Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• Occupying US forces withdraw from K1 Air Base in northern Iraq, hand it over to Iraqi army Press TV 29 Mar 2020 -- Occupying US forces in Iraq have pulled out from a strategic air base in northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk and handed it over to the Arab country's security forces.
• US wrestling with how to respond to rising, bolder attacks on Americans in Iraq Press TV 29 Mar 2020 -- US official are expressing serious concerns about persisting attacks on American military and diplomatic compounds in Iraq and receiving "near-daily reports" of "imminent" attacks on such facilities, a report has unveiled.
• Kabul Criticizes Taliban For Rejecting Government Negotiating Team For Peace Talks RFE/RL 29 Mar 2020 -- The Afghan government has criticized the Taliban for rejecting Kabul's negotiating team for upcoming intra-Afghan peace talks aimed at ending the nearly 19-year war.
• Taliban reject Afghan government's negotiating team Press TV 29 Mar 2020 -- The Taliban militant group in Afghanistan has refused to enter into peace talks with the Afghan government, rejecting Kabul's negotiating team as "not inclusive."
• Comfort Underway to Support City of New York NNS 29 Mar 2020 -- The Military Sealift Command hospital ship, USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), departed Naval Station Norfolk today for New York City in support of the nation's Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) response efforts.
• USNS Mercy Accepts First Patients in Los Angeles NNS 29 Mar 2020 -- The hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) accepted its first patients in Los Angeles March 29 during its support of the nation's COVID-19 response efforts.

Defense Policy / Programs

• USS Detroit Arrives in Key West for Maintenance NNS 29 Mar 2020 -- The Freedom-class littoral combat ship USS Detroit (LCS 7) arrived at Naval Air Station Key West's Truman Harbor March 29 to conduct emergent repairs.
• Russia and US Suspend New START Treaty Inspections Until May Due to Coronavirus - Reports Sputnik 29 Mar 2020 -- The situation in the United States remains tense as the country now has the highest number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus – over 123,000 infected of the world's 672,000, while Russia has reported at least 1,534 COVID-19 cases.
• Domestically developed high-end missile sees first export delivery despite pandemic Global Times 29 Mar 2020 -- A leading Chinese arms firm has delivered a batch of advanced portable HJ-12E anti-tank missiles to an undisclosed foreign buyer amid the pandemic of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) in the first export case of this type of high-end weaponry, prompting Chinese analysts to note on Sunday that this showcased the company's reliability and its potential share of the market.
• North Korea Tests 'Super-Large' Rocket Launcher, Test Appears Successful - Reports Sputnik 29 Mar 2020 -- The two short-range projectiles fired by North Korea on Sunday were a test of a 'super-large' multiple rocket launcher, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency reported.
• North Korea launches 2 unidentified projectiles: South Press TV 29 Mar 2020 -- North Korea has fired two "short-range projectiles" into the ocean off its east coast, South Korea says, calling the launches "very inappropriate" amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• 'Yemeni domestically-built missiles, drones strike sensitive targets in Saudi capital, elsewhere' Press TV 29 Mar 2020 -- Yemeni Armed Forces say they targeted strategic and sensitive sites in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh and elsewhere in the kingdom by a squadron of domestically-manufactured combat drones and ballistic missiles.
• Riyadh targeted in Yemen's first missile reprisal since September Press TV 29 Mar 2020 -- Local Yemeni sources have confirmed a missile attack on the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in reprisal for the regime's air raids on the impoverished country.
• Civil Defense in Riyadh: Two civilians slightly injured due to falling debris from ballistic missile fired by Al-Houthi terrorist militia toward Riyadh city SPA 29 Mar 2020 -- The media spokesperson for the Civil Defense in Riyadh region, Lt. Col. Mohammed Al-Hammadi, stated that the civil defense teams in the city of Riyadh dealt Saturday evening (28 March 2020) with the incident of the falling of debris from an intercepted and destroyed ballistic missile that was launched by Al-Houthi terrorist militia toward the capital, Riyadh.
• The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen: Royal Saudi Air Defense Intercepts and Destroys Two Ballistic Missiles Launched by the Terrorist Iran-Backed Houthi Militia Toward the Kingdom. SPA 29 Mar 2020 -- Statement by the Official Spokesman of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen COL Turki Al-Malki
• Houthi Militants Claim Strikes on Saudi Arabian Cities - Reports Sputnik 29 Mar 2020 -- A military spokesman for Yemen's Houthi militants said Sunday that the group targeted Riyadh and several southern Saudi cities with drones and rockets overnight, Houthi media reported.
• Saudi Arabia Intercepts Missiles Over 2 Cities VOA 29 Mar 2020 -- Saudi Arabia intercepted ballistic missiles fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen, the country's state news agency reported Sunday.
• Turkish forces, allied militants cut off drinking water to Syria's Hasakah, environs Press TV 29 Mar 2020 -- Turkish forces and allied Takfiri militants have once again cut off drinking water supply to people in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakah and surrounding areas, only a few days after the Damascus government complained to the United Nations and the Security Council over the issue.
• Turkey deploys US-made air defense System to Syria's Idlib: Report Press TV 29 Mar 2020 -- Turkey has reportedly deployed a US-made air defense system to Idlib as Ankara beefs up its military presence in the militant-held Syrian region despite a ceasefire reached earlier this month to halt an escalation.
• Libyan government airstrike kills senior rebel commanders Press TV 29 Mar 2020 -- Libyan government forces have launched an attack on rebel forces commanded by renegade general Khalifa Haftar, killing a number of their top commanders in an airstrike on the country's volatile north.
• Pray For Rain: Crimea's Dry-Up A Headache For Moscow, Dilemma For Kyiv RFE/RL 29 Mar 2020 -- After Russia cut Crimea off from the rest of Ukraine by seizing control of the Black Sea peninsula in 2014, Kyiv cut off the water supply to Crimea with a grand-scale equivalent of a twist of the wrist: It shut down a 400-kilometer canal whose construction decades ago had been hailed as a Soviet feat of man mastering nature.

News Reports

• Commissioner's office of Chinese foreign ministry in HK urges Human Rights Watch not to go further down wrong path People's Daily 29 Mar 2020 -- Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Saturday slammed Human Rights Watch for grossly interfering with the HKSAR's judicial independence, urging the foreign non-governmental organization not to go further down the wrong path.
• US wages medical terror against Iranians amidst COVID-19 pandemic: FM Zarif Press TV 29 Mar 2020 -- Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has once again hit out at the United States for its refusal to lift Iran sanctions amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic, saying that Washington is upgrading its "economic terrorism" to a new level of "medical terror" against Iranians.
• Mali Votes in Long-Delayed Parliamentary Election VOA 29 Mar 2020 -- Voters in Mali went to the polls Sunday to elect members of the 147-seat National Assembly.