Military chiefs from nearly 50 nations around the world were convened at Andrews Air Force base in Maryland on Monday to discuss what will be on the “day after” the Islamic State terrorist organization, also known as ISIS or “Da’esh,” is defeated.

Israel was not among them, according to The Hill, although it is not clear whether Israel was simply not invited, or whether Israel chose not to send a representative to the gathering

Moreover, it is entirely possible that other people involved in the gathering may also have been Jewish.

The nations who were in attendance included, in alphabetical order:
Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

China's latest fighter, the Chengdu J-20, is sporting a new camouflage scheme. The new "fifth generation" fighter is wearing new "splinter" camouflage in photos spotted on the Chinese internet in early October.

The photos show four aircraft: Two wearing a yellow primer paint coating, one in plain gray, and a fourth in the aforementioned splinter camouflage. According to Combat Aircraft, the planes were photographed over the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group factory in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Chinese internet sources state that two J-20s were sent to Guangdong province in eastern China, possibly to participate in the annual Zhuhai Air Show which is scheduled for November 1-6. The two newly painted J-20s could very well be those planes.

The gray, low visibility paint jobs are very reminiscent of those on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Like the USAF roundel or the Japanese Hinomaru on the F-35, the People's Liberation Army Air Force roundel is subdued, appearing plain white as opposed to the typical scarlet and gold roundel on other PLAAF aircraft.

One of the most controversial issues in the offensive has been the role given to the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMUs) - a group of paramilitary organisations that officially operate under the command of the Iraqi government.

The PMUs are overwhelmingly Shia-dominated, but there are also a number of units composed of Sunni and Christian fighters, while some are mixed-sect.

The Iraqi government, while still reliant on the PMUs to some extent, has chosen not to allow the militias to enter the centre of Mosul city and limited their involvement to the outskirts, a situation that some fighters have found frustrating.

“It is not my decision, but I am from Mosul and I am not sent to my own city to liberate it?” said Salem from the Imam Ali Division, speaking to Middle East Eye.

The private, who declined to reveal his real name fearing potential reprisals from IS, is a member of the Shabak minority, a monotheistic ethno-religious group native to Nineveh province in northern Iraq who have faced persecution from IS and other militant groups.

He spoke harshly of his experiences in Mosul after the city’s fall to IS in 2014 - he said the militants kidnapped his sisters, demanding a ransom for their return.

“We paid the ransom and got their corpses back and we left Mosul,” he explained.

“The fall of Mosul saw many Sunni Arab Iraqi soldiers become IS by changing their clothes and manning the checkpoints. We did not stop because we did not want to be questioned for having the corpses of my sisters in our car. We escaped and moved to Baghdad after burying my sisters in the holy city of Najaf.”

“My reason for joining the PMUs is for everybody who has a mother or sister or daughter so they may never endure what I have endured.”

His experiences in the city left him with bitter feelings towards the people who had been his erstwhile neighbours.

“Our families have been massacred by our Sunni neighbours, who forgot 200 years of living together when IS came and they sided with them,” he said.

“We do not seek revenge but we want assurances that our people are going to exist tomorrow and not be attacked again by extremists that seek to make Mosul only Sunni.”

The source also said that the Closed Data Transfer Segment was completed already in late summer and is now in fully functioning state, but works are under way to expand it with additional terminals in every military unit.

The structure of the Russian ‘military internet’ is similar to the one of the conventional World Wide Web, but it is accessible only on computers that use the dedicated operating system developed by the Russian Military Forces. The hardware also has to be certified by the General Staff’s directorate for protection of state secrets to ensure that it is impossible to even plug in an uncertified device, including printers, scanners and flash drives.

The military internet also has its own mail service that allows for strictly internal exchange of messages.

Russian presidential adviser for internet issues, German Klimenko, said in comments that he considered it correct that the Closed Data Transfer Segment has absolutely no connection to the internet.

“Anything that is connected can be broken into and therefore is not safe,” he said.

The head of the Russian Foundation for Development of Internet Technology and Infrastructure, Dmitry Burkov, said that it was appropriate that Russian military forces employed a unified approach to the problem, unlike their US colleagues.

“Americans have had quite a lot of holes in their network. They were changing network protocols on-the-go and besides, they had a lot of separate networks for every branch of forces and lastly – their system has too many connection points with the internet, which raises the danger of unsecure access,” he said.

“As far as I understand, Edward Snowden has been working for one of the NSA’s subcontractors and had access to this network which allowed him to gain access to the data that he made public. I hope our people have not made similar mistakes when they planned the network and that they have taken additional security measures.”

The Islamic State appears to be vastly outnumbered, possessing around 3,000 to 4,500 fighters in Mosul, according to the Pentagon.

In urban areas, the militants rely on tunnels and buildings to avoid coalition warplanes, which fly above the range of anti-their aircraft weapons.

Most dangerous of all is the group’s expertise with improvised explosive devices, which it buries in fields, beneath roads and inside structures … in vast numbers. IEDs are the number one cause of Kurdish military casualties

And curiously, during previous Iraqi offensives where the group was on the defense, it chose to actively contest rural areas — which flanked the urban centers — with snipers, mortars, IEDs and teams of suicide fighters.

But the total number of participating Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga could eventually rise to more than 50,000, with 500 American troops in a support role. As the offensive began, U.S. and French artillery lobbed high-explosive shells from a distance. Coalition warplanes bombed tunnel entrances, transmitter towers and militants on the ground.

The peshmerga have advanced six or seven miles at the front line’s farthest point, roughly halfway to the city’s urban outskirts. But to fully encircle Mosul will require clearing several dozen villages — then fighting for the city of around 1.5 million people … and dealing with potentially hundreds of thousands of refugees.

“Senior peshmerga members believe it would be best to not fully encircle Islamic State fighters in Mosul and leave a narrow escape route,” added CTC Sentinel’s Flood, who spent time on the front lines with the peshmerga. “Then, as Iraqi Kurds and their allies inch toward the city’s limits on the village level, gradually tightening the noose, a de facto cordon for the Islamic State to retreat … could be created.”

Once the militants retreat, U.S. and allied warplanes could swoop down and strike them in the open.

Day three of the newly proclaimed Mosul campaign witnessed few military gains by the Iraqi Army and Peshmerga as ISIS' forces have secured a 15 kilometer buffer zone around the jihadist stronghold through a tactical mixture of booby traps, mines, snipers, sporadic artillery bombardment and suicide bombers.

Nevertheless, earlier today, the Iraqi Army - backed by the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) - captured the villages of Mishraq, Al-Bakr, Sa'eywiyah, Bajwaniyah, 'Asmaniyah and Najmat Al-Muhandis. Long-term, this advance southwest of Mosul could prove to be a stepping stone in cutting off ISIS' supply line to the city of Mosul itself.

Thus, the Iraqi Army has captured a total of 24 villages from ISIS during the Mosul campaign, adding to the 18 villages seized in the previous 48 hours.

Meanwhile, according to bulletins released by Amaq Agency, ISIS fighters destroyed an Abrams tank in the village of Abbas while jihadist forces also advanced to the near outskirts of Bilawat in a bid to retake the imperative village from the Iraqi Armed Forces.

An official in the PMU said Iraqi troops had rescued 150 families from ISIS rule in and around al-Shurar village, south of Mosul.

An extraordinary video of an explosive belt detonating next to Kurdish Peshmerga forces has been captured.

The video appears to show Peshmerga soldiers shooting at a wounded ISIS terrorist, with his explosive belt exploding immediately after.

It is not known whether the soldiers bullets detonated the vest or whether it was self-detonated by the terrorist.

The newest large unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can be clearly seen on aerospace photos of the Google Maps web mapping service application, the Military Russia informational website reported. According to the website, the photos were taken at the Kazan Aviation Factory (a branch of the Tupolev JSC). Presumably, the UAV is the Russian Altius-M (Altair) newest secret reconnaissance drone, capable to boast of its large duration of the flight.

The photos are dated 25th of September 2014. So, we can conclude that at that time, the Altair were preparing to flight tests or have already passed them.

It is known that the Altius-M (Altair) was jointly developed by the Kazan enterprise and the St. Petersburg company after they won a competition of the Russian Defense Ministry on creation of an UAV in the weight class of about 5 tons in 2011. According to a contract, the developers received about one billion rubles (about $35 million according to the exchange rate of 2011) for creation of the Altius-M.

The newest secret UAV is entirely made of composite materials and has a takeoff weight of up to five tons. The length of the Altair is about 11.6 meters, the wingspan – about 28.5 meters, the span of the V-tail – about 6 meters. The aerial vehicle is equipped with two RED A03 / V12 diesel engines, which have a takeoff power of about 500 horsepower and are equipped with airscrews. The flying range of the Altius-M is about 10,000 kilometers, the flight duration is up to 48 hours.

Supposedly, the Altair is equipped with a station of optical imagery intelligence with an optoelectronic system, based on a gyro-stabilized platform, while a side-looking position-radar station with an active phased antenna array is mounted in the forebody.

Iran may have played a role in recent Huthi missile attacks against US warships in the Red Sea, a top US general said Wednesday.

Iranian-backed Huthi rebels are believed to be behind a series of incidents this month that saw surface-to-surface missiles fired at the USS Mason on at least two occasions.

In response, US cruise missiles on October 13 struck Huthi radar sites believed to have been used to target the weapons.

Iraqi military commanders have been extorting money from journalists and hampering their coverage of the ongoing military advance on the jihadist-controlled city of Mosul, reports suggest.
Iraqi military commanders have been extorting money from journalists and hampering their coverage of the ongoing military advance on the jihadist-controlled city of Mosul.

Journalists and security sources have said that the Iraqi military leaders have been extorting money from media crews reporting on the battle to liberate Mosul from Islamic State group [IS] control.

Launched on Monday, the long-awaited advance on Mosul is making quick progress with Iraqi forces gearing up on Wednesday to retake the country's largest Christian town from IS.

"Iraqi security forces are extorting money off local and foreign satellite channels in exchange for film crews to be embedded with the troops on the front lines to film the ongoing fighting," Iraqi journalist Mustafa Naser wrote on Facebook.

Naser further claimed that on the other hand, Kurdish forces allowed camera crews freely accompany them along the front lines and that currently 47 Kurdish and foreign camera crews were embedded with them.

An Iraqi security source confirmed the reports, adding that the unauthorised extortion has angered many officers who believe that the media must be dealt with in a professional manner.

Recent unguarded comments by US Secretary of State John Kerry have shown the true reason behind the US’ decision not to target Hezbollah in Syria. According to Kerry, Hezbollah is “not plotting against” the US, so they have decided to give the group the space to operate in Syria.

Some experts argue that the rise of Shia militias is minor compared to the rise of Sunni radical groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda. That may well be true, but we should all be concerned that Shia Crescent territories have started to kick into gear again. Causing Hezbollah and other Shia extremist groups to meddle in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, on top of countries like Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

History shows us that states sponsoring non-state actors, mainly armed groups, to intervene in other states’ internal politics act as a destabilizing force. For instance, stable Sunni Gulf states, long allies of the US and the West, have suffered from Iran’s geopolitical ambitions of regional hegemony. Being ruled by Wilayat–al-Faqih, the ideology or the Iranian Islamic republic’s founding father Ayatollah Khomeini, Tehran has declared itself a representative of all the world’s Shia Muslims.

Current US strategy has inadvertently neglected the concerns of US allies in the region. After signing the nuclear deal with Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia expressed their distrust of Iran, and dissatisfaction with the newly formed relationship. The deal resulted in sanctions being lifted, giving the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of Iran’s army, space to act more freely in the region mainly in Syria and Iraq using the fund, supporting its proxies like Hezbollah. Consequently, the US is unable to pressure Iran to change its position in Syria, which has fed the tension between the two.

Hezbollah’s ideology believes in building an Islamic republic, equivalent to an Islamic Caliphate, with strict hard-core interpretation of the Quran, that uses force and military power to threaten others. Just like the Salafi-jihadi ideology of ISIS and al-Qaeda, Wilayat-al-Faqih believes in theological reasons for recruiting fighters and justify martyrdom in attacks against the ‘evil’ west and its allies.

The Rostec Corporation was able to only partially shed light on the new model's potential when asked for comment by RBTH. Leonid Khozin, the company's press secretary, said that the new weapon consists of electronic equipment that operates on a wavelength principle.

"It incapacitates electronics and other onboard equipment on enemy planes, drones and high-precision weapons. This is land equipment. At the same time it can withstand land, sea and air attacks," explained Khozin.

He remarked that the device "strikes" targets many kilometers away, but declined to provide further comments, citing state secrecy.

For example, Russia’s Ka-52 combat helicopters, which were first "baptized" in the skies over Syria, have been equipped with the Vitebsk and the President individual protection systems.



Combat use of the Ka-52 in Syria. Video by YouTube

"They cause interference for missiles with optical and infrared homing warheads, creating particular electronic ‘traps’ in the range of interference. They also inform the pilot of the approaching enemy missile. Depending on the type of warhead, they can turn it off from its trajectory as it's flying towards the target," said editor-in-chief of Arsenal Otechestva (Arsenal of the Fatherland) magazine Viktor Murakhovsky.

It is possible to illustrate the potential of the radio-electronic warfare systems installed in helicopters on similar radar systems used for protection from heat-seeking missiles.

In an incident in the suburbs of Aleppo recorded by fighters from the Authenticity and Development Front, a moderate opposition division supported by the U.S., they opened fire on a Syrian Russian-made Mi-17 military transportation helicopter using a Igla-1 anti-aircraft missile system, also made in Russia.

It can clearly be seen how the electronics reacted.



Militants fire unsuccessfully on an Mi-17 helicopter from an Igla missile system in Syria. Video by YouTube

Also, according to Murakhovsky, Krasukha-4 radio-electronic warfare systems have been deployed around Russia’s Khmeimim air base for incapacitating wiretapping and the enemy's weapon aiming systems. The Krasukha-4 "covers" all the enemy's locator systems and they can't already see targets at a distance of 250 kilometers (155 miles).

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's special forces, which barreled into a town east of Mosul on Thursday despite a wave of suicide attacks, are the country's most professional and least sectarian fighting force.

Officially known as the Counter Terrorism Service, the U.S. trained troops have played a key role in wresting back towns and cities from IS, and are expected to lead the charge in Mosul, their toughest battle yet.

MADE IN AMERICA

The CTS was established by the American military shortly after the 2003 invasion as an elite commando unit charged with hunting down top insurgents and carrying out complex raids. They were trained, armed and supplied by U.S. Special Forces, who fought alongside them at the height of the insurgency.

The force proved to be a more reliable partner to the Americans than the mainstream security forces, where corruption was rife and many units were tied to parties or militias. But many Iraqis saw the special forces as the shock troops of an occupying power, and took to referring to them as the "Dirty Division."

A PRAETORIAN GUARD?

The force grew in size over the years and expanded beyond its commando roots, with some taking part in conventional battles and even mundane tasks like manning checkpoints. Today they number around 12,000 men, including administrators, and up to 2,600 are taking part in the Mosul operation.

The unit was never incorporated into the Defense Ministry and answers directly to the prime minister. In the latter years of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's rule, many feared the special forces had become a praetorian guard that would cement his grip on power, but those fears were laid to rest when al-Maliki peacefully stepped down in 2014.

FROM "DIRTY" TO "GOLDEN"

When the Islamic State group swept across northern and central Iraq in 2014, Iraq's security forces crumbled. Officers fled and their soldiers beat a humiliating retreat, many stripping off their uniforms and leaving their weapons and Humvees behind.

But not the special forces, who held their ground and became a source of national pride.

The CTS "retained its organizational cohesion and structure in 2014 when many other units of the Iraqi army fell apart," said David M. Witty, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel and former adviser to the CTS. "The key leaders of CTS have become central figures in the Iraqi public's perception of the campaign to destroy IS."

"Dirty" no more, the 1st Brigade is now widely known as the "Golden Division."

A NON-SECTARIAN FORCE

The CTS was designed to be a non-sectarian force, with Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish members who were strictly vetted to ensure they had no ties to political factions or militias. In the early years, the force mainly battled Sunni insurgents, but it also played a lead role in a 2008 offensive against Shiite militias. Maj. Gen. Fadhil al-Barwari, who leads the Golden Brigade, is a Kurd.

The force also has a better human rights record than most of the other participants in the Mosul Offensive. An Amnesty International report released this week documenting abuses in Anbar mainly focused on state-sanctioned Shiite militias, and included only passing mention of the CTS.

LEADING THE CHARGE INTO MOSUL

The special forces launched their first assault in the Mosul operation early Thursday, pushing into the town of Bartella with the aid of attack helicopters despite stiff resistance from IS, which unleashed nine suicide truck bombs, one of which struck an armored Humvee. The rest were destroyed before hitting their targets.

"We will lead the charge into Mosul as we are specialized in the battles in urban areas and guerrilla war," said special forces Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil. "We are trained to break into towns and cities with fewer casualties."

The special forces are expected to help drive IS out of Mosul in the coming weeks or months. But they can't police the country, and will eventually have to hand things off to Iraq's army and police, as well as Shiite militias and Sunni tribal fighters. It will be left to them to ensure that IS, which has recovered from past defeats, does not return.

The video, apparently taken somewhere in the Middle East, shows what appears to be members of the local military or militia jumping a car using two AK-47s. The steel barrel and wire stock are sufficient to carry the electrical charge from one car to another. The rifles aren't long enough, so each man is also holding a long piece of wire that is touching his AK. After a few seconds you can hear an engine rev and the men stop.

A Russian carrier fleet which passed through the English Channel today deployed heavily-armed guards to deter anyone approaching the warships.

A number of guards, equipped with AK-74 assault rifles and heavy machine guns were spotted on the flight deck of the Admiral Kuznetsov as it passed by the White Cliffs of Dover.

The powerful fleet was ordered to pass through the Channel, which is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, in single file. 

On his state visit to Beijing, Duterte held discussions with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping that ended in Xi offering the Philippines $9 billion in loan credits and Duterte agreeing to renew bilateral talks with Xi to resolve the long-festering dispute over maritime and fishing rights in the South China Sea.

The latter agreement is especially puzzling, considering a United Nations tribunal recently ruled in a long-fought case that Manila has de jure access in the sea.

The trip also has seen the two countries agree to $13.5 billion in trade deals.

Meet the KrAZ Spartan. The concept is simple: take a Ford F-550, remove everything but the dashboard, chassis, rearview mirrors and Power Stroke diesel engine. Add armor. More armor. Just a few more pieces of armor. Now seats, lights, and whatever extra armor you had laying around.

APKWS is a kit that converts existing rockets in the Navy's inventory into guided rockets in a matter of minutes. First, the warhead is unscrewed and set aside. Next, the APKWS section, which contains the guidance section and laser seekers, is screwed on in its place. The warhead is screwed back onto the APKWS section, resulting in a longer but now precision-guided missile. This video from BAE Systems shows the installation process, which needs only a pair of hands and a strap wrench.