U.S. moves dozen vessels near Yemen; Morsi jailed for 20; U.S. trainers begin in Ukraine; And a bit more.
This morning: An Egyptian court sentenced former President Mohammed Morsi and a dozen Muslim Brotherhood leaders and supporters to 20 years in prison for their role in the murder of Arab Spring protesters three years ago. AP’s Maggie Michael from Cairo.
A grain of salt for this one, folks: ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was seriously wounded in an airstrike in western Iraq, near the Syrian border, nearly four weeks ago, reports The Guardian’s Martin Chulov and Kareem Shaheen this morning. For what it’s worth, rumors also surfaced that Baghdadi sustained injuries from an airstrike in January, too. Who exactly is in day-to-day control of the organization is unclear, claims a Guardian source in Iraq. The latest here.
There are now a dozen U.S. Navy vessels in the Gulf of Aden ready for a “showdown” with Iran, which could be seeking to arm the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The American forces include the new addition of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and the guided missile cruiser USS Normandy, keeping eyes on at least nine Iranian ships. The Navy’s boosted posture follows last week’s U.N. Security Council-imposed arms embargo on the rebel faction that has rampaged Sana’a and the port city of Aden.
“It all depends on what the Iranian ships do,” said one U.S. military official. “If they try to head for Yemen, there may be a bit of a showdown.” From The Wall Street Journal’s Dion Nissenbaum.
U.S. officials maintain “there will be no direct American role in the fighting in Yemen,” but U.S. logistical and intel support to the Saudis will continue as before. From The New York Time’s Michael Shear and Matthew Rosenberg.
From Defense One
Adm. Michael Rogers, Cyber Command chief and NSA director, says the U.S. will follow the laws of war for how it uses cyber weapons, Patrick Tucker reports.
Banning certain autonomous weapons for their lethal potential could also implicate cyber weapons, Patrick Lin of the California Polytechnic State University writes in a broader discussion about the human rights compliance of “killer robots.”
War threats and economic sanctions (See: Iran, Cuba) are counterproductive myths of American foreign policy that don’t foster democracy or human rights abroad, The Atlantic’s Peter Beinart argues.
China is building a railway through Pakistan’s insurgency-prone Balochistan province to shore up the shortest possible route to importing Gulf oil, Quartz’s Lily Kuo and Heather Timmons report.
Russian S-300 missile systems heading to Tehran alter the regional military balance and could knock out America’s freedom in the skies of the Middle East, Air Force Col. Clint Hinote writes.
Tomorrow morning: Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh joins Defense One’s global business reporter Marcus Weisgerber on stage for an intimate interview, the first installment of Defense One Live’s new “Leadership Briefing” series. Register for that one here.
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And then there were 16. Day one of Ranger school kicked off yesterday for the nearly 20 female soldiers who are making an historic first attempt at the grueling course. The first hurdle: a physical endurance test. Of the 399 total soldiers who began their first day at Fort Benning, Ga., 78 men -- but just 3 women -- washed out. Military Times’ Michelle Tan has a bit more.
Ranger School is not the debate-ending event on whether women can perform in ground combat roles. In fact, that debate typically overlooks the role of women in the infantry ranks of our NATO allies, retired Lt. Gen. Dave Barno and Dr. Nora Bensahel, both formerly of CNAS and now with American University’s School of International Service, write this morning in War on the Rocks.
Back to Yemen, the massive explosion following Monday’s airstrike on a Scud missile depot in Sana’a killed at least 15 people and wounded nearly 300.
Residents believed at least a portion of the depot was maintained underground, accounting for why the initial explosion felt to many like an earthquake before the growing fireball erupted above ground and could be seen for miles. More on the airstrike and its bloody aftermath from the NYTs and Reuters.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister said this morning he’s optimistic a ceasefire will be announced later today, Iranian Tasnim news reported.
The Saudi response? No ceasefire until the Houthis relinquish their hold on the capital and any other territory they’ve seized. The refusal to consider a ceasefire, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United Nation told U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon on Monday, is in line with a Security Council resolution adopted last week. Al-Arabiya has the rest.
Meanwhile in Beirut, the French defense minister personally escorted some $3 billion in French arms to an air base in Lebanon. The weapons, including guided anti-tank munitions, were paid for by Saudi Arabia and comes as part of a 7-year promise to train Lebanon’s 70,000 soldiers. More on that from AFP.
Hundreds of U.S. troops join Canadian, British and Polish troops training Ukraine’s soldiers, as Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko on Monday praised a “new stage of cooperation” between Washington and Kiev. U.S. training priorities include basic infantry skills and increasing Ukraine troops’ ability to locate and defuse hidden bombs, according to Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren. More here from The Washington Examiner’s Tara Copp.
And here’s one relatively new task the U.S. will train Kiev’s troops on: How to evade drone attacks. For a bit more on that, see our tech editor Patrick Tucker’s March report on how the drone war in the skies of Ukraine could be establishing a new precedent for decentralized warfare.
ICYMI on Friday: The U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany, is a critical waypoint for America’s global drone campaign, The Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill, in conjunction with the Germany newspaper Der Spiegel, reported Friday. The program’s (at least partial) facility placement in Germany and the association with civilian deaths—as well as what some view as extrajudicial killings—could bring an awkward and unwelcome wrinkle in U.S.-German relations. Check out the full report (it’s a long one), complete with more than a few slides marked “TOP SECRET” here.
Bomber force to reallocate thousands of workers. In October, the Air Force will consolidate its grouping of B-1s, B-2s and B-52s under the Air Combat Command to Global Strike Command at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. The secretive new Long Range Strike Bomber is also part of the restructuring. AP’s James Nord reports: “More than 60 aircraft and about 7,000 people will shift [in the move], according to the Air Force. South Dakota public officials celebrated the shift as proof of Ellsworth [Air Force Base]'s relevancy in the nation's defense…
“[South Dakota U.S. Sen. John Thune said] moving all the bomber wings under the control of Global Strike Command will make for a better transition as the Air Force plans for the Long Range Strike Bomber.” Read the rest here.
Sen. John McCain laughed off reports yesterday that Texas senator and 2016 GOP hopeful Ted Cruz is pushing the Arizona senator to hold hearings on troops ability to carry private firearms on U.S. military bases. McCain: “I’d be glad to discuss the issue and see if we need a hearing, but it came as a complete surprise to me that he had been pressing me. Maybe it was through some medium that I’m not familiar with. Maybe bouncing it off the ozone layer, for all I know… Maybe it was through hand telegraph, maybe sign language, who knows?” More on that via The Hill’s Martin Matishak.