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Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 18 Aug 2006 [PDF]
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
• Transcript: DoD News Briefing with Col. Beech from Iraq 18 Aug 2006 -- Presenter: Commander, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Col Michael Beech
• CENTAF releases airpower summary for Aug. 18 AFPN 18 Aug 2006 -- U.S. Central Command Air Forces officials have released the airpower summary for Aug. 18.
• Iraqi Forces Continue to Build on Successes AFPS 18 Aug 2006 -- Iraqi forces captured two wanted men in separate early morning raids yesterday.
• Coalition Forces in Iraq Seize Several Weapons Caches, Detain Eight Suspects AFPS 18 Aug 2006 -- U.S. soldiers in Iraq seized several large weapons caches and detained eight terrorist suspects in operations yesterday.
• Stryker Soldiers to rejoin 172nd in Iraq Army News 18 Aug 2006 -- In a press conference Aug. 14 between the Pentagon and Forts Wainwright and Richardson, U.S. Army Alaska announced the decision to return 301 Soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team — who recently redeployed to Alaska — back to Iraq to join the 172nd in Baghdad.
• Coalition Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan; Forces Kill Extremists, Uncover Weapons AFPS 18 Aug 2006 -- Two coalition soldiers were killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan Aug. 16 and yesterday, and coalition forces killed eight extremists and discovered a weapons cache, U.S. military officials reported.
• Coalition Defends Attack in Afghanistan’s Paktika Province AFPS 18 Aug 2006 -- A joint Afghan National Army and coalition patrol struck an improvised explosive device and was subsequently engaged by extremists with small-arms and rocket-propelled-grenade fire in the Waza Khwa district of Afghanistan’s Paktika province yesterday, military officials reported.
• Bagram A-10 Thunderbolts Surge for Summer Offensive in Afghanistan AFPS 18 Aug 2006 -- Flying hours and the amount of bombs and bullets used by A-10 pilots here have increased all summer due to two offensives by ground forces against the enemy.

Other Conflicts

• UN aid official calls for lifting of blockade on Lebanon to allow more assistance UN News Centre 18 Aug 2006 -- Israel’s continuing naval and air blockade of Lebanon should be lifted immediately to allow urgent assistance to reach the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who are returning to their homes, the United Nations deputy head of emergency relief said today, while also warning of the dangers of unexploded ordnance from the conflict.
• Bush: Hezbollah Responsible for Lebanon Violence VOA 18 Aug 2006 -- President Bush says he believes civilians in Southern Lebanon will ultimately hold Hezbollah militants responsible for 33 days of fighting with Israel.
• Lebanese Soldiers Reach Border, Nations Pledge Troops VOA 18 Aug 2006 -- Lebanese soldiers reached the country's southern border Friday, taking up positions in villages battered during the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
• UN Appeals for European Troops for S. Lebanon VOA 18 Aug 2006 -- U.N. Under-Secretary General Mark Malloch-Brown is urging European nations to commit troops to the first wave of 3,500 international forces scheduled to deploy in southern Lebanon by September 2.
• Olmert's West Bank Pullout Plan on Hold VOA 18 Aug 2006 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is postponing plans for a unilateral Israeli pullout from much of the occupied West Bank.
• Lebanon: UN appeals to Europe to provide troops in expanded peacekeeping force UN News Centre 18 Aug 2006 -- Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown today appealed to European countries to provide solid commitments for troops so that the first wave of the expanded United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has the appropriate geographic balance to be politically effective and regarded as legitimate within the region.
• Cessation of hostilities holding in Lebanon, reports UN Force as it works on de-mining UN News Centre 18 Aug 2006 -- The United Nations-backed cessation of hostilities in Lebanon is generally holding as more Israeli troops leave Lebanese territory, while the end to the fighting allows the world body’s peacekeepers in the south to carry out urgent humanitarian work, including de-mining and assisting villagers with water and other essentials.
• Lebanese Soldiers Take Positions Along Southern Border VOA 18 Aug 2006 -- Lebanese army troops took up positions along Israel's border on Friday as part of the U.N.- mediated ceasefire in Lebanon
• 2 Palestinian Militants Killed in Israeli Raid in West Bank VOA 18 Aug 2006 -- Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops killed two Palestinian militants after a gunbattle near the West Bank city of Bethlehem early Friday.
• Lebanon: Countries Begin Offering Troops For UN Force RFE/RL 18 Aug 2006 -- The United Nations is optimistic of creating sizable peacekeeping force, but European powers are wary
• EU urges Lankan govt, Tamil Tigers to resume peace talks IRNA 18 Aug 2006 -- Expressing its concern over the ongoing tension between the Lankan government and Tamil tigers, the European Union has urged both the sides to stop fighting at once and resume peace talks.
• U.S., U.N. Urge Sri Lanka To End Fighting, Restart Negotiations Washington File 18 Aug 2006 -- The recent dramatic upsurge of fighting between the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lankan government forces prompted U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Steven Mann to make an unexpected visit to the island nation.
• 98 Tigers killed as Lankan forces repulse offensive IRNA 18 Aug 2006 -- At least 98 Tamil Tigers were killed and about 100 wounded when government forces repulsed a major rebel attack on Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula that also left at least nine soldiers dead.
• US Expects Sudanese Acceptance of UN Force in Darfur VOA 18 Aug 2006 -- The State Department said Friday it believes the Sudanese government ultimately will accept a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Darfur despite its stated opposition to the proposed force
• Deteriorating situation in Darfur leaves UN ‘extraordinarily concerned’ – Annan’s deputy UN News Centre 18 Aug 2006 -- Warning that “something very ugly is brewing” in Darfur, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown today urged the international community to pay close attention to the crisis in the impoverished and strife-torn region of western Sudan.
• SUDAN: Security Council fears major offensive in Darfur and calls for UN troops IRIN 18 Aug 2006 -- The Security Council urgently needs to re-engage the Sudanese government to secure its consent for a UN peacekeeping operation in its western Darfur region to avoid a further escalation of the conflict, a senior United Nations official said.
• COTE D IVOIRE: Rebels, opposition slam Gbagbo IRIN 18 Aug 2006 -- Leaders of Cote d’Ivoire’s main opposition parties and the rebel New Forces movement have issued a joint statement slamming President Laurent Gbagbo for hindering efforts to keep the war-divided country’s peace process on track.
• SENEGAL: Residents flee gunfire in Casamance IRIN 18 Aug 2006 -- Insecurity in Senegal’s southern Casamance region in recent days has forced some 300 people from their homes into neighbouring villages and an undetermined number of others across the border into The Gambia, aid workers said on Friday.
• UN’s Timor-Leste mission extended briefly while Council mulls future options UN News Centre 18 Aug 2006 -- As the Security Council weighs requests from Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Government of Timor-Leste to create a new, expanded United Nations mission in the South-East Asian country, the 15-member body today briefly extended the current mission there.
• Imminent release of election results in DR Congo puts UN peacekeepers on high alert UN News Centre 18 Aug 2006 -- United Nations troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are on high alert this weekend, as provisional results from last month’s historic elections are set to be released in the next two days.
• UGANDA: Fresh rebel demand rejected by government IRIN 18 Aug 2006 -- The demand by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) that South Africa send a senior official to help to mediate peace talks with the Ugandan government has been rejected by the authorities in Kampala.
• DRC: Tension ahead of election results IRIN 18 Aug 2006 -- Tensions are rising in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ahead of an expected announcement this weekend by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) of preliminary election results, according to officials.
• SOMALIA: Finding an end to the Somali crisis IRIN 18 Aug 2006 -- The new rule and relative security in areas dominated by Somalia’s Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) offers long-awaited humanitarian space.
• Chechen warlord Umarov's brother surrenders - Chechnya govt. RIA Novosti 18 Aug 2006 -- Chechen warlord Doku Umarov's younger brother surrendered Friday, the North Caucasus republic's government said, correcting an earlier report that Doku Umarov himself had surrendered.

Defense Policy / Programs

• National Naval Medical Center to Begin Fleet Marine Force Course Navy NewsStand 18 Aug 2006 -- Chiefs at National Naval Medical Center are creating a Fleet Marine Force course to help educate hospital corpsmen before they deploy.
• Naval Base Kitsap Seabees Prepare For USS Abraham Lincoln Arrival Navy NewsStand 18 Aug 2006 -- Seabees attached to Naval Base Kitsap (NBK) Bremerton's Self-Help Department poured 588 cubic yards of concrete Aug. 16 to make a parking lot, for USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Sailors while the ship undergoes a regularly scheduled maintenance period in Bremerton for six months.
• U.S. Military, African Allies Deliver Humanitarian Aid Washington File 18 Aug 2006 -- The United States military is partnering with members of the East African Community (EAC) to deliver medical assistance and humanitarian aid as part of “Natural Fire 2006,” a 10-day multilateral military exercise.
• Unit fires first live air-to-air missiles in South Korea AFPN 18 Aug 2006 -- With the call "Fox 2," pilots here employed AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles on Aug. 16 for the first time in the history of 7th Air Force in Korea, serving as the driving force behind implementing a weapon system evaluation program here.
• COMUSAFE concludes Russian visit AFPN 18 Aug 2006 -- Improved relations and future operational cooperation between U.S. and Russian air forces was the goal of a four-day visit to Russia by the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
• Guardian Challenge teams reach finish line AFPN 18 Aug 2006 -- Climbing, jumping, swinging from ropes and running in the summer heat, the Guardian Challenge 2006 security forces teams competed in the obstacle course portion of the competition at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., on Aug. 16.
• MND COMPLETES ASSESSMENT ON PURCHASE OF F-16C/D FIGHTERS FROM U.S. CNA 18 Aug 2006 -- The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has completed a combat assessment on the planned purchase of 66 F-16C/D fighter aircraft from the United States, although the matter is still at the stage of program establishment, MND spokesman Wu Chi-fang said Friday.
• Russian Air Force chief calls for stronger defense capability RIA Novosti 18 Aug 2006 -- Russia needs to strengthen its defense capability because the global military-political situation is deteriorating, the Air Force commander said Friday.
• Daily Press Briefing US Dept. of State 18 Aug 2006

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for August 18, 2006
• UK confirms deal to supply 72 Euro fighters to Saudi Arabia IRNA 18 Aug 2006 -- The UK government confirmed Friday that it has agreed a deal reportedly worth up to Pnds 10 billion (Dlrs 19bn) to sell Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft to Saudi Arabia.

News Reports