Tag: middle east

Pentagon redirects missile components from Kiev to own forces – WSJ

The Pentagon has redirected key missile components originally intended for Ukraine’s air defense to American forces in the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a confidential notification sent to Congress last week. The move comes as US President Donald Trump has been winding down support for Ukraine since entering office. 

According to the WSJ, the move concerns proximity fuzes used in ground-based Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) – a guided rocket system that Ukraine has reportedly been using for the past several years to shoot down drones. The fuzes were acquired under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative under former US President Joe Biden. Although funding for the initiative has already been spent, previously approved shipments are still scheduled to arrive in Ukraine later this year and the next.

However, the WSJ has claimed that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the transfer of the fuzes via an internal memo last month, designating it as a “Secretary of Defense Identified Urgent Issue.” The decision was reportedly communicated to the Senate Armed Services Committee, although the Pentagon has declined to comment publicly.

Citing anonymous sources and internal documents, the WSJ said the US Air Force intends to use the reallocated fuzes in rockets mounted on F-16 and F-15E fighter jets. The redirection was permitted under an emergency military spending bill passed last year.

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Kushner’s Affinity’s assets jump to $4.8 billion after Gulf cash injection

Jared Kushner’s investment company Affinity Partners saw assets under management jump 60% last year to $4.8 billion, according to a regulatory filing, after it received a cash injection from Middle East investors including Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.

Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, launched the investment firm in 2021 after leaving the White House at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term, when he was a top adviser on the Middle East.

Affinity secured $1.5 billion of extra capital in 2024 from two of its existing investors – Abu Dhabi-based Lunate and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund the Qatar Investment Authority – Kushner told an investment podcast in December.

He said the increased capital would give the fund “more firepower” and had been closed before Trump was re-elected for a second term.

That injection helped lift its assets under management to $4.8 billion by the end of 2024, up from $3 billion the prior year, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the company name A Fin Management LLC.

The sole owner of the company is Jared Kushner, the filing said.

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Trump ‘losing patience’ with Netanyahu, advances US plans without Israeli involvement: Report

US President Donald Trump has lost patience with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and will not wait any longer for Israel before advancing initiatives in West Asia, Israel Hayom reported on 8 May.

According to two senior sources in the US President’s entourage, Trump is interested in making decisions that he believes will advance US interests, particularly regarding Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, without waiting for approval from Netanyahu.

Regarding a potential US–Israeli agreement with Saudi Arabia, Trump believes Netanyahu is delaying making the necessary decisions. The president is not willing to wait until Israel does what is expected of it and will move forward without it.

During the presidency of Joe Biden, the US and Israel were involved in talks with Saudi Arabia that would see Washington enter a defense pact with the kingdom, provide it with civilian nuclear technology, and sell it advanced weapons – all in exchange for normalization with Israel.

As part of any agreement to normalize relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia expects an end to the war in Gaza and an Israeli declaration of a “horizon for a Palestinian state.”

However, senior ministers in Israel’s current government have vowed to never allow a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, while promising to “destroy” Gaza, ethnically cleanse its population under the pretext of promoting “voluntary migration,” and to build Jewish settlements there.

The sources added that Trump was furious at what he saw as an attempt by Netanyahu to use US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who has since been dismissed from his position, to push for US military action in Iran.

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Diego Garcia Smells Like War

A significant amount of US military power has been on the move over this past week, including several B-2 strategic bombers which have landed at the US military base in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean just over 2,000 miles southeast of Iran. According to press reports this is the most significant B-2 presence on the Island in nearly half a decade. In addition flight trackers are showing increased activity by at least nine KC-135R refueling aircraft in the region. Several C-17 cargo planes have also been spotted by satellites on the Island.

The US President has ordered US Carrier Strike Group Carl Vinson to the Mideast.

While the Administration continues to escalate its illegal bombing campaign against Yemen – some are reporting more than 60 strikes today alone and President Trump promises that they will continue “for a long time” – speculation is increasing that the Diego Garcia build-up is the beginning of the long process of positioning US military muscle for an attack on Iran.

President Trump today warned although his “big preference is we work it out with Iran…if we don’t work it out, bad bad things are gonna happen with Iran.”

So is the US president elected with the promise to end wars rather than start them ready to launch a war against the modern, technologically-advanced nation of 90 million with an extremely complicated terrain, advanced military capabilities, and a newly-signed strategic partnership treaty with Russia?

No one knows.

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Signs U.S. Massing B-2 Spirit Bombers In Diego Garcia

A significant force of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers looks to be currently wending its way to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. Satellite imagery shows at least three C-17 cargo planes and 10 aerial refueling tankers forward-deployed in the last 48 hours to the highly strategic British territory, which has been used as a staging point for U.S. strikes in the Middle East on multiple occasions in the past. The build-up comes amid a new surge in U.S. strikes targeting the Houthis and growing warnings to Iran from the Trump administration over support for the Yemeni militants and Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The crews of two B-2 bombers, callsigns Pitch 11 and Pitch 14, could be heard communicating with air traffic controllers in Australia earlier today in publicly available audio. The crew of Pitch 11 confirms the presence of a third bomber, as well. The trio of bombers appears to have refueled in flight over Australia while heading westward.

A fourth B-2, callsign Pitch 13, landed at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii yesterday after declaring an emergency in flight. Video subsequently emerged showing that aircraft being met on the ground by a crash truck, but the nature of the emergency remains unknown.

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Trump Should Resist Another America-Last War in the Middle East

In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump made clear that he wants history to remember him as a “peacemaker and a unifier.” In his telling, “we will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end—and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”

That goal is in jeopardy. Forces inside and outside his administration are trying to drag the president into more wars in the Middle East. One possibility would be an expansion of the low-level war his predecessor Joe Biden lost to the Houthis in Yemen. Another, more consequential possibility would be a full-blown war with Iran. Both wars would be losers that would damage both the country and Trump’s legacy.

Start with Yemen. In that small, impoverished country, the Houthi movement has been attacking shipping in the Red Sea since Israel attacked Gaza after the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023. 

The economic damage from the disruption to Red Sea shipping has been consequential, but survivable. A glance at a map makes clear who pays the cost of the disruption, however: Asia-Europe trade. Because of easy U.S. access to both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans—big, beautiful oceans, as the president might say—trade with either continent mostly doesn’t rely on the Middle East.

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US B-52 Bomber Flies With Israeli Jets Over Eastern Mediterranean

A US B-52 Stratrofortress bomber flew over the eastern Mediterranean Sea on March 4, marking the third US flyover of the Middle East in the past month, shows of force that are meant as threats toward Iran and its allies in the region.

“Israeli F-35i and F-15i aircraft flew alongside an American US B-52 strategic bomber,” the Israeli military said in a statement on Thursday. “During the flight, the forces practiced operational coordination between the two militaries to enhance their ability to address various regional threats.”

US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that it conducted a “Bomber Task Force Mission in the Middle East.” It said the B-52, which is capable of carrying nuclear weapons, took off from a base in the UK and flew across Europe on its way to the Middle East.

According to Air & Space Forces Magazine, the US bomber “orbited off the coast of Israel,” meaning it likely flew near the besieged Gaza Strip.

The flight came just two weeks after the US sent two B-52 bombers over the Middle East on February 20. CENTCOM said the two bombers “flew across Europe and six partner countries in CENTCOM’s area of responsibility during their mission, which included aerial refueling and training missions at ranges.”

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US Flies B-52 Bombers Over Middle East In Show Of Force Amid Regional Tensions

The U.S. Air Force sent two B-52 bombers on a high-profile “force projection” overflight across the Middle East on Feb. 17, in a bid to send a clear warning to adversaries and reinforce deterrence against escalating threats.

The bombers, which launched from RAF Fairford in the UK, flew over the airspace of nine Middle Eastern nations, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a Feb. 18 statement. The mission included aerial refueling and live munitions drops, with U.S. F-15s and fighter escorts from four partner nations providing security.

“Bomber Task Force missions demonstrate U.S. power projection capability, commitment to regional security, and ability to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the CENTCOM region,” Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM commander, said in a statement.

While CENTCOM declined to specify which countries participated in the mission, the deployment follows recent U.S.-led airstrikes against terrorist targets in Syria and Iraq, a carrier withdrawal from the region after a collision with a merchant ship, and heightened Iranian military activity.

Two major airstrikes were carried out in recent days by CENTCOM and regional partners, aimed at degrading terrorist networks.

U.S. forces launched a precision airstrike in northwest Syria on Feb. 15, killing a top financial and logistics official for Hurras al-Din (HaD), an al-Qaeda affiliate. Iraqi Security Forces, enabled by CENTCOM, struck an ISIS cell near Rawa, Iraq on Feb. 12, killing five ISIS operatives and destroying weapons, suicide vests, and explosives.

“We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists in order to defend our homeland, and U.S., allied, and partner personnel in the region,” Kurilla said in a statement.

The B-52 bomber mission also coincides with a temporary U.S. naval void in the region after the USS Harry S. Truman sustained damage in a collision with a commercial bulk carrier near Egypt’s northern coast, prompting its departure.

This marks the third time since the Israel–Hamas war began in 2023 that the United States has lacked a carrier presence in the Middle East, leaving regional waters open to increased Iranian military activity.

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We Are Closer To All-Out War In Europe, In Asia, And In The Middle East Than Most People Realize

We really are at one of the most pivotal moments in human history.  Decisions that are being made now will have very serious implications for every man, woman and child on the entire planet.  We have entered a time of “wars and rumors of wars”, and we have seen so much death and destruction over the past couple of years.  But now a new administration is in control in Washington and we have reached a fork in the road.  Will global leaders take advantage of this small window of opportunity to establish peace, or will they choose all-out war?

The good news is that for the first time in a long time, U.S. officials are talking with the Russians.  On Monday, Marco Rubio traveled to Saudi Arabia, and it is expected that he will be talking with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about Ukraine while he is there…

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was on his way to the country, amid expectations that peace talks on ending the war in Ukraine are about to begin.

This is a very positive development, but negotiations with the Russians will certainly not be easy.

For one thing, the Ukrainians and our European allies are demanding that the Russians make territorial concessions, and the Russians are completely ruling that out…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday ruled out territorial concessions to Ukraine, setting out a tough opening stance on the eve of talks on Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump’s team in Saudi Arabia.

Trump said after a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that the two sides would begin talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

The Russians are winning the war and having been steadily moving forward in recent months.

They see absolutely no need to give any territory that they have captured back.

The longer the Ukrainians wait to make a deal, the more territory they will lose.

The Russians have all the leverage, and they know it.

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From Gaza to the West Bank: Israel’s Unyielding War Machine

“A year of combat” – this is how Israel’s new Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, described 2025 at a conference organized by the Israeli ministry of defense.

The exact sentence, translated from Hebrew, was: “The year 2025 will continue to be a year of combat.” The word ‘continue’ is crucial, suggesting that Israel will resume its wars, despite ceasefire agreements signed with the Lebanese government in November and Palestinian groups in January. In other words, it seems that Zamir is signaling that Israel will reopen these two fronts, even in the face of ceasefire deals.

Despite Israel’s insatiable appetite for war, it is hard to imagine what the Israeli army could achieve through renewed violence when it has already failed to accomplish its objectives in nearly 14 months in Lebanon and over 15 months in Gaza.

Israel launched thousands of airstrikes on Lebanon, destroying entire towns and villages and killing and wounding thousands. It also dropped over 85,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, leading to the unprecedented genocide and the killing and wounding of over 170,000. Despite this, Israel has failed on both fronts. In Gaza, as reported by Reuters, Hamas alone managed to recruit up to 15,000 fighters just before the end of Israel’s 471st day of relentless warfare.

Furthermore, the return of nearly one million Palestinians to northern Gaza has reset Israel’s so-called tactical or strategic achievements. These efforts, aimed at depopulating northern Gaza to create permanent military buffer zones, were reversed by the population’s return.

The war also came at a staggering cost to the Israeli army. Ironically, during the same ministry of defense conference, Zamir revealed the actual costs of Israel’s wars in the past year. He stated that the ministry “now provides care for 5,942 new bereaved family members,”, adding that the “Rehabilitation Department has taken in over 15,000 wounded service members, many bearing both physical and mental scars from the war.”

These figures were not broken down by category or war front and did not include casualties from October 7, 2023, to the end of the year. However, they represent the highest estimate of Israeli casualties provided to date, raising the question: Can Israel afford to return to war?

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