Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF / OND / OEF / OIR / OFS Casualty Update 03 Mar 2017[PDF]
• Inherent Resolve Strikes Target ISIS in Syria, Iraq AFPS 03 Mar 2017 -- U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
• Pentagon conducts 20 airstrikes in Yemen, first since botched raid Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- The Pentagon has carried out its first major military operation in Yemen since a botched raid in January that killed women and children as well as an American commando.
• Afghan Security Forces Kill Over 140 Taliban Militants Over Past 24 Hours Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- Afghanistan's security forces have killed over 140 militants of Taliban, a radical movement, outlawed in Russia, during operations in several provinces of the country over the past 24 hours.
• Afghan Forces Seize Control of Central Tala Barfak District From Taliban Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) fully recaptured control of the Tala Barfak district located in the central part of the country north of Kabul from the militants of Taliban (a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia), according to local media.

Defense Policy / Programs

• 20th FW kicks off Red Flag 17-2 at Nellis AFNS 03 Mar 2017 -- The U.S. Air Force's two-week premier air-to-air combat training exercise Red Flag 17-2 began Feb. 27, 2017 and will conclude March 10.
e in exercise Foal Eagle 2017, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters today.
• 24th MEU deploys USMC News 03 Mar 2017 -- Approximately 5,000 Marines and Sailors from 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked upon the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group and departed Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled deployment March 1.
• USS Green Bay Conducts Routine South China Sea Patrol NNS 03 Mar 2017 -- Amphibious transport dock USS Green Bay (LPD 20) and embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) conducted routine operations in the South China Sea, March 2, after departing Exercise Cobra Gold in Thailand.
• USS Mustin Arrives in Guam NNS 03 Mar 2017 -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89) arrived at Naval Base Guam for a routine port visit March 1.
• USS Mitscher Departs from Mobile Navy Week NNS 03 Mar 2017 -- Guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG 57) departed Navy Week Mobile, March 1, after a five-day port visit to Mobile, Alabama.
• U.S., South Korea Launch Annual Foal Eagle Exercise AFPS 03 Mar 2017 -- U.S. and South Korean military members joined together March 1 to participat
• China 'seriously concerned' by US-South Korea drills Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- China says it has communicated its concerns over ongoing military maneuvers by the United States and South Korea.
• Montenegrin Opposition Asks White House Adviser To Help Halt NATO Bid RFE/RL 03 Mar 2017 -- Two pro-Russian opposition leaders in Montenegro who recently had their parliamentary immunity stripped have written to White House senior adviser Steve Bannon, seeking his help to halt the Balkan country's bid to join NATO.
• Russia, NATO military chiefs in first high-level contact since 2014 Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- In the first high-level contact after NATO unilaterally froze ties with Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine, military chiefs from Russia and the Western alliance have held a phone conversation.
• NATO, Russia Hold First Top-Level Military Talks In Three Years RFE/RL 03 Mar 2017 -- Senior military officials from Russia and NATO have held their first direct talks since the Western alliance cut military contacts with Russia three years ago over the Kremlin's interference in Ukraine.
• Russian General Staff Chief, NATO Head Talk Via Phone for 1st Time Since Freeze Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- Russian General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov and NATO head Petr Pavel have had their first telephone conversation since relations between Russia and the West soured; the initiative came from the military alliance.
• Moscow Says Unfazed By U.S. Defense Spending As Long As Balance Preserved RFE/RL 03 Mar 2017 -- The Kremlin says that U.S. plans to boost defense spending will not affect Russia unless they change the "strategic balances" between the former Cold War foes.
• Sweden reintroduces military conscription, citing alleged Russian threat Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- Sweden has decided to reintroduce mandatory military service for both men and women next year, citing what it says is a military threat from Russia.
• ASEAN Countries to Boost Military Cooperation in Region - Russian MoD Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Friday that countries from The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will boost military cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Beijing Doubles Down on South China Sea Defense Buildup Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- Given the sovereignty China asserts over disputed waters and islands in the South China Sea, construction of new infrastructure on artificial islands in the region is not unusual, a senior Chinese official said, according to the Singapore-based news outlet Today Online.
• Beijing Sortie Through South China Sea Scares Taiwan; Japan Scrambles Jets Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- Chinese aircraft and seagoing vessels have increased the level of military operations being conducted near Taiwan in recent days, prompting the self-governing island to warn the world of a growing Chinese threat. Japanese jets have also scrambled to observe Chinese maritime military movements.
• Russian Aerostats Radar to be Backbone of Indian Border Defense Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- Russian Aerostats radar will be fitted with Israeli SPYDER missiles to give India an edge on the border with Pakistan
• Indian Army Gets Electric Eye to Locate Advanced Artillery Weapons Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- India to explore export potential of passive array radar which can track any advanced artillery guns within a 50-km range.
• Retired generals, political appointees should be regulated: premier CNA 03 Mar 2017 -- Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said Friday that retired military generals and political appointees should be subject to regulation even after they have left public office, but he added that such regulation would not be unreasonable or target any specific individuals.
• UK maritime forces join major French deployment UK MOD 03 Mar 2017 -- UK maritime forces are taking part in a major French naval deployment to the Indian Ocean and Far East.
• Press Gaggle by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders En Route Orlando, Florida The White House 03 Mar 2017

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for March 03, 2017

Other Conflicts

• 3 March 2017 - Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General United Nations 03 Mar 2017
• Mass rally held in Sana'a against Saudi onslaught on Yemen Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in the Yemeni capital city of Sana'a to express outrage over Saudi Arabia's deadly military campaign against the impoverished Arab country.
• 6 dead as Saudi jets pound northern Yemen with cluster bombs Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- At least six civilians have lost their lives and several others sustained injuries when Saudi fighter jets carried out fresh aerial attacks against residential areas in northern Yemen, using internationally-banned cluster bombs.
• Yemen: UN migration agency reports displacement spike in Taiz Governorate UN News 03 Mar 2017 -- With nearly 274,000 people displaced, Yemen's Taiz is now among the crisis-torn country's top five hosting governorates for such populations, a United Nations report has found.
• Intra-Syrian talks conclude in Geneva with ‘clear agenda’ and plans to resume later this month UN News 03 Mar 2017 -- The United Nations-facilitated intra-Syrian talks are “moving in the right direction,” the UN Special Envoy for Syria said today, wrapping up the latest round of discussions in Geneva with counter-terrorism added to the agenda and plans to resume in late March.
• De Mistura Says Syria Opposition Groups Come Closer to Merger at Geneva Talks Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- The groups of Syrian opposition have made a progress on the issue of the delegations' unification at the fourth round of Geneva talks, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said Friday.
• UN Envoy de Mistura Announces End of Geneva 4 Round of Intra-Syrian Talks Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- The UN special envoy for Syria has announced the end of the fourth round of negotiations in Geneva.
• Syrian Army Pushes Daesh 12 Miles Away From Palmyra Toward Deir ez-Zor Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- The Syrian Army and allies have pushed Daesh terrorists for over 12 miles away from recently liberated Palmyra.
• HNC: Geneva 4 Closes With No Clear Results, But on More Positive Note Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- HNC delegation head Nasr Hariri stated that the last round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva closes with no clear results, but with it was more positive than previous rounds.
• Syrian HNC to Try to Form Opposition Delegation With Cairo, Moscow Platforms Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- High Negotiations Committee (HNC) Deputy General Coordinator Yahya Kodmani stated that HNC was not against the existence of the Moscow or Cairo platforms, but thought members of the Moscow platform were closer to the Syrian government than opposition.
• Russian Aviation, Special Forces Play Key Role in Crushing Daesh Near Palmyra Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- Russia's Aerospace Forces and Special Operations Forces played the key role in decimating Daesh terrorists in the battle for Palmyra, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, the chief of the Russian General Staff Main Operational Directorate, said on Friday.
• Russian Jets Destroy 2,300 Terrorist Targets in Syria in February Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- The Russian General Staff shared the details of Moscow's operation against terrorists in Syria in February.
• Iraqi forces regain control of another western Mosul neighborhood Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- Iraqi government forces have managed to liberate another neighborhood in Mosul from the clutches of the Daesh Takfiri terrorists as they try to push the extremists out of their last urban stronghold in the country.
• Daesh terrorists launch chemical attack on eastern Mosul: Cmdr. Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- A high-ranking Iraqi military commander says Takfiri Daesh terrorists have used internationally-banned chemical weapons in a recent attack on the liberated areas in eastern Mosul as government forces and their allies are pushing to expel the extremists out of the country's second largest city.
• Kurds' Peshmerga Clash With Yazidi Militia in Western Iraq Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- The so-called Rojava Peshmerga group attacked forces of the Yazidi Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) in the town of Knanesor, located in the western Iraqi Shingal district near the city of Mosul.
• Iraq: 15,000 children flee west Mosul over past week as battle intensifies, says UNICEF UN News 03 Mar 2017 -- Some 15,000 children have over the previous week fled the western section of Iraq's Mosul city where fighting between the Government forces and terrorists is intensifying by the day, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has reported.
• Turkey-backed Kurds clash with PKK branch in N Iraq Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- Turkey-backed Kurdish fighters engage in deadly clashes with militants affiliated with the anti-Ankara Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar.
• Russia says ready to broker talks for unity in Libya Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- Russia says it is ready to broker talks between rival authorities in Libya to help unify the divided North African country.
• Mystery Surrounds Blockade Forcing Kyiv's Hand RFE/RL 03 Mar 2017 -- The grainy, livestreamed video shot on a smartphone from an eastern Ukrainian redoubt shows a ragtag group of a dozen or so middle-aged men in fatigues huddled around a steaming pot of something resembling soup.
• Kiev Sets Up Drinking Water Reservoirs in Avdiivka Amid Shortages Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- Pavlo Zhebrivskyi, the governor of the Kiev-loyal Donetsk region administration, said that 63 drinking water reservoirs were set in the eastern town of Avdiivka amid water supply disruptions caused by fighting between Kiev forces and eastern militias.
• 'Political leadership needs to support its own people,' urges UN mission chief in South Sudan UN News 03 Mar 2017 -- The top United Nations official in South Sudan is calling on the country's political leadership to support its own people in the wake of a famine affecting some 100,000 people, and calling for local authorities to provide humanitarian access to those most in need.
• Sri Lanka: UN urges country not to miss chance to advance justice, reconciliation UN News 03 Mar 2017 -- The slow pace of transitional justice in Sri Lanka and the lack of a comprehensive strategy to address accountability for past crimes risk derailing the momentum towards lasting peace, reconciliation and stability, a United Nations report said today.
• Cameroon Begs for International Help Against Boko Haram Terror VOA 03 Mar 2017 -- On a Friday night in September 2014, Boko Haram fighters attacked the village of Guza in northeastern Nigeria, killing and kidnapping young boys as they burned homes and looted.

News Reports

• Senior Administration Official Previewing the 2016 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices US Department of State 03 Mar 2017
• Russia Controversy Persists Amid New Revelations About Trump Administration VOA 03 Mar 2017 -- President Donald Trump's administration continues to grapple with new revelations of previously undisclosed meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, following U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' admission that he met twice with Kislyak during last year's presidential campaign and failed to disclose those talks during his Senate confirmation hearing,
• Lavrov slams US scandal on Russia contacts 'a witch hunt' Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has described the scandal over contacts between Russia and members of US President Donald Trump's administration as "a witch hunt."
• Senators approach MI6 spy to testify on Trump's Russia ties Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- A former MI6 spy who compiled the explosive dossier on President Donald Trump's alleged links with Russia has been approached to testify before the US Senate Intelligence Committee, according to a report.
• House Democrats Say FBI Not Sharing All It Knows On Russia-Trump Ties RFE/RL 03 Mar 2017 -- U.S. Democrats are charging that FBI Director James Comey declined to divulge all he knew about the agency's investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election at a closed-door meeting with the House Intelligence Committee.
• White House Discloses Trump's Son-In Law Met With Russian Ambassador RFE/RL 03 Mar 2017 -- Russia's ambassador to the United States met with a number of aides to U.S. President Donald Trump during the election campaign last year besides current Attorney General Jeff Sessions, including Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, the White House and U.S. media reports said on March 2.
• U.S. Says Russia's Activities In Ukraine Impair Human Rights At Home RFE/RL 03 Mar 2017 -- A new U.S. State Department report says human rights in Russia continue to be "significantly and negatively" affected by Moscow's "purported annexation" of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula and its support for separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine.
• Malaysia police release North Korean held over Kim's murder Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- Police in Malaysia have released a North Korean national who had been detained in connection with the murder of the North Korean leader's exiled half-brother in Kuala Lumpur, and handed him over to immigration officials for deportation.
• Malaysian Police Issue Arrest Warrant for Airline Worker Over Kim Jong Nam Death Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- The Malaysian police is going to arrest an employee of North Korean airline Air Koryo, allegedly involved in the murder of the half-brother of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Nam, according to media reports.
• ZTE to plead guilty over Iran sales Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- China's telecom giant ZTE is reportedly trying to reach a deal to plead guilty to US criminal charges and avoid a hefty fine over allegations that it dodged US sanctions in its previous Iran transactions.
• Third German town cancels Turkish rally, police say Press TV 03 Mar 2017 -- Amid a deepening dispute between Ankara and Berlin, a third German town has called off a rally by a Turkish government minister, police say.
• Germany's Merkel Rejects Turkish Criticism After Meeting Bans RFE/RL 03 Mar 2017 -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected Turkey's allegations that forces within the government in Germany are working to prevent Turkish leaders from campaigning there for a "yes" vote in next month's referendum to expand President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers.
• UN migration agency launches $24.6 million appeal for drought-hit Somalia UN News 03 Mar 2017 -- To meet the emergency needs of over a million Somalis affected by drought, the United Nations migration agency is appealing to international donors for $24.6 million in funding.
• UN agencies supporting Kenyans in drought-hit areas UN News 03 Mar 2017 -- The United Nations humanitarian chief today urged international support for the estimated 2.7 million people in parts of Kenya who urgently need food and water following the onset of a severe drought.
• EU, U.S. Criticize Macedonian President For Refusing Mandate To Opposition RFE/RL 03 Mar 2017 -- The European Union and United States have criticized Macedonia's president for refusing to give a mandate to form a new government to opposition leader Zoran Zaev, despite Zaev's success in forming a majority coalition in parliament.
• Indian Officials to Meet Dalai Lama Despite Chinese Warning Sputnik 03 Mar 2017 -- Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will meet with Indian federal government officials at a disputed border area claimed by China but currently under New Delhi control. China has warned India that the visit could cause "severe damage" to already-strained relations between the two countries.