forces in November. The attacks had been suspended as a goodwill measure to “speed up” the peace process.

Al-Anad Air Base, which lies some 60 km north of Aden, once served as the headquarters for U.S. troops overseeing a long-running drone war in Yemen. Now occupied by Saudi-led coalition forces, it hosts U.S. Patriot air defense systems along with modern warplanes, including F16s and Apaches belonging to the UAE. Despite the presence of the modern U.S. Patriot air defense systems, the coalition was unable to intercept the drones, which cost Yemen’s military around $1,000 to produce.

Yemen’s air force has used drones to carry out attacks on Saudi and UAE positions in the past, including in a recent strike on the coalition’s Suwaiqa base in Al-Labinat in the al Jawf province of central Yemen on December 26, 2018.

According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis. The war has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than a century.

Watch | This footage shows the moment of the attack on the Saudi military parade

Video Player

00:00

01:27

Top Photo | This still taken from a video showing the Houthi attack on a Saudi miltiary parade in Yemen shows the aftermath of the attack.  Twitter | @YemeniObserv