National Defense Briefs – 04/06/16

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.

NATIONAL DEFENSE BRIEFS is a series produced by National Defense Consultants, LLC, aimed at informing readers with timely military and homeland security news updates, trends, definitions, and short commentaries. Defense issues are inextricably connected to business. In that, MidlandsBiz.com and National Defense Consultants presents the “National Defense Briefs” that matter.

• Adm. James Stavridis, U.S. Navy (Ret.), a former NATO commander, says, “NATO continues to have deep and real capability and influence in the world.” He adds, “As I look around the world, I am hard pressed to see any other pool of potential partners that would stand so consistently alongside the United States and provide such meaningful contributions to our security and global stability as the NATO partners.” [read – http://time.com/4281029/nato-is-a-necessity/]

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is 28-nation global/regional military alliance primarily between Europe and North America. It is an extension of the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on Apr. 4, 1949 (67 years ago this week). NATO is a collective defense organization wherein its member states have agreed to the mutual defense of one another in the event any one of the states is attacked by another country. NATO’s headquarters is located in Brussels. [See NATO’s website – http://www.nato.int/]

• Japan is beefing up its amphibious-landing and coastal defense capabilities according to U.S. Naval Institute (USNI). The report says, “The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) is increasing its amphibious capability with an eye on its southwestern-most islands – past Okinawa, all the way to its farthest inhabited island of Yonaguni, which sits closer to mainland China than it does to Okinawa. With only two Japan Air Self-Defense Force radar sites between Okinawa and Yonaguni, the Japanese ground force has taken a renewed interest in protecting these islands.”

• The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (Japan’s army) recently reactivated a coastal observation post on Yonaguni. The last time the Yonaguni post was operational was during World War II. Col. Masashi Yamamoto, a military attaché based in Washington, told USNI, “future coastal security units would be set up in the southwestern islands, pulling troops from other parts of the country to focus on about 200 islands as far as 680 miles from mainland Japan.” Moreover, a conventional infantry regiment is being converted to an amphibious-infantry regiment (Marines).

• Unlike the U.S. Marine Corps – which is organized under the Dept. of the Navy and is traditionally a combined-arms Naval expeditionary force – Japan’s amphibious forces will be organized under the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (or army) instead of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (navy).

• Though reports vary as to numbers, nearly 30 ISIS fighters have been killed and 15 others wounded in an ongoing military operation in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province. What this demonstrates (and is not being widely reported in the American press) is that “the Islamic State is clearly operating in Afghanistan,” says Christopher Holton, a vice pres. with the Center for Security Policy and a counterterrorism analyst with National Defense Consultants.

• In Feb. U.S. Army Gen. John Campbell – who until Mar. 2, 2016 served as commander of the Resolute Support Mission and U.S. Forces—Afghanistan – said, though “the Taliban was more dangerous than Daesh [ISIS] … attacks against Daesh have increased as the group poses direct threats against the U.S and the West. He added, “the intention of Daesh is to takeover Jalalabad and move on Kunar.”

• In Syria, a Russian-built Syrian Air Force Su-22 Fitter fighter-bomber was shot down, Apr. 5, over South Aleppo. The aircraft was reportedly on a reconnaissance mission when it was struck by a man-portable surface-to-air missile believed to have been launched by Al Nusra Front fighters. As of this writing [Apr. 6, 10:40 a.m. Eastern], the pilot is said to be in the hands of Al Nusra. The pilot is reportedly alive, but based on photographs posted online by his captors, he has suffered serious injuries either sustained when his aircraft was struck (and the subsequent ejecting from the plane), or he has been beaten. Perhaps both.

• In Feb. 2014, the BBC reported, “ISIS grew out of the former Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), a jihadist militant umbrella group that is believed to have helped create the Al Nusra Front in mid-2011.” The report added that in Apr. 2013, “ISI leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the merger of his group and Al Nusra – effectively a takeover – and the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).” The merger however was rejected by the leadership of Al Nusra as well as that of Al Qaeda, which “recognized Al Nusra as its sole Syrian offshoot.” Since then, “ISIS and Al Nusra have operated as separate entities [in Syria], with the latter focusing on toppling Pres. Bashar al-Assad and maintaining better relations with other rebels. ISIS has seemed to be more concerned by territorial gains and implementing its extreme interpretation of Islamic law.”

• As we have reported, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (also ISIS), the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and the Islamic State (IS). Many Arab-speaking people refer to ISIS as Daesh, an acronym for Al Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham (the Arabic translation of the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham). ISIS originated with Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in 2006. But AQI formally severed ties with ISIS in 2013-2014. AQI is also known as Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia or AQM.

– W. Thomas Smith Jr. – a former U.S. Marine rifleman – is a military analyst and partner with NATIONAL DEFENSE CONSULTANTS, LLC. Visit him at http://uswriter.com.