Putin Declares Syria Operation a Success and Says It’ll Lead to Peace - The New York Times - Headlines

Russia's Withdrawal from Syria - 3.17.16

News - Russia's Withdrawal from Syria - Google Search

Putin Declares Syria Operation a Success and Says It’ll Lead to Peace - The New York Times

Putin’s Wily Syria Tactics Pay Off | TIME

Russia says to complete withdrawing most of Syria force in two-three days | Reuters

Putin says Russia could again build up its forces in Syria “in a few hours” if necessary, will keep striking extremist groups - The Washington Post

Putin: Russia can make powerful Syria comeback within hours | Reuters

Putin's Syria Gambit: Russian Pundits Ponder What Moscow Achieved

Putin's Pullout: Behind Russia's New Syria Surprise

Russia can make powerful Syria military comeback in hours: Putin | Reuters

Reviews

The Early Edition: March 17, 2016 | Just Security

Punishment for Kunduz hospital strike; Army, USMC unready for war?; China rewrites the rules; Fewer bombs away! And just a bit more. - Defense One

3.16.16 - Today's Headlines and Commentary - Lawfare

Meir Dagan

Meir Dagan, Former Mossad Director, Dies at 71 - The New York Times

Israeli spymaster turned Netanyahu critic Dagan dies | Reuters

Israeli ex-Mossad spy chief Meir Dagan dies at 71 - The Washington Post

Meir Dagan, ex-head of Mossad, passes away

Russia

A strategy of spectacle | The Economist

Ukraine vows swift end to political crisis, wins EU offer of visa-free travel | Reuters

Kremlin: Putin resists Obama’s call for Savchenko release - The Washington Post

Kremlin condemns Donald Trump pre-election clip for demonizing Russia | Reuters

The Daily Vertical: A Coincidence? I Think Not! (Transcript)

Defense Chief Says Ukraine Still Needs Weapons

Kremlin Says Attack On Rights Defender In Chechnya Unacceptable

Middle East & Asia

Kurdish TAK militant group says it was behind Ankara bombing that killed 37 | Reuters

Kurdish Militants Say They’re Behind Car Bombing in Turkey’s Capital - NYTimes.com

Ankara blast: Kurdish group TAK claims bombing - BBC News

PKK Splinter Group Claims Responsibility For Ankara Attack

Syrian Kurds declare federal region amid wide criticism - The Washington Post

Kurds declare federation in northern Syria; Damascus, Ankara object

The Latest: Damascus and opposition reject Kurd declaration - The Washington Post

Kerry determines IS group committing genocide in Iraq, Syria - TheUnion local.com | TheUnion.com

Shell, Saudi Aramco Split Assets

NATO sends general to troubled Afghan south

Reconsider a Refugee Deal With Turkey - The New York Times

Understanding the Islamic State - The Washington Post

How Syria’s Uprising Spawned a Jihad - Defense One

Other News

Trump warns of riots, pulls plug on Republican presidential debate | Reuters

Hamptons luxury home sales soften as Wall Street weakness takes a toll | Reuters

Bring It On - The New York Times

Report: Trump Presidency a Top Risk for the World

German triple agent sentenced to eight years in prison | News | DW.COM | 17.03.2016

Lula Phone Tap Renews Doubt Over Rousseff Future in Brazil - Bloomberg Business

Countering military cyber espionage - Gateway House

A Michigan sailor's ordeal at sea off Puerto Rico - TheUnion local.com | TheUnion.com

Topic: Russia's Withdrawal from Syria

Russia's Withdrawal from Syria - Google Search

russian military officers killed in latakia on 21 February - Google Search

syria war - Google Search

News - syria war - Google Search

syria talks - Google Search

News - syria talks - Google Search

News - isis - Google Search

russia and saudi arabia - Google Search

russia saudi arabia syria - Google Search

putin syria price of oil - Google Search

Russia's Withdrawal from Syria - 3.16.16

What Quagmire? Even in Withdrawal, Russia Stays a Step Ahead - The New York Times

Seat at geopolitical top table allowed Putin to scale back in Syria | Reuters

Russia drops the mic: Syria pullout comes at perfect moment

Russia says another group of its warplanes flies back from Syria | Reuters

Russia’s Retreat From Syria: What’s Putin’s Game?

In the Syria chess game, did Putin outwit Obama? - The Washington Post

Putin withdrawing after accomplishing many of his goals in Syria - LA Times

Putin the ‘Peacemaker’ Ends Operations in Syria | The Jamestown Foundation

What's behind Russia's withdrawal from Syria? - Al Jazeera English

Russia to keep S-400 in Syria until Saudi warplanes leave Turkey

What Motivated Moscow's Announced Syria Withdrawal?

Russia Leaves Syria With Loyalists on the Offensive

Syria: More Posturing Than Performance

Russia's Withdrawal from Syria - 3.15.16

Russia’s surprise withdrawal resonates from battlefield to peace talks - The Washington Post

Russian warplanes leave Syria, raising U.N. hopes for peace talks | Reuters

Kerry, Putin to Discuss Syria as Russia Seeks to Bolster Influence - WSJ

Putin Got Exactly What He Wanted in Syria - Defense One

Putin’s Syria Withdrawal Keeps Him at the Fore and Everyone Else Guessing - The New York Times

The Daily Vertical: Mission Accomplished (Transcript)

The End of the US-Dominated Order in the Middle East - Defense One

First Russian Jets Leave Syria After Putin’s Withdrawal Order - The New York Times

Putin Orders Start of Syria Withdrawal, Saying Goals Are Achieved - The New York Times

First Russian transports fly out of Syria with equipment

Al-Qaeda vows fresh Syria offensive as Russia begins preparations for military pull-out - latest - Telegraph

Russia Announces Syria Troop Pullout, Putin Says Main Goals Achieved

Former NATO Commander: 'Russia confident Assad will stay in power' - BBC News

Putin deserves no credit for Syria withdrawal, says Philip Hammond - video | Politics | The Guardian

Russia to keep its most advanced S-400 air defense systems in Syria

Russia and the US battle it out in Syria - Blogs - Jerusalem Post

Despite Syria, Russia works with Saudi Arabia | Russia & India Report

The Latest: Moscow Official Says Russia to Keep Striking IS - ABC News

Stratfor: Why Russia would withdraw from Syria - read on - uatoday.tv

IS leader al-Shishani dies of wounds from US strike in Syria - The Washington Post

Pentagon Confirms Death of ISIS Leader

Omar the Chechen, an ISIS Official Wounded by U.S. Raid, Has Died - The New York Times

Topic: Lesin - from 3.11.16

lesin - Google Search

Mikhail Y. Lesin - Google Search

Mikhail Lesin: The Fall of the Putin Propaganda Czar

Ex-Putin aide reportedly may have been attacked outside hotel | Fox News

Death of former Putin aide: conspiracy theories abound back home in Russia | World news | The Guardian

Blunt Force: Key Facts About The Mysterious Death Of Ex-Putin Adviser Mikhail Lesin

New twist in D.C. death of a former Putin aide fuels Moscow conspiracy theories - The Washington Post

Mystery Deepens Over Death of Former Putin Ally Mikhail Lesin - The New York Times

Ex-aide to Putin died of blunt force trauma at D.C. hotel, medical examiner says - The Washington Post

Former Putin press minister died of blow to head in Washington hotel | World news | The Guardian

Former Russian press minister died in U.S. of blunt force injuries | Reuters

Ex-Putin aide Mikhail Lesin died of 'blow to the head' - BBC News

Autopsy: Ex-Putin aide’s death caused by blunt force trauma | TheHill

Vladimir Putin's ally Mikhail Lesin found dead in mysterious circumstances | Daily Mail Online

Putin's Media Man Lesin Died of Blunt Force Head Trauma – Report | News | The Moscow Times

Forbes

Fresh Intelligence: Putin Aide’s Mysterious End -- NYMag

В Кремле прокомментировали сообщения о том, что Лесина могли убить

Загадку смерти Лесина прояснили в отеле, где он скончался - Происшествия - МК

СМИ назвали травмы на теле Лесина результатом «ссоры» :: Общество :: РБК

Was Putin’s Media Chief Ready to Snitch Before He Dropped Dead? - The Daily Beast

Друг Лесина рассказал о его последних днях в Вашингтоне

Судмедэксперт: описание травм Лесина не позволяет говорить об убийстве | РИА Новости

Навальный сообщил о пересечении границы США по паспорту Лесина после его смерти - Газета.Ru | Новости

Putin propaganda chief who 'died' of brutal injuries in Washington, DC hotel room 'flew out of LA 40 days after he died in suspicious circumstances in Washington' | Daily Mail Online

Washington,DC Police Leading Investigation Into Lesin's Death - FBI

Current Topics - from 3.13.16

global security - Google Search

National Intelligence Council - Google Search

News - National Intelligence Council - Google Search

intelligence forecasting - Google Search

Russia’s Hybrid War - Google Search

breedlove - Google Search

Did obama fire breedlove? - Google Search

obama - Google Search

obama doctrine - Google Search

obama foreign policy - Google Search

trump - Google Search

trump sanders communist - Google Search

fbi vs apple - Google Search

News - fbi vs apple - Google Search

andreas lubitz - Google Search

News - andreas lubitz - Google Search

puerto rico - Google Search

3.16.16 W

In the Syria chess game, did Putin outwit Obama? - Middle East - Stripes

President Rivlin in Moscow to meet Putin, Medvedev

Встреча с Президентом Израиля Реувеном Ривлином • Президент России

Russian-speaking jihadis in Syria 'could threaten Moscow in future' | World news | The Guardian

Kadyrov to Get Another Term, Say Kremlin Sources (Exclusive) | News | The Moscow Times

The Daily Vertical: Back To The Ukraine Front (Transcript)

Reports: Obama Selects Garland as Supreme Court Nominee

San Bernardino and the lack of cooperation between the feds | On Air Videos | Fox News

The Next Disaster: Islamic State Expands as Libya Descends into Chaos - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

The Latest: Turkey says Syrian territorial integrity a must - The Washington Post

NBC Weapons: Getting From Wanting To Doing

Attrition: The Cost Of Victory

Keep America's Top Military Officer Out of the Chain of Command - Defense One

Syrian moderate rebel "spymaster" slams CIA for 'ignoring' detailed intel on Isil since 2013 - Telegraph

NEWS: The World and Security Review: Russia's Withdrawal from Syria: What Quagmire? Even in Withdrawal, Russia Stays a Step Ahead - The New York Times

NEWS: The World and Global Security Review: » Russian-speaking jihadis in Syria 'could threaten Moscow in future' 16/03/16 11:41 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks

NEWS: The World and Global Security Review: Kadyrov to Get Another Term, Say Kremlin Sources (Exclusive)

NEWS: The World and Global Security Review: President Rivlin in Moscow to meet Putin, Medvedev

NEWS: The World and Global Security Review: Putin the ‘Peacemaker’ Ends Operations in Syria

NEWS: The World and Global Security Review: » Putin the ‘Peacemaker’ Ends Operations in Syria 16/03/16 12:40 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks

NEWS: The World and Global Security Review: To combat Islamic State, understand its tactics

NEWS: The World and Global Security Review: American Spies

The Early Edition: March 17, 2016 by Nadia O'Mara

Thursday March 17th, 2016 at 10:34 AM

Just Security

1 Share

Nadia O'Mara

Before the start of business, Just Security provides a curated summary of up-to-the-minute developments at home and abroad. Here’s today’s news.

IRAQ and SYRIA

Syria’s UN envoy has ruled out direct talks with the opposition at peace negotiations in Geneva, Ambassador Bashar Jaafari accusing the chief negotiator of being a terrorist. [Wall Street Journal’s Asa Fitch and Nour Malas]  His statement lessens hopes of greater compromise following Russia’s decision to begin withdrawal from Syria. [Washington Post’s Hugh Naylor]

The majority of Moscow’s Syrian contingent will withdraw “in two or three days,” local media reported. [Al Jazeera]

Russia now has “less misunderstandings” with the US,the deputy head of the Russian Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee told CNN.

The Economist gives its view on Russia’s withdrawal from Syria, considering a number of things which can be “construed from Mr Putin’s demarche, including the fact that the withdrawal is not complete and a reescalation of hostilities could be quickly arranged.

Syrian Kurds are preparing a plan to declare a federal region across much of northern Syria, representatives said yesterday. If they go ahead with the plan, “they will be dipping a toe into the roiling waters of debate” over two proposals to redraw Middle Eastern borders, with far-reaching implications for Syria and its neighbors, writes Anne Barnard. [New York Times]

American officials are keen to question an alleged US ISIS fighter who surrendered to Kurdish forces in Iraq on Monday. A former US National Counterterrorism Center official suggested he “would be an intelligence gold mine.” [NBC News’ Josh Meyer]

The Islamic State’s “thickest, strongest, stronghold in Iraq” has been identified by US intelligence as a corridor between Mosul and Tal Afar, Barbara Starr reports. [CNN]

Secretary of State John Kerry will miss the deadline set by Congress to decide whether or not to classify atrocities committed by the Islamic State as genocide. [The Hill’s Julian Hattem]

A video emerged today purporting to show missing Japanese journalist, Jumpei Yasuda, reportedly held by the Nusra Front in Syria. [Reuters]

US-led airstrikes continue. US and coalition forces carried out two strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria on March 15. Separately, partner forces conducted a further nine strikes against targets in Iraq. [Central Command]

Most Islamic State recruits come from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Morocco and other Arab countries, the cache of Islamic State documents recently passed to German and UK journalists reveals. Less than 2 per cent listed in the cache are Syrian, reports Khaled Diab. [Al Jazeera]

Iraqi forces captured nearly 150 ISIS fighters last week as they attempted to blend in with 35,000 civilians along the Euphrates River Valley. [DoD News]

Israel is more concerned with Iran than Islamic State, marking it out from Syria’s other neighbours. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t interested in the eventual outcome of the five-year war there, writes Yaroslav Trofimov, quoting the director-general of Israel’s foreign ministry as saying “it is critical from the Israeli standpoint that Syria does not emerge as an Iranian satellite incorporated fully into the Iranian strategic system.” [Wall Street Journal]

ANKARA BOMB ATTACK

The Kurdish Freedom Hawks (TAK), an offshoot of the PKK, has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday in a statement released online. The militant group said that the attack was revenge for security operations in the largely Kurdish southeast, underway since July. [Reuters; BBC]

The danger posed by Islamic State in Ankara “has metastasized into a two-front war against the extremist group and Kurdish separatists,” writes Dion Nissenbaum, who says that numerous bomb attacks over the past few months are testament to the government’s failure to protect the country from “the fall out of the Syrian war next door.” [Wall Street Journal]

Germany has closed its embassy in Ankara, Turkey, after receiving “very concrete indications that terrorist attacks were being prepared” against it. It has also closed its consulate in Istanbul, and German schools in both cities. [Reuters; AP]

BELGIAN COUNTERTERRORISM RAIDS

The suspect killed in a counterterrorism raid in Brussels yesterday is believed to have had “potential links to radical Islam,” though it is unclear whether he had any connection to the November 13 attacks in Paris. [New York Times’ Aurelien Breeden]

Raids against suspected Islamist militants will “almost certainly continue” in Brussels, Belgian’s prime minister said yesterday. [Washington Post’s James McAuley]

FRANCE

French police arrested four people on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities in Parisyesterday. One of the detainees is a man believed to have links to Islamic State members in Syria.  None of the suspects have been charged as yet. [Wall Street Journal’s Sam Schechner and Inti Landauro]

Units dedicated to combating Islamic radicalization are being piloted in French prisons for “dangerous but salvageable” detainees. Inmates will undergo a program involving training in Salafism and visits by historians to deconstruct ideas about medieval caliphates. [The Guardian’s Christopher de Bellaigue]

LIBYA

There is evidence that two Serbian diplomats were killed in a US airstrike on an Islamic State training camp in Libya last month. The Pentagon undertook the airstrike on the understanding that no civilians were at the camp. [The Intercept’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous]

“The battle for the future of Libya should be decided by the people of Libya.” Christopher Preble argues against further US intervention in Libya. [Politico]

PAKISTAN

Outlawed group Lashkar-i-Islam has claimed responsibility for the bomb attack on a bus carrying government employees in Peshawar, Pakistan, yesterday. The claim has yet to be independently confirmed. Police investigations have disclosed that the perpetrator planted the bomb, which had a timer, before disembarking the bus. [New York Times’ Ismail Khan]

Osama bin Laden’s documents reveal al-Qaeda’s “patient approach” to attrition against the West.The documents, recovered in 2011 during the raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan and made public earlier this month, show that the US has failed to appreciate the group’s long-term strategy, often mistaking periods of quiet for inactivity, suggests Daveed Gartenstein-Ross. [The Daily Beast]

SURVEILLANCE, PRIVACY and TECHNOLOGY

Apple v. FBI. Apple has never worked with any government agency from any country to undermine the security of its own products or services, according to Apple software chief Craig Federighi, his comments forming part of a sworn declaration filed in the ongoing encryption battle between the tech giant and the FBI. [Motherboard’s Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai]

Digital rights group, Fight for the Future, will protest the March 22 court hearing in the dispute between Apple and the FBI over the locked iPhone. Cory Bennett reports. [The Hill]

The UK’s Ministry of Defence will conduct a military exercise using drone aircraft and underwater systems this fall, a large-scale event which will form part of the regular UK-led NATO Joint Warriors exercise. [The Guardian’s Ewen MacAskill]

NORTH KOREA

The US has imposed new sanctions on North Korea aimed explicitly at the Pyongyang government, its ruling party and the nation’s economy. The sanctions were imposed via an executive order yesterday. [Wall Street Journal’s Jay Solomon; The Hill’s Harper Neidig]

“Diplomatic leverage.” The American student convicted in North Korea of subversion yesterday is caught up in the “escalating diplomatic face-off between Washington and Pyongyang,” writes Alastair Gale. [Wall Street Journal]  Otto F Warmbier is one of around a dozen Americans arrested in North Korea in recent years. Rick Gladstone provides a summary of their cases. [New York Times]

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

No criminal charges are to be brought against US military personnel involved in a raid on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan in October last year, which resulted in the deaths of 42 people, US defense officials informed reporters yesterday. [The Daily Beast]

President Obama is to visit Saudi Arabia next month in an effort to repair relations with Gulf Arab leaders over last year’s nuclear deal with Iran. The president will also visit the UK and Germany to “shore up ties” with two of the US’s longstanding allies amid the threat of global terrorism. [Wall Street Journal’s Carol E Lee and Margherita Stancati; The Hill’s Jordan Fabian]

Russia’s blocking of sanctions against Iran for its latest ballistic missile launches teaches us that the Obama administration depends on the support of Russia and China to enforce the UN resolution, says the Wall Street Journal editorial board.

The NSA refused early requests from Hillary Clinton’s top aides to provide the former secretary of state with a “secure ‘BlackBerry-like” device to use while in office, new emails released yesterday reveal. [The Hill’s Julian Hattem]

Donald Trump becoming president has been rated as a top 10 risk facing the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The research finds that Trump poses more of a risk to global security than the UK leaving the EU or fighting breaking out in the South China Sea. [BBC]

An Ohio man has pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to Islamic State and to counts of possessing firearms while a felon. Amir Said Rahman Al-Ghazi will be sentenced on June 23. [The Hill’s Julian Hattem]

Morocco has reacted angrily to UN Security-General Ban Ki-moon’s reference to its “occupation” of Western Sahara, Morocco’s foreign minister informing Mr Ban that his country is planning to cut “a large part” of its civilian support for the UN Mission in Western Sahara and considering withdrawing troops from peacekeeping operations altogether. Morocco has been involved in a dispute over its sovereignty of Western Sahara since the 1970s. [New York Times’ Rick Gladstone]

Read on Just Security »

Read the whole story

· · · · · · · ·

Today's Headlines and Commentary by Elina Saxena

Thursday March 17th, 2016 at 10:34 AM

Lawfare - Hard National Security Choices

1 Share

President Obama announced his nomination of Judge Merrick B. Garland as the nation’s 113th Supreme Court justice, the New York Times reports. Noting that Judge Garland was on Obama's shortlist for a Supreme Court nomination due to "his position, disposition and bipartisan popularity,” the Times writes that Judge Garland "is described as brilliant and, at 63, is somewhat aged for a Supreme Court nominee." Judge Garland was confirmed in 1997 as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and is well known for his work in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing case.

In his address, the president suggested that he came to his decision after considering the opinions of politicians on both sides of the aisle as well as those of legal associations and advocacy groups in “a rigorous and comprehensive process.” He added that Judge Garland “is widely recognized not only as one of America’s sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness and excellence.” The president announced his choice in an address from the the White House Rose Garden earlier this morning.

Following the announcement, several GOP leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, voiced their intentions to block the nomination in what they suggest is a matter of principle.

In Lawfare, both Ben Wittes and Tim Edgar outline why blocking Judge Garland's nomination may not be such a good idea. In Ben's view, Garland "is quite simply one of the very finest judges in the United States" with "extensive national security experience." Edgar argues that Republicans should consider that Garland may be the best they'll get anytime soon, as a President Clinton would likely nominate a "younger, more liberal candidate." 

Turning to Syria: just days after the Kremlin’s unexpected announcement that Russia would withdraw the “main parts” of its forces from Syria, the Washington Post writes that the decision “rearranged the lines of the grinding conflict and solidified Moscow’s influence not only on the battlefield but also at the negotiating table.” The move was reportedly made without consulting the Assad regime, and experts suggest that “Russia’s pullout will put significant pressure on Assad to work out a power-sharing agreement with the opposition.” As the conflict marks its fifth anniversary, U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura suggested that the Russian withdrawal “will have an actual impact on the talks” and that negotiations currently being held in Geneva have “new momentum.”  

In addition to catching the White House off-guard, the Russian decision has caught nearly every party involved in the country by surprise, leaving diplomats and officials to question just what Russian intentions are and what impact the move will have on the conflict. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Moscow next week to discuss the Russian withdrawal and the possibilities of a political transition in Syria, the Post reports. Reuters has more.

Russia will maintain a reduced number of personnel at its naval and airbases in the country; it will also keep in place its S-400 air defense missile systems, which will enable Moscow to exert continued influence in the region. Reuters tells us that “just under half of Russia's fixed-wing strike force based in Syria has flown out of the country in the past two days.” According to the Guardian, Russian airstrikes have been responsible for some 2,000 civilian deaths since they began nearly six months ago. The Guardian writes that “[Russian] jets appear to have intentionally bombed civilian areas, in a campaign to spread fear and clear areas where government ground troops were planning to advance.” In considering the Kremlin’s announcement, the Daily Beast suggests tha—having bolstered the Assad regime by bringing “a real turnabout in the fight against the terrorists in Syria,” as the Kremlin puts it—Russian President Vladimir Putin “may well be winding down a short intervention because he’s accomplished exactly what he set out to do.”

Meanwhile, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) announced its intention to declare a federal region in northern Syria, a notion immediately rejected by Syrian and Turkish officials at the Geneva peace talks. The Associated Press reports that the PYD “is not lobbying for a Kurdish region but an all-inclusive area with representation for Turkmen, Arabs and Kurds in northern Syria.” Despite serious gains made by Syrian Kurds in northern Syria in recent years, the PYD and the group’s military arm have been excluded from talks in Geneva as Turkey considers the group a terrorist organization.

The Iraqi army, backed by Kurdish Peshmerga forces and an Iran-supported Shia militia, is set to launch an offensive to push ISIS militants away from the northern oil region of Kirkuk, Reutersreports.

The Daily Beast tells us that the Obama administration is launching “a stealth anti-Islamic State messaging campaign, delivered by proxies and targeted to individual would-be extremists.” The establishment of the Center for Global Engagement was announced on Monday by the “new anti-ISIS message czar” Michael Lumpkin as a replacement of “previous less-than-successful efforts.” Lumpkin told the Daily Beast that “you need a network to defeat a network, so we’re going to take a network approach to our messaging.” The new messaging approach “is not going to be focused on U.S. messages with a government stamp on them, but rather amplifying moderate credible voices in the region and throughout civil society,” as White House counter-terrorism advisor Lisa Monacophrased it in her address last week at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Algerian national Mohamed Belkaid was shot dead during a raid on a Belgian apartment in a Brussels suburb after two occupants opened fire on police. Two suspects in the Paris attacks managed to escape. Belkaid was shot dead by snipers as he attempted to fire at police from a window, but the BBC says that Belkaid “was not known to the authorities except for one case of robbery.” The BBC added that an Islamic State “flag was recovered from the apartment raided on Tuesday, along with Salafist (ultra-conservative Islamic) literature and Kalashnikov ammunition.”

Some 47 suspects have been detained in Turkey’s anti-terror operations following Sunday’s suicide bombing in Ankara. According to the Post, the raids followed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s declaration that Turkey would “redefine” terrorism in order to allow the country to take legal action against any supporter of terrorism, “including legislators, academics and journalists.” No group has yet claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack which killed 37.

A bomb targeting a bus carrying Pakistani civil servants left at least 15 dead in Peshawar. At least 50 others were injured in the attack. While no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, the Pakistani Taliban has frequently targeted the northwestern city, the BBC tells us.  

In neighboring Afghanistan, Taliban militants seized a fifth district in Helmand province yesterday.The New York Times reports that the Khan Neshin District fell to insurgents after Taliban fighters attacked a government center, causing officials to flee. As security in Helmand looks increasingly tenuous, the Post writes that “the Taliban’s apparent gains in the district [...] comes just weeks after government forces withdrew from two other districts in the province, effectively ceding control to insurgents.” In recent months, hundreds of U.S. special operations forces have been deployed to the region.

Amid Taliban gains, NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg met with the country’s leaders and predicted another difficult year as insurgents continue their fight against Kabul. He confirmed that NATO would continue to support the Afghan army but said that NATO troops would not resume combat operations. Currently, NATO has some 3,000 troops in the country, with half of the additional 9,800 U.S. personnel expected to withdraw from the country at the end of the year.

A Saudi airstrike in the primarily Houthi-controlled Haja province in northwestern Yemen killed at least 41 civilians yesterday. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said that Saudi Arabia was looking into the reports. Saudi Arabia has come under fire for causing civilian deaths in Yemen as the United Nations estimates that “more than 6,000 people, half of them civilians, have been killed in Yemen's conflict since the Saudi-led intervention began in March 2015.”

Two female suicide bombers left at least 22 worshipers dead in a Nigerian mosque in Maiduguri. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the incident resembles other Boko Haram attacks which frequently use women and children to carry out suicide bombings. The BBC writes that “Maiduguri is the birthplace of Islamist group Boko Haram's insurgency which has killed 20,000 people since 2009.”

Reflecting on the recent attack in the Ivory Coast, the New York Times writes that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is ”making a lethal come back” despite French efforts to crush the group. The authors note that the group’s “recent assaults on three enclaves for expatriates and African elites — in Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Mali — seem to be patterned after the kind of big, shocking terrorist attacks carried out by rival extremist groups like the Islamic State,” adding that “Western-friendly capitals known for religious tolerance are now especially fearful, wondering who will be next.”

Citing a report from state news agency Xinhua, Reuters tells us that China is seeking greater counter-terrorism cooperation with the United States. According to the report, Chinese Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun met with FBI Director James Comey in Beijing and sought to "deepen law enforcement and security cooperation in the fields of internet security and counter-terrorism.”

University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea after he allegedly stole a political propaganda poster during a tourist visit in Pyongyang. According to a report from the Korean Central News Agency, Warmbier “confessed to the serious offense against the DPRK he had committed, pursuant to the U.S. government’s hostile policy toward it, in a bid to impair the unity of its people after entering it as a tourist.”

Parting Shot: The fourth World Happiness Report is out, and Denmark “has reclaimed its place as the world’s happiest country,” according to the Times. Perhaps something is not so rotten in the state of Denmark, after all. Meanwhile, the United States placed 13th.

ICYMI: Yesterday, on Lawfare

Cody shared “Apple's reply to the government's opposition to Apple's motion to vacate.”

Ammar Abdulhamid wrote that Putin's announcement to withdraw Russian forces from Syria is unexpected but not surprising.

Ben anticipated the opening up of a new front in the Second Crypto War.

Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us onTwitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.

Read the whole story

· · · · · · ·

Meir Dagan, Former Mossad Director, Dies at 71

Thursday March 17th, 2016 at 9:32 AM

1 Share

JERUSALEM — Meir Dagan, who was widely credited with setting back Iran’s nuclear programthrough covert and daring operations as the director of the Mossad intelligence agency from 2002 to 2011, died on Thursday. He was 71.

The Mossad announced his death, and a spokeswoman for the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center said that Mr. Dagan had died there of liver cancer. Mr. Dagan underwent a liver transplant in Belarus in 2012, but he faced complications after returning to Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, in praising Mr. Dagan, referred to a well-known and chilling photograph in which Mr. Dagan’s grandfather was pictured, kneeling and humiliated before Nazi soldiers shortly before he was killed in the Holocaust.

“Meir was determined to ensure that the Jewish people would never be helpless and defenseless again,” Mr. Netanyahu said, “and to this end he dedicated his life to building up the strength of the state of Israel.”

Soon after he retired as Mossad chief, Mr. Dagan publicly criticized Mr. Netanyahu and his defense minister, Ehud Barak, and their policy of preparing for a military option against Iran’s nuclear program, telling an audience at a conference in Jerusalem that a strike on Iran’s nuclear installations would be “a stupid idea.”

Mr. Dagan argued that military action might not achieve all its goals and that it could lead to a regional war. His criticism became more personal in a statement to journalists after the military chief of staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, and the director of the Shin Bet internal security agency, Yuval Diskin, also left their offices.

“I decided to speak out because when I was in office, Diskin, Ashkenazi and I could block any dangerous adventure,” Mr. Dagan was quoted as saying. “Now I am afraid that there is no one to stop Bibi and Barak,” he added, using Mr. Netanyahu’s nickname.

While in office, Mr. Dagan oversaw a number of reported operations that were hailed as great successes in Israel. Among them was the assassination of Iranian scientists and computer sabotage that weakened Iran’s nuclear program, amid concerns that Tehran was trying to build a nuclear weapon.

Ultimately, Israel did not use its military option. And last summer, the world powers reached a deal with Iran to curb its nuclear program, which Israeli leaders consider a potentially existential threat to their country.

Mr. Dagan also criticized Israel’s political leaders for failing to seriously pursue a peace initiative with the Palestinians.

Last year, shortly before the general elections that returned Mr. Netanyahu to a third consecutive term in office, Mr. Dagan again lashed out against him.

“How did it happen that the country, stronger by far than all the countries in the region, is incapable of carrying out a strategic move that will improve our situation,” he said at a rally calling for political change. “The answer is simple: We have a leader who is fighting one campaign only, the campaign for his political survival.”

Born Meir Hubermann in 1945 in Kherson in what is now Ukraine, Mr. Dagan was the son of Holocaust survivors. He immigrated to Israel with his family in 1950, two years after the state was founded, and enlisted in the Israeli military in 1963, where he served in the paratrooper brigade and fought as a company commander in the Arab-Israeli War of 1967.

Rising through the ranks, he was tasked by Ariel Sharon, the general who became prime minister of Israel, to establish a special unit to combat militancy in the Gaza Strip in the 1970s, and he was later appointed commander of the South Lebanon region. He retired from the military in 1995 with the rank of major general.

Mr. Dagan then joined Israel’s counterterrorism bureau under Prime Minister Shimon Peres and was later appointed head of the bureau. In the late 1990s, he returned to the military, where he joined the general staff and served as a special adviser to the chief of staff.

It was Mr. Sharon who appointed Mr. Dagan to lead the Mossad, where he served as director under three prime ministers: Mr. Sharon, Ehud Olmert and Mr. Netanyahu.

Yaakov Perry, a lawmaker and former chief of Shin Bet, described Mr. Dagan as “one of the builders of the foundations of the theories of the war against terrorism, of special operations in the military and within the intelligence community.”

Mr. Perry told Israel Radio that Mr. Dagan was “a unique character” who combined courage, creativity and sensitivity, who led operations as a tough commander, and who painted and listened to music.

Marking Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day in April 2010, the popular Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot printed the photograph of Mr. Dagan’s grandfather on its front cover.

“Look at this photograph,” the newspaper said Mr. Dagan told visitors to his office. “Look at the man kneeling before Nazi soldiers. That is my grandfather, before he was murdered.”

He added, “I see that picture every day, and I promise that such a thing will never happen again.”

Continue reading the main story

Read the whole story

· · · ·

Putin's Syria Gambit: Russian Pundits Ponder What Moscow Achieved by support@pangea-cms.com (Robert Coalson)

Wednesday March 16th, 2016 at 8:55 PM

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

1 Share

Russian President Vladimir Putin's abrupt decision to draw down his country's military presence in Syria has left analysts scratching their heads. Does it signal a strategic shift or is it merely an easily reversible public-relations gambit aimed at strengthening Moscow's hand as the Geneva peace talks get under way?

Cuba Reports First Zika Case Not Linked to Travel