In rare move, Israel confirms attacking Iran forces in Syria
In an extraordinary statement, the Israeli military confirmed early Jan. 21 that it attacked Iranian military targets in Syria, hours after carrying out a rare daylight air raid near the Damascus International Airport.
The statement was issued hours after Israeli missile defenses intercepted an incoming missile over the Golan Heights in the wake of the airport raid.
“We have started striking Iranian Quds targets in Syrian territory,” the military statement said. “We warn the Syrian Armed Forces against attempting to harm Israeli forces or territory.”
Until now Israel has largely refrained from public admissions of its covert military operations in neighboring Syria, in order to avoid large-scale involvement in the eight-year civil war.
The Syrian military said Israel carried out intensive airstrikes with successive waves of guided missiles shortly after 1 a.m., but added that Syrian air defenses destroyed most of the missiles before they reached their targets. AP
Afghan officials: Taliban hit army, police center in east
Afghan officials say the Taliban have launched a coordinated assault on a military base that also serves as a police training center in eastern Maidan Wardak province and that there are casualties.
Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the interior minister, says that a suicide car bomber struck the military base the morning of Jan. 21, followed by insurgents who opened fire at the Afghan forces.
He says at least two Taliban fighters were killed by Afghan troops.
Rahimi could not provide casualty figures.
Salem Asgherkhail, head of the area’s public health department, says ambulances were dispatched to the site and that there are fears of high casualty numbers.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to the media. AP
Russian heavy bomber crash-lands in Arctic, killing 3
A Russian long-range bomber crash-landed in the Arctic Jan. 22, leaving three of its crew of four dead, officials said.
The Defense Ministry said that the Tu-22M3 bomber crashed while landing in a blizzard in the Murmansk region north of the Arctic Circle. It said the plane hit the runway and broke up on impact.
The ministry said two crewmembers were killed while two others were hospitalized. One of them later died at a hospital, according to local medical officials.
The bomber wasn’t carrying weapons, according to the ministry’s statement that was carried by Russian news agencies.
Military investigators have started the crash probe, and the Tupolev company that manufactured the bomber said its experts will join the investigation.
Aviation expert Vadim Lukashevich believed that the crash was likely caused by a vertical wind gust that suddenly hit the plane before touchdown, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
The Tu-22M3 is a twin-engine supersonic heavy bomber built in the 1980s. Significant numbers have remained in service with the Russian air force, which has used the aircraft during its campaign in Syria. AP
High court lets military implement transgender restrictions
The Supreme Court on Jan. 22 allowed the Trump administration to go ahead with its plan to restrict military service by transgender people while court challenges continue.
The high court split 5-4 in allowing the plan to take effect, with the court’s five conservatives greenlighting it and its four liberal members saying they would not have.
The Trump administration had urged the justices to take up cases about the plan directly, but the court declined for now. Those cases will continue to move through lower courts.
Until a few years ago service members could be discharged from the military for being transgender. That changed under President Barack Obama. The military announced in 2016 that transgender individuals already serving in the military would be allowed to serve openly. And the military set July 1, 2017 as the date when transgender individuals would be allowed to enlist.
But after President Donald Trump took office, the administration delayed the enlistment date, saying the issue needed further study. While that study was ongoing, the president tweeted in late July 2017 that the government would not allow “Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.” He later directed the military to return to its policy before the Obama administration changes.
Groups representing transgender individuals sued, and the Trump administration lost early rounds in those cases, with courts issuing nationwide injunctions barring the administration from altering course. The Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted those preliminary injunctions.
In March 2018, the Trump administration announced that after studying the issue it was revising its policy. The new policy generally bars transgender individuals from serving unless they serve “in their biological sex” and do not seek to undergo a gender transition.
The policy has an exception for transgender troops who relied on the Obama-era rules to begin the process of changing their gender, allowing them to continue to serve. The military said last year that more than 900 men and women have done so. AP
Israel: Advanced missile defense system successfully tested
Israel said Jan. 22 that it has successfully tested the country’s advanced missile defense system capable of defending against long-range ballistic missile threats.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured an Israeli aerospace facility following the test and leveled a thinly veiled warning at Iran, just days after Israel struck Iranian military targets in neighboring Syria.
“Our enemies who seek to destroy us should know that Israel’s clenched fist will reach all those who wish ill upon us and we will settle accounts with them,” Netanyahu said.
The Defense Ministry said the successful test of the Arrow-3 interceptor is “a major milestone” in Israel’s ability to defend itself “against current and future threats in the region.” It comes a couple of days after Israel thwarted an Iranian missile attack.
The test came amid mounting tensions between Israel and Iran along its northern border with Syria. Israel is concerned about Iran establishing military bases in neighboring Syria as the eight-year civil war winds down.
On Jan. 21, Israel claimed responsibility for a series of air raids against Iranian military targets near the Syrian capital Damascus, hours after Israel intercepted a missile launched by Iranian forces at the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. The missile launch followed a rare Israeli daytime attack on Syria on Sunday near the Damascus airport.
Arrow-3, which intercepts missiles outside the atmosphere, is part of the multi-layered system Israel is developing to defend against both short- and mid-range rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon, as well as Iran’s long-range missiles. It includes Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and the Arrow-2 systems.
It was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and U.S. aviation giant Boeing and became operational in January 2017.
Israel has already deployed Arrow to counter Syrian missiles. AP