Asian Politics Headlines at 2:48 a.m. GMT
South Korea and US will start summer military drills next week to counter North Korean threats
South Korea and US will start summer military drills next week to counter North Korean threats
South Korea's military removed 1,300 cameras from its bases after discovering they were Chinese and could connect to a server there, an official said.
Attack triggered an earthquake-sized blast at a major Russian ammo warehouse
Russia's soldiers are getting worse and worse as the war goes on, but Russia fights with mass, not quality, a conflict expert explained.
Russian forces are gathering on Pokrovsk, a logistics base and transport hub, after months of slow, brutal advance
The Kremlin said that it is growing its army to be the second largest in the world as a result of the threat from the West.
A Ukrainian drone attack destroyed a warehouse storing missiles, guided bombs and artillery ammunition in Russia's Tver region, a source in Ukraine's SBU state security service told Reuters on Wednesday. The drones caused an "extremely powerful detonation" at a large warehouse of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defence in the town of Toropets, the source said. "The warehouse contained missiles intended for Iskander tactical missile systems, Tochka-U tactical missile systems, guided aerial bombs and artillery ammunition," the source said.
The U.S. military has moved about 130 soldiers along with mobile rocket launchers to a desolate island in the Aleutian chain of western Alaska amid a recent increase in Russian military planes and vessels approaching American territory. Eight Russian military planes and four navy vessels, including two submarines, have come close to Alaska in the past week as Russia and China conducted joint military drills. As part of a "force projection operation,” the Army on Sept. 12 sent the soldiers to Shemya Island, some 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage, where the U.S. Air Force maintains an air station that dates to World War II. The soldiers brought two High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, with them.
Ukraine has blown up a Russian ammunition dump, triggering an explosion so powerful it was picked up by earthquake monitors.
Israel has declared a new phase of war after it was accused of being behind a second wave of remote-controlled explosions in Lebanon.
A source in the Security Service of Ukraine said drones attacked a large weapons warehouse in Russia overnight.
US military aid packages for Ukraine have been smaller in recent months, as the stockpiles of weapons and equipment that the Pentagon is willing to send Kyiv from its own inventory have dwindled. The shift comes amid concerns about US military readiness being impacted as US arms manufacturers play catchup to the huge demand created by the war against Russia.
At least 30 people have been killed in the past two weeks in Mexico's northern state of Sinaloa as two factions of the powerful Sinaloa cartel continue to clash, authorities said Tuesday. Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said that two military personnel were among those killed in the fighting that started Sept. 9, despite the presence of more than 2,000 security personnel. The surge in violence had been expected after Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, landed near El Paso, Texas on July 25 in a small plane with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
Hamas is changing its hostage negotiation tactics, a move Israeli sources say is dragging out talks and piling pressure on Israel.
The United States has no immediate plans to withdraw a mid-range missile system deployed in the Philippines, despite Chinese demands, and is testing the feasibility of its use in a regional conflict, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The Typhon system, which can be equipped with cruise missiles capable of striking Chinese targets, was brought in for joint exercises earlier this year, both countries said at the time, but has remained there. The Southeast Asian archipelago, Taiwan's neighbour to the South, is an important part of U.S. strategy in Asia and would be an indispensable staging point for the military to aid Taipei in the event of a Chinese attack.
Calling for more troops to fight on the frontline has not gone down well for Putin in the past.
China on Wednesday announced sanctions on American companies selling arms to the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory and threatens to annex by force. Chinese state media made the announcement, citing the Foreign Ministry, but gave no details on the companies involved. Taiwan is awaiting deliveries of F-16 fighter jets, Abrams tanks and a range of missiles from the U.S.
As Russia’s military last week launched globe-spanning drills widely seen as a show of strength directed at the United States, President Vladimir Putin made clear which country he sees as standing by Moscow’s side.
GUGI is a specialist unit tasked with sabotage. And it's menacing the undersea cables that carry internet data.
Israel has scored a major intelligence success by apparently infiltrating a supply chain to cause the simultaneous explosion of hundreds of Hezbollah pagers in a blow for the Lebanese militant group and its Iranian backers, analysts say."Mossad infiltrated the supply chain," he concluded, referring to Israel's intelligence agency.
Navy SEAL Team 6 may be training Taiwanese forces for reconnaissance and missions to repel a Chinese invasion, former Navy officers told BI.