“There are two options for a settlement in Syria. One option is a political process where there would be a transitional council,” he said, describing this as the “preferred option.” ”The other option is a military option, which also would end with the removal of Bashar al-Assad from power,” Jubeir warned.

The Yemeni forces took control of the Saudi military post of Ka'b al-Jaberi and the village of Mohannad in Jizan, leaving a group of Saudi soldiers dead and injured.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry said that a member of the ministry was killed by a mortar shell fired from Northern Yemen on the border between the two countries.

"Military shells fired from the Yemeni territory killed Ali Bin Fahad Abu Mahasen, a member of the mujahideen administration branch in Jizan region," the spokesman said in a statement.

SANAA – As Saudi soldiers drive armored vehicles around Aden, the port in southern Yemen they helped recapture from rebels, young men clap and children flash the V-for-victory sign.

“The coalition came here to help us,” said Omar Abdullah Saleh, a Yemeni militia fighter, as he patrolled among collapsed buildings and bullet-riddled walls. “We are happy with their presence.”

There are reasons for the Saudis to wonder how long the warm welcome will last — especially if they recall that U.S. troops in Iraq were also greeted as liberators, at first. Local allies have their own agenda; public expectations of a swift return to normal life will be tough to meet; and in much of Yemen the rebels still hold sway and enjoy grassroots support.

All that means the Saudi engagement in Yemen may still be in its early stages, poised to inflict a growing humanitarian cost in a region that’s already seen a mass exodus of Syrian refugees. There are also economic risks for Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, which is having to dig deep into its savings after the oil slump.

The ‘Backwards L’

Japan:

The function of a Japan-Philippines-Vietnam axis is to create a ‘backwards L’ of military containment in order to ‘box’ China inside mainland Asia, with the Philippines being the fulcrum of this entity. Japan is the most active Lead From Behind proponent of this policy, taking the initiative (under American instruction) to authorize both the sales of weapons and the deployment of troops abroad. Considering the strategic partnership between them and how each has their own island disputes with China, it’s logical to conclude that Japan will seek to make the Philippines the central focus of both anti-Chinese policy manifestations. The Diplomat reported at the end of June that this certainly seems to be in the cards, with Tokyo preparing to sell Manilla a slew of naval and air units in exchange for a “Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)” that could allow it to deploy its first foreign forces since World War II. One should also be reminded that both sides held their second-ever naval drills this summer together with the US, showing that there’s actual substance to their strategic partnership and that it’s not just rhetorically based.

Vietnam:

paracel_islands_spratly_islands_disputed_claims_by_china_philippines_vietnam_malaysia_bruneiThe other end of the ‘backwards L’, Vietnam, is also increasing its interactions with the Philippines, as the slated strategic partnership attests. Last May, military units from the two sides symbolically enjoyed a game of football together on one of the South China Sea’s disputed islands (the second time they have done so), showing that each of them is serious about working together to confront China in this region. The aforecited article also details some of the bilateral military cooperation between both sides, with each country’s navy calling port at the other and even holding informal discussions on setting up joint patrols in the area. It’s highly predicted that the signing of a strategic partnership between them will lead to an acceleration of military cooperation, and furthermore, will even put Vietnam and Japan’s militaries into direct contact with the other via the Philippines’ geographic intermediary function, which also accomplishes a contingent goal of the US’ P2A by having both CCC anchors enhance their full spectrum bilateral relations (especially in the military field).

Incorporating South Korea

In essence, there are actually two CCC axes that the US is building and wants to unite, and these are the ones between Vietnam-The Philippines (already discussed) and Japan-South Korea. To say a few words about the latter, it’s still not entirely certain that Seoul will commit to joining the CCC. For example, even though it’s part of a trilateral information sharing mechanism between it, Japan, and the US ostensibly against North Korea (which could realistically be turned against China in the future), it’s also being wooed by China through the recently inked Free Trade Agreement and has been ambivalent about hosting the US’ THAAD “missile defense” units (potentially even going it alone to produce its own domestic version instead).

Still, this hasn’t halted the country’s interest in cooperating with the Philippines, the magnetic center of geopolitical attraction to all members of the CCC community. The country’s Defense Minister visitedthe island nation earlier this month to discuss future military collaboration (as of now, just weapons sales and technical assistance), but such a big step could also help further last year’s proposal for the two countries to enter into a strategic partnership with one another. While South Korea doesn’t have any island disputes with China and behaves moderately friendly towards it in a military sense (not counting the anti-Chinese agenda of the thousands of US troops that are based there), if it got caught up in the CCC’s intrigue inside the Philippines, bilateral relations could certainly suffer as a result of the heightened and warranted suspicions that China would inevitably have towards its maritime neighbor.

With or without South Korea’s incorporation (which is still questionable), however, the central axis of Japan-Philippines-Vietnam still represents a formidable threat to China, but the auxiliary participation of the peninsular state would definitely contribute to its enhanced effectiveness, and it’s worthy to monitor any forthcoming decisions that its leadership takes in this regard.

Rounding out the ‘backwards L’ of Indonesian containment, over 1,000 US Marines are now routinely rotated out of the North Australian city of Darwin, thus adding a third lever of external pressure against the archipelago’s authorities.

If one adds in the US’ regime change attempt in Malaysia (meticulouslyexposed by Tony Cartalucci), then an actual containment square emerges, whereby the country is faced with potentially hostile elements in its northwest (a Color Revolution government in Malaysia), northeast (the CCC/Asian NATO that could also turn against Indonesia), southeast (foreign influence over the Papuas), and southwest (American Marines in Darwin, Australian control over Christmas and Cocos Islands and American military interest there).

Therefore, it’s becoming apparent that the containment of Indonesia is inseparable from the containment of China, as the former is entering into effect via moves euphemistically made in advancement of the latter, and this underreported element of the P2A certainly deserves further analytical attention from other researchers.

To be continued…

“Today, Russian aerospace force jets delivered pinpoint strikes on eight ISIS terror group targets in Syria. In total, 20 flights were made,” spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, said.

“As a result, arms and fuel depots and military equipment were hit. ISIS coordination centers in the mountains were totally destroyed,” he added.

Konashenkov said that all the flights took place after air surveillance and careful verification of the data provided by the Syrian military. He stressed that Russian jets did not target any civilian infrastructure and avoided these territories.

“Russian jets did not use weapons on civilian infrastructure or in its vicinity,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the Russian military announced the start of air operations in Syria in order to help the goverment fight terrorist forces. Syrian state television named at least seven areas targeted by the air strikes.

They included areas around the cities of Homs and Hama, which are 44 kilometers apart, according to various media reports.

The U.S. Department of Defense’s official science blog released details of a powerful and versatile new 3D printer that can print up to 10 materials at once and embed electronics, circuits and sensors directly into the object, allowing it to create a finished products, from spare parts to war missiles, directly in the field. The 3D printer, known as the MultiFab, was designed by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) and would retail for just $7,000—significantly less expensive than comparable multi-material 3D printers.

Seemingly out of nowhere on September 21, they appeared at an air base in Latakia, a regime stronghold in western Syria—28 of the Russian air force’s best warplanes, including four Su-30 fighters and a number of Su-25 attack planes and Su-24 bombers.

Soon six more Su-34 bombers and at least one Il-20 spy plane followed, part of a contingent of Russia forces reportedly including some 500 troops plus armored vehicles and SA-15 and SA-22 surface-to-air missiles.

For U.S. and allied officials observing the deployment, there has been plenty of cause for confusion…and alarm. It’s not just that, more than four years into Syria’s bloody civil war, Russia has decided to jump in and make things more complicated.

No, it’s what kinds of weapons—planes and missiles, especially—Moscow decided to send, and what those weapons say about the Kremlin’s ultimate plan in Syria. Many of them don’t seem to be well-suited to fighting ISIS. They’re built to battle adversaries like the United States.

of all it is important to underline the fact that all these terrorist organizations are supported by US intelligence. In fact the mainstream media now has acknowledged that these rebels are supported by the CIA. The Wall Street Journal says Russian airstrikes in Syria targeted CIA-backed rebels.”

“These rebels are terrorists including the al-Nusra Front. What I think is at stake here is that the Russian air force is now waging targeted attacks directed against al-Nusra in coordination with the Syrian government and what the US is saying is that in a way Russia is going after America’s good-guy terrorists rather than the bad-guy terrorist. They are making a distinction between ISIL and other terrorist organizations, all of which are covertly supported by the US,” Chossudovsky told Sputnik.

He went on to say that Russia is targeting the foot soldiers of the western military alliance, “Basically the mercenaries that have been recruited right from the beginning by NATO, the Turkish High Command with the complicity of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel.”

Chossudovsky reminded that in early 2012 Washington categorized al-Nusra as a terrorist organization but now it is supporting al-Nusra front officially.

“Western media is contradicting itself but it is also acknowledging candidly that the CIA is supporting the al-Qaeda affiliated groups inside Syria.”

US military officials were furious Wednesday after Russia gave them only an hour's vague "heads-up" that warplanes would begin bombing. The warning didn't specify when or where the strikes would occur, only that coalition planes should avoid the area.

US officials stress that Russia needs to tell them about their military flight plans over Syria. In military jargon, such talks to avoid interference is known as "deconfliction."

The equipment to be provided by the U.S. will be Q36 radar systems that can target the point of origin of missiles from between 18-24 kilometers (11-15 miles) away. The equipment is so precise that it can originate the location of a missile or artillery weapon after a single shot.

Nearly 75 percent of the fatalities experienced on the Ukrainian side, according Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, have been because of artillery or missile attacks, and the new radar equipment could be a game changer for the Ukrainian military. The Ukrainian military was attacked by pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region Wednesday, the Kyiv Post reported. No fatalities have been reported from Wednesday's attack.

concerns over pilot safety during low-speed ejections from the F-35, the military has temporarily restricted pilots who weigh less than 136 pounds from flying the aircraft, according to Defense News in an exclusive report. In August, testers found that pilots under a certain weight faced increased risk of neck injury while ejecting at lower speeds. When used by lightweight pilots, the ejection seat rotates slightly, putting the pilot in a compromising position to eject when the parachute opens.