Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF / OND / OEF / OIR / OFS Casualty Update 21 Jul 2017[PDF]
• Department of Defense Press Briefing by Colonel Work Via Teleconference from Iraq DoD 21 Jul 2017-- Presenter: Colonel Pat Work, Commander, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division and Task Force Falcon, Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve; Captain Jeff Davis, Director, Defense Press Office
• Inherent Resolve Strikes Target ISIS in Syria, Iraq AFPS 21 Jul 2017 -- U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 28 strikes consisting of 54 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
• UN agency lauds new project to register undocumented Afghan refugees in Pakistan UN News 21 Jul 2017 -- A new pilot project in Pakistan to register undocumented Afghan refugees – who up to now have been without identity papers and living in fear of being arrested or deported – would allow up to one million people to have legal status, the United Nations refugee said.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Press Gaggle by Secretary Mattis DoD 21 Jul 2017 -- Presenter: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
• PHIBRON 4, Iwo Jima ARG, 26th MEU Complete PMINT NNS 21 Jul 2017 -- Amphibious Squadron (PHIBRON) 4, the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) returned to their respective homeports following the completion of a PHIBRON-MEU Integrated Training (PMINT), July 21.
• Project Maven to Deploy Computer Algorithms to War Zone by Year's End AFPS 21 Jul 2017 -- Winning wars with computer algorithms and artificial intelligence were among the topics that Defense Department intelligence officials discussed during a recent Defense One Tech Summit here.
• New Mission Command Fosters More Agile, Lethal Army AFPS 21 Jul 2017 -- During a recent Joint Forcible Entry training exercise, the Army's Global Response Force successfully used En Route Mission Command to enable real-time joint intelligence, communications and collaboration capabilities as they flew cross country to battle simulated enemy forces.
• Army to begin fielding new modular handguns in November Army News 21 Jul 2017 -- Soldiers have many reasons to be excited about the new Sig Sauer modular handguns, which the Army will begin fielding in November, said Lt. Col. Steven Power, product manager of Soldier Weapons.
• Iron Wolf 17: train how you fight USMC News 21 Jul 2017 -- Marines from 16 different units converged on multiple ranges in the Camp Lejeune, North Carolina area in support of Iron Wolf 17, a combined arms readiness exercise hosted by 2nd Tank Battalion, 10-21 July 2017.
• Truman Completes PIA, Departs for Sea Trials NNS 21 Jul 2017 -- USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) departed Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) for Sea Trials July 21 following a 10-month Planned Incremental Availability (PIA).
• Sea Breeze SERE Training Develops Ukrainian Instructors NNS 21 Jul 2017 -- Pilots and aircrew members of the Ukrainian armed forces, which have been battling separatists in the eastern part of their country since 2014, face the real possibility of finding themselves behind enemy lines or needing to survive in isolation.
• Putin approves new naval strategy, US seen as threat Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a new state policy for the country's naval forces that points to the US as intent on dominating the world's oceans and thus posing a threat to Russia.
• Russia And China Hold Joint Naval Exercises In The Baltic RFE/RL 21 Jul 2017 -- Russia and China have started weeklong naval maneuvers on the Baltic Sea, flexing their muscles in a region where tensions have risen in recent years.
• 10 Chinese military aircraft reportedly buzz around Taiwan in "unusual" move People's Daily 21 Jul 2017 -- Japan's defense ministry Thursday evening said 10 Chinese military aircraft circled around Taiwan earlier on that day, an action deemed by experts as "unusual."
• Chinese President Xi calls for efforts to build world-class army People's Daily 21 Jul 2017 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday called for efforts to achieve the Chinese Dream of realizing a great national rejuvenation and to build a world-class army.
• Joint China-Russia naval maneuvers not aimed at anyone, expert says People's Daily 21 Jul 2017 -- The military exercise held by China and Russia in the Baltic Sea from July 21 to 28 does not target at any third party, a military expert told Global Times after groundless accusations by the West concerning the drill.
• China warships arrive in Baltic for joint drills with Russia Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- Three Chinese warships are in Russia's major Baltic Fleet base in the western seaport town of Baltiysk to participate in China's first joint naval drills with Russia in the region.
• Russia to Supply China With 4 Mi-171E Helicopters Sputnik 21 Jul 2017 -- Russia will supply China with 4 Mil Mi-171E transport helicopters.
• India Partners With Israel to Develop Missile Defense System Sputnik 21 Jul 2017 -- The Indian Army has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) to raise a regiment of advanced Medium Range Surface to Air Missiles (MRSAMs) capable of shooting down ballistic missiles and aircraft.
• Iraq Opposes Foreign, Including US, Military Bases - Vice President Sputnik 21 Jul 2017 -- Iraq is against foreign military bases on the country's territory, including those of the US.
• S. Korea cancels plan to measure THAAD's radar wave emission amid opposition People's Daily 21 Jul 2017 -- South Korea's defense ministry on Friday canceled plan to measure electromagnetic waves, emitted from the radar of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system deployed in the country's southeast region.
• Government agencies closely monitored Chinese bombers CNA 21 Jul 2017 -- The Presidential Office said on Friday that the military and national security authorities closely monitored the movement of 10 Chinese military airplanes flying over the East China Sea a day earlier.
• Court orders seizure of US$900 million in Lafayette scandal CNA 21 Jul 2017 -- The Taipei District Court issued a ruling on Friday ordering the seizure of more than US$900 million in illegal profits in the long-running Lafayette frigate scandal, the largest amount of illicit money ordered seized by a Taiwan court since a new criminal forfeiture law took effect last year.
• Germany 'halts all arms shipment to Turkey' Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- Germany has frozen all arms shipment to Turkey after Ankara arrested several human rights activists, including a German national.
• Press Briefing By White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and Incoming White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci The White House 21 Jul 2017

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for July 21, 2017

Other Conflicts

• 21 July 2017 - Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General United Nations 21 Jul 2017
• Rainy season worsens cholera crisis in Yemen; UN agencies deliver clean water, food UN News 21 Jul 2017 -- Yemen is facing the world's largest cholera outbreak, the United Nations health agency today warned, with 5,000 Yemenis falling sick every day – the majority of them children and the elderly.
• Three displaced families killed in airstrike in south-west Yemen - UN rights wing UN News 21 Jul 2017 -- Three displaced families have been killed when their makeshift shelter was hit in an airstrike in Yemen's Taiz governorate earlier this week, the United Nations human rights wing said.
• UN says latest coalition strike in Yemen had no military objectives Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- The United Nations has censured the Saudi-led coalition against Yemen for a recent air raid that killed about 20 civilians in an area without military targets.
• Top US Counterterror Official Says No Evidence IS Leader Dead VOA 21 Jul 2017 -- A top U.S. counterterrorism official says despite claims and rumors, there is nothing to indicate the leader of the Islamic State terror group is dead.
• US Counterterror Director Says No Info Indicates Daesh Leader Baghdadi Dead Sputnik 21 Jul 2017 -- US National Counterterrorism Center Director Nick Rasmussen said on Friday that has seen not seen any evidence that would indicate Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of Daesh terrorist group, has been killed.
• Infighting hits ranks of Takfiri militants in Syria's Idlib Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- Heavy infighting has erupted between two major Takfiri terrorist groups in Syria's northwestern Idlib Province, with the clashes spreading to a border crossing with Turkey.
• US says Syria crisis needs political solution, Assad doesn't have to go first Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- US President Donald Trump's homeland security and counterterrorism adviser says the US is seeking a political resolution to the conflict in Syria and won't insist on Syrian President Bashar Assad's immediate ouster.
• Syria army, Hezbollah attack terrorist positions in border areas Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- The Syrian army and resistance fighters with Lebanon's resistance movement have launched a joint operation against Takfiri militant groups in border areas between the two countries.
• White House Aide Says U.S. Not Seeking Immediate Ouster Of Syria's Assad RFE/RL 21 Jul 2017 -- The United States won't insist on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's immediate ouster as it seeks a political settlement of the country's six-year civil war, President Donald Trump's counterterrorism adviser said on July 20.
• Totally Wasn't Us: Turkey Denies Role in Map Outlining US Presence in Syria Sputnik 21 Jul 2017 -- A spokesman from the offices of the Turkish president has stated that Ankara was not involved in the publication of a map that showed, among other things, the location of US military positions in Syria. The map was published by a Turkish state-run news agency.
• Hezbollah, Syrian Army Push Terrorists From Tal Burkan at Lebanon-Syria Border Sputnik 21 Jul 2017 -- The fighters of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah together with the Syrian army drove the terrorists from the the height of Tal Burkan on the Syrian-Lebanese border, a source in the Shiite movement told Sputnik on Friday.
• Poroshenko Blames Russia For Recent Deaths Of Eight Soldiers In Country's East RFE/RL 21 Jul 2017 -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has blamed Russia for the recent deaths of eight Ukrainian soldiers in its eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, where Moscow-backed separatists have intensified shelling of Ukrainian forces.
• Moldova Political Split Deepens After Demand For Russia's Transdniester Pullout RFE/RL 21 Jul 2017 -- Moldovan lawmakers demanded that Russian troops pull out of the pro-Moscow breakaway region of Transdniester, intensifying the ongoing standoff between Moldova's pro-Western government and its Russia-friendly president.
• Indian Army Raises Concern Over Targeting of Civilians in Jammu and Kashmir Sputnik 21 Jul 2017 -- India's Director General of Military Operations Lt General A K Bhatt took up the issue of civilians being targeted by Pakistani forces along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, for the second time in the last four days.
• Burundian President Tells Refugees to Come Home VOA 21 Jul 2017 -- Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has invited people who fled the country during violent political unrest two years ago to return home.
• In DR Congo, UN aid chief says world must 'not let down' millions of people in need UN News 21 Jul 2017 -- Wrapping up a four-day mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations humanitarian chief today urged the world "not to forget the DRC," and called for scaled-up relief funding to help millions of people suffering from violence, diseases, and malnutrition.

News Reports

• Can US Presidents Pardon Themselves? Nobody Seems to Know VOA 21 Jul 2017 -- The U.S. Constitution grants the president broad authority to pardon those accused or convicted of federal crimes; but, does it allow the president to pardon himself? Nobody really knows for sure.
• Russia Says In Talks With U.S. On Creating Cybersecurity Workgroup RFE/RL 21 Jul 2017 -- Moscow and Washington are in negotiations to create a joint cybersecurity working group, Andrei Krutskikh, a special presidential envoy on cybersecurity told Russian news agencies on July 20.
• 'Snoozefest' And A 'Political Loss': Russians Break Down Navalny's Debate With Ex-Separatist Commander RFE/RL 21 Jul 2017 -- It was the main political event for Russia's chattering classes in a slow political season: opposition leader Aleksei Navalny taking on Igor Girkin, a notorious former commander of Moscow-backed separatists in Ukraine, in a debate.
• Experts Say U.S., West Should Push Back On Russian Corruption, 'Kleptocracy' RFE/RL 21 Jul 2017 -- Russian corruption is no longer a topic for just the country itself, it is a matter of concern for the United States and the West, says Ilya Zaslavskiy, a research expert at the Free Russia Foundation.
• Iran reserves right to respond to US violation of JCPOA: Araqchi Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- A senior Iranian nuclear negotiator says the Islamic Republic reserves the right to respond to any US violation of the landmark nuclear agreement signed between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries.
• IRGC foils terror attack on Iran's NW border Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has thwarted a terror attack on the country's northwestern border, killing four terrorists and injuring three others in the operation.
• Iran has own options against US violations of nuclear deal: Araqchi Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- Iran says it could resort to its own options if the mechanisms featured in its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers, including the US, fail to force other parties to live up to their end of the bargain.
• Rights Groups Urge Rohani To Drop Justice Minister In Second Term RFE/RL 21 Jul 2017 -- Eleven human rights and media freedom groups have called on Iranian President Hassan Rohani not to reappoint Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi, whom rights advocates have accused of involvement in the killings of dissidents in 1988.
• US Urges China to Help Watch North Korea's Submarine Missile Test Preps Sputnik 21 Jul 2017 -- The US is appealing to China for help in monitoring North Korea's military activity, possibly over concerns that Pyongyang is preparing to conduct a submarine missile test in the near feature.
• North Korea snubs South's call for military talks Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- South Korean-proposed military talks with North Korea have failed to materialize as Pyongyang made no reaction to the offer, which had been made with a purpose to ease tensions.
• North Korea Snubs South Korean Outreach VOA 21 Jul 2017 -- North Korea has so far not responded to a South Korean offer made earlier this week to engage in military talks.
• US to Ban Travel to North Korea VOA 21 Jul 2017 -- The U.S. will prohibit American citizens from traveling to North Korea due to mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention, the State Department said on Friday, following a travel warning on May 9 that alerted all Americans not to travel to the country.
• US to ban traveling to North Korea after student death Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- The United States has planned to bar its citizens from traveling to North Korea following the death of an American university student there.
• 'WikiLeaks will take down America any way they can': CIA director Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- The head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) says WikiLeaks is seeking to destroy America, adding he doesn't "love" the global whistleblowing service.
• Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif hearings conclude in Supreme Court Press TV 21 Jul 2017 -- Pakistan's Supreme Court has finished hearings regarding the family wealth of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and will begin deliberations on whether to disqualify him for corruption.
• Pakistan Court Concludes Sharif's Corruption Hearing VOA 21 Jul 2017 -- Pakistan's Supreme Court concluded hearings Friday in a high-profile corruption case that could unseat Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and disqualify him from politics.
• State Department Amendments to the Terrorist Designation of Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade US Dept. of State 21 Jul 2017 -- The Department of State has amended the designation of Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under section 1(b) of Executive Order (E.O.) 13224 to change the group's primary name to Khalid bin Al-Walid Army and to add new aliases.
• Turkey's Erdogan Heading to Gulf in Bid to Ease Qatar Crisis VOA 21 Jul 2017 -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan starts a two-day tour of Gulf states Sunday in an effort to resolve a crisis involving Qatar, and four Arab states accusing the small peninsular nation of supporting terrorism.
• Zimbabwe's Mugabe Attacks Allies and Opposition, Vows to Run Again VOA 21 Jul 2017 -- Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe lashed out Friday against factions in his party angling to take over from him, saying they have no backing. The 93-year-old spoke at a rally in Lupane, about 600 kilometers southwest of Harare - as part of his effort to recruit young people to support him in next year's elections.
• EU Monitors Watching Kenya Election Preparations VOA 21 Jul 2017 -- Whether Kenya's elections next month turn deadly violent, like the 2007 vote, or remain mostly peaceful, like the 2013 poll, international monitors will be on the ground to see whether the final outcome is trustworthy and fair.
• Alleged ISIS Supporter Indicted for Attempting to Provide Material Support to Foreign Terrorist Organization US Dept. of Justice 21 Jul 2017 -- Amer Sinan Alhaggagi, 22, of Oakland, California, was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury in San Francisco with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
• Algerian Man Extradited for Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Terrorists Makes Initial Appearance US Dept. of Justice 21 Jul 2017 -- Ali Charaf Damache, aka "Theblackflag," 52, of Algeria, made his initial appearance today following extradition from Spain for his involvement in conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists.