Tag Archives: Attacks

Houthis continue to target ships passing through the Red Sea including 2 US destroyers

Houthi-helicopter-over-Red-Sea

Important Takeaways:

  • Houthis launch attacks on 3 ships, 2 US destroyers in nearby seas, group says
  • Its attacks have forced shippers to re-route cargo to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa and stoked fears of the Israel-Hamas war spreading and destabilizing the Middle East.
  • Earlier, the Houthis said on Monday they launched attacks on three ships in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, and two US destroyers in the Red Sea.
  • The group, which describes its attacks as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s war in Gaza, said the ships were the Larego Desert and the MSC Mechela in the Indian Ocean, and the Minerva Lisa in the Red Sea. It did not name the destroyers.
  • There was no immediate confirmation from shipping companies or the US military of any attacks in those areas.
  • The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, did not specify when the attacks took place, but said in a televised speech the group had used missiles against the ships and drones against the US destroyers.
  • The United States and Britain have carried out strikes against Houthi targets in retaliation for their attacks on vessels.

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U.S. Troops attacked 46 times since October 17 by Iranian proxies

Attacks-on-US-Military

Important Takeaways:

  • Iranian proxies have continued to attack US troops despite Syria strike
  • U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria were attacked multiple times by Iranian-backed proxies in the 24-hour period after U.S. forces conducted airstrikes against an Iranian-linked facility in Syria.
  • Three U.S. troops were injured in the four attacks, one against U.S. troops in Iraq and three in Syria, that occurred following the U.S. strike on Wednesday, deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters. Two of them suffered traumatic brain injuries, and one suffered a noncritical non-TBI injury, though all three have since returned to duty.
  • Two U.S. F-15s conducted airstrikes against what the Department of Defense described as a weapons storage facility used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in eastern Syria on Wednesday.
  • This was the second such instance of U.S. forces carrying out strikes on IRGC-affiliated forces, though neither has convinced the proxies to cease their attacks against U.S. troops, as evidenced by the latest attacks. U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria that are there to counter ISIS have been attacked 46 times by Iranian proxies in the region since Oct. 17.
  • In total, 56 people have been injured in the attacks since mid-October, though all of them have returned to duty

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U.S. Power Grid vulnerable to sabotage and attacks

  • US Power Grid Attacks Happening More and More, and the System Remains Very Vulnerable
  • In 2013, a well-planned attack against a Silicon Valley electrical substation caused millions of dollars in damages, while nearly taking out power to Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Intel. Since that attack, no suspects have been identified. The question remains, was it terrorism or extreme vandalism?
  • Now, a new wave of attacks is targeting America’s electrical grid at the same time as Russia’s brutal attacks on Ukraine’s energy system dominate the news.
  • On Dec. 3, 2022, gunfire took out two North Carolina substations, knocking out power to 40,000 homes and businesses.
  • Then on Christmas Day, attackers struck four substations in Washington State, causing power outages.
  • The infrastructure law passed last year includes $15 billion to upgrade and strengthen the power grid, but some energy experts estimate it would cost as much as $5 trillion dollars to modernize and upgrade the protection of the country’s electric system.
  • Tim Miller told us. “Back when I was working on the staff of the Secretary of Homeland Security, we had major concerns about how vulnerable our power grid is. And unfortunately, it’s gotten worse since then.”
  • “We’ve got a bunch of enemies now that hate this country and some are internal. So it should cause us to go, ‘Hey, wait a minute now we need to really look at hardening up our power grid,'” he said.

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Ukraine prepares for increased attacks nearing Ukrainian Independence Day: Americans warned to leave

Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

Important Takeaways:

  • Ukraine fears stepped-up attacks around national holiday
  • The U.S. reinforced the worry with a security alert citing “information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.” As it has done previously, it urged American citizens to “depart Ukraine now.” Several European countries issued similar warnings
  • Kyiv authorities banned mass gatherings in the capital through Thursday for fear of missile attacks around Independence Day, which, like the six-month mark in the war, falls on Wednesday. The holiday celebrates Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
  • Anxiety also mounted after the weekend car bombing outside Moscow that killed the daughter of a leading right-wing Russian political theorist. Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack. While Ukraine denied involvement, the bloodshed stirred fears of Russian retaliation.

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76 Pregnancy Centers and Churches have been targeted to date

Psalm 11:5 The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Important Takeaways:

  • There Have Been 76 Attacks on Churches and Pregnancy Centers, Not One Attacker Has Been Sent to Prison
  • According to CNA, there have been 76 attacks and counting since early May when someone leaked a draft ruling of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling, which overturned Roe and began allowing states to protect unborn babies from abortion again. The crimes include arson, theft, vulgar graffiti, property damage and threats.
  • To date, 39 pregnancy centers have been targeted, 27 churches, one maternity home, three political organizations, four billboards/ads, one political figure and one memorial, the report found.
  • The count “only includes attacks with a clear pro-abortion motive or messaging,” according to CNA. “Numerous other vandalism/arson attacks against Catholic churches have taken place, but with less obvious motives.”
  • Without strong action by federal authorities, many fear the attacks will continue. In June, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning of continued “domestic violence” directed at churches, faith-based pro-life organizations, judges and lawmakers in response to the abortion ruling.

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Dozens killed and wounded as blasts and gunfire hit Kabul hospital

By Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam

KABUL (Reuters) -At least 25 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in an attack on Afghanistan’s biggest military hospital on Tuesday which saw two heavy blasts followed up by gunmen assaulting the site in central Kabul, officials said.

The explosions took place at the entrance of the 400-bed Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan hospital and were followed immediately with an assault by a group of gunmen, Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi said.

Four of the attackers were killed by Taliban security forces and a fifth was captured, he said.

The blasts add to a growing list of attacks and killings since the Taliban completed their victory over the Western-backed government in August, undermining their claim to have restored security to Afghanistan after decades of war.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the operation was typical of the complex attacks mounted by Islamic State. It follows a string of bombings by the group which has emerged as the biggest threat to Taliban control of Afghanistan.

A Taliban security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at least 25 people had been killed and more than 50 wounded in the assault but there was no officially confirmed casualty toll.

Photographs shared by residents showed a plume of smoke over the area of the blasts near the former diplomatic zone in the Wazir Akbar Khan area of the city and witnesses said at least two helicopters flew over the area as the assault went on.

A health worker at the hospital, who managed to escape, said he heard a large explosion followed by a couple of minutes of gunfire. About ten minutes later, there was a second, larger explosion, he said.

He said it was unclear whether the blasts and the gunfire were inside the sprawling hospital complex.

Islamic State, which has carried out a series of attacks on mosques and other targets since the Taliban’s seizure of Kabul in August, mounted a complex attack on the hospital in 2017, killing more than 30 people.

The group’s attacks have caused mounting worries outside Afghanistan about the potential for the country to become a haven for militant groups as it was when an al Qaeda group attacked the United States in 2001.

The concern has been worsened by a spiraling economic crisis that has threatened millions with poverty as winter approaches and left thousands of former fighters with no employment.

The abrupt withdrawal of international support following the Taliban victory has brought Afghanistan’s fragile economy to the brink of collapse just as a severe drought has threatened millions with hunger.

(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar, Islamabad newsroom; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Nick Macfie)

Armed attacks in Mexico’s Sinaloa state leave 16 dead

By Jesus Bustamante

CULIACAN, Mexico (Reuters) – Two armed attacks in the violence-plagued western Mexican state of Sinaloa, home of notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, have left 16 people dead, the head of the state’s public security ministry said on Thursday.

Security forces found the bodies of seven supposed cartel hitmen on a dirt road, strewn next to a bullet-riddled pickup truck, apparent victims of a shootout.

“There are seven bodies, most of whom were wearing tactical clothing and vests, apparently only one firearm was found,” said public security minister Cristobal Castaneda. “Clearly this is a fight between gangs or organized criminal groups,” he added.

A separate attack on a small town left another nine fatalities, seven of them supposedly local residents and the other two bodies have not been identified.

One of the unidentified bodies had an AK-47, said Castaneda.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador assumed the presidency in December 2018 pledging to pacify the country with a less confrontational approach to security, but violence has continued rising and murders hit an all-time high last year.

(Reporting by Jesus Bustamante; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Michael Perry)

Fake flyers and face-mask fear: California fights coronavirus discrimination

By Andrew Hay and Maria Caspani

(Reuters) – A flyer in Los Angeles’ Carson area, with a fake seal of the World Health Organization, tells residents to avoid Asian-American businesses like Panda Express because of a coronavirus outbreak. A Los Angeles middle schooler is beaten and hospitalized after students say he is as an Asian-American with coronavirus.

And over 14,000 people sign a petition urging schools in the Alhambra area to close over coronavirus risks, even though there is only one case of the virus in Los Angeles County, with its population of 10.1 million.

These are some of the hoaxes, assaults and rumors Los Angeles authorities spoke out against on Thursday to stamp out anti-Asian bigotry bubbling to the surface in California, where over half of the 15 U.S. coronavirus cases are located.

Bullying and assaults of Asian-Americans are being reported from New York to New Mexico, sparked by unfounded fears that they are somehow linked to a virus that originated in China.

With by far the largest Asian-American population of any U.S. state, officials in California are aggressively trying to get ahead of such hate crimes before they spread.

“We’re not going to stand for hate,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis told reporters, flanked by law enforcement officials. She urged residents to report crimes to a special 211 number.

Existing prejudice against Asians has combined with media images from China to create fears that Asian-Americans are more likely to be virus carriers. The discrimination could get worse given chances the virus may spread in U.S. communities in the weeks and months ahead, said Robin Toma, head of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission.

Face masks commonly warn by Asians to protect against germs or prevent their spread have become a flashpoint, with wearers insulted or attacked out of fears they have the virus, he said at the news conference.

“We need you to step up and speak out when you see it happening to others,” he said.

FACE MASKS A TRIGGER

Anti-Asian sentiment emerged in 2003 during the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, which also originated from China. That was before the emergence of social media platforms like Twitter, where racism, hoaxes and slurs get amplified.

The issue is not isolated to California.

New York City designer Yiheng Yu works in an office where many colleagues have recently returned from China and where she and others wear face masks as a precaution.

On one occasion when she wore a mask outside her office she was accosted by a woman.

“She started yelling, ‘Are you Crazy? Get the heck out of here,” said Yu, 34. “I realized it was because I was wearing a mask.”

Even coughs can provoke fear, said Ron Kim, a New York state assembly member representing a Queens district with a large Asian and Asian-American population.

“I had a staff member who was in the Albany train station and she was coughing a little bit and someone approached her asked if she had the virus,” said Kim, who on Feb. 7 established the Asian American Health Advisory Council to educate New Yorkers about the virus.

“We live in a very fear-driven society as it is, so if we add an extra layer it’s bound to happen, people are going to be ugly,” he added.

Manjusha Kulkarni, head of A3PCON, which represents Los Angeles County’s more than 1.5 million Asian-American and Pacific Islander residents, saw an urgent need for information to separate coronavirus fact from fiction.

“Businesses and restaurateurs have seen a steep decline in their patronage,” Kulkarni said of Asian proprietors. “We only have one case of the coronavirus here in LA.”

(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico and Maria Caspani in New York; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Leslie Adler)

Successor to slain Iran general faces same fate if he kills Americans – U.S. envoy

By Nafisa Eltahir

DUBAI (Reuters) – The successor to the Iranian commander killed in a U.S. drone strike would suffer the same fate if he followed a similar path by killing Americans, the U.S. special representative for Iran said, according to Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

Washington blamed Qassem Soleimani for masterminding attacks by Iran-aligned militias against U.S. forces in the region. U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Jan. 3 drone strike in Iraq after an escalation that began in December with missile strikes that killed an American contractor, which Washington blamed on an Iran-aligned militia in Iraq.

Iran responded to the killing of Soleimani by launching missiles at U.S. targets in Iraq on Jan. 8, although no U.S. soldiers were killed.

After Soleimani’s death, Tehran swiftly appointed Esmail Ghaani as the new head of the Quds Force, an elite unit in the Revolutionary Guards that handles actions abroad. Ghaani has pledged to pursue Soleimani’s course.

“If (Esmail) Ghaani follows the same path of killing Americans then he will meet the same fate,” U.S. envoy Brian Hook told the Arabic-language daily Asharq al-Awsat.

He said in the interview in Davos that Trump had long made it clear “that any attack on Americans or American interests would be met with a decisive response.”

“This isn’t a new threat. The president has always said that he will always respond decisively to protect American interests,” Hook said. “I think the Iranian regime understands now that they cannot attack America and get away with it.”

After his appointment, Ghaani said he would “continue in this luminous path” taken by Soleimani and said the goal was to drive U.S. forces out of the region, Iran’s long stated policy.

The Revolutionary Guards aerospace commander said four U.S. military bases in the region were used to deploy aircraft and drones that played a role in the Jan. 3 attack that killed Soleimani, including two bases in Iraq and another in Kuwait.

“Most of the drones” had taken off from Kuwait, Amirali Hajizadeh, who heads the Guards’ aerospace unit, told state television, although he did not say if a drone from Kuwait was ultimately responsible for attack on Soleimani.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have steadily increased since Trump withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 and imposed tough news sanctions that have hammered the Iranian economy.

This month’s military flare-up began in December when rockets fired at U.S. bases in Iraq killed a U.S. contractor. Washington blamed pro-Iran militia and launched air strikes that killed at least 25 fighters. After the militia surrounded the U.S. embassy in Baghdad for two days, Trump ordered the drone strike on Soleimani.

(Reporting by Nafisa Eltahir and Parisa Hafezi; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Michael Perry and Peter Graff)

U.S. sees signs Iran or its allies may be planning attacks: Pentagon chief

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Thursday that there were indications Iran or the forces it backs may be planning additional attacks and said it was possible the United States might have to take preemptive action to protect American lives.

“There are some indications out there that they may be planning additional attacks, that is nothing new … we’ve seen this for two or three months now,” Esper told reporters.

“If that happens then we will act and by the way, if we get word of attacks or some type indication, we will take preemptive action as well to protect American forces to protect American lives.”

Iranian-backed demonstrators who hurled rocks at the U.S. embassy in two days of protests withdrew on Wednesday after Washington dispatched extra troops.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who faces a re-election campaign in 2020, accused Iran of orchestrating the violence. He threatened on Tuesday to retaliate against Iran but said later he did not want war.

The unrest outside the U.S. embassy in Baghdad followed U.S. air raids on Sunday against bases of the Tehran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group. Washington said the air strikes, which killed 25 people, were in retaliation for missile attacks that killed a U.S. contractor in northern Iraq last week.

The protests marked a new turn in the shadow war between Washington and Tehran playing out across the Middle East.

“The game has changed and we are prepared to do what is necessary to defend our personnel and our interests and our partners in the region,” Esper said.

During the same press briefing, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said there had been a sustained campaign by Kataib Hezbollah against U.S. personnel since at least October and the missile attack in northern Iraq was designed to kill.

“Thirty-one rockets aren’t designed as a warning shot, that is designed to inflict damage and kill,” Milley said.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Chizu and David Gregorio)