Iraqi SOF pushes further into Mosul; Airstrikes on Aleppo hospitals; Trump picks Flynn as nat’l security adviser; D1 Summit wraps; and just a bit more...
Iraq’s elite Golden Division “stormed the Tahrir district on the northeastern edge of Mosul,” and has now paused to consolidate their gains and to allow civilians “pushing trolleys containing their belongings and carrying home-made white flags” to move out of the way of the next advance, Lt. General Abdul Wahab al-Saidi said this morning.
“The Iraqi forces aim to take complete control of the city’s Tahrir area and from there move into the adjacent Muharabeen district,” AP adds.
Moving into Tahrir puts Iraqi forces in about a dozen of Mosul’s 50 or so neighborhoods, Reuters reports from the city’s edge, where the Golden Division is deploying drones to surveil the streets and alleyways for possible surprise suicide attacks.
Nearby, “a Friday prayer sermon referring to ‘mujahideen’, or holy war fighters, could be heard coming from a mosque under control of the jihadis in the vicinity. An armed man, possibly a sniper, was in the minaret of the mosque.”
Iraq’s air force has reportedly just received four new F-16s, bringing their total to 14 out of 36 Baghdad agreed to purchase from the U.S.
ISIS put out a release Thursday admitting it has lost some territory around Mosul; but don’t get too excited—they still have lots of suicide bombers ready to go. Kurdistan24 news has more, here.
Citizens of Mosul are calling into a talk radio program “to unload on suicide bombers and errant airstrikes” and to ask what to do about “the lack of food and medicine,” the Washington Post reports. “They [also] have questions about when to wave white flags and what to do with bodies in the rubble.”
So what is this station? Radio Alghad, and its “founder is a 30-something tech entrepreneur who calls himself ‘Mohammad of Mosul’ in interviews because he does not want to be targeted by the Islamic State or its supporters. He also insists on keeping the location of his station and most of the names of its hosts secret. He is concerned about car bombs. He will allow a reporter to say only that the operation is in the Kurdish area of Iraq.” Worth the click, here.
A suicide car bomb killed a dozen Iraqis at a Sunni wedding near Baghdad, Reuters reports this morning. In response to similar attacks across the country, Iraq has reportedly imposed new curfews on three towns—Haditha, Baghdadi, and Hit—out of fear that ISIS will reprise its counterattacks in Kirkuk and Rutbah.
Hospitals bombed in Syria. Doctors are scrambling today in the northern city of Aleppo after bombs hit “several hospitals and [sent] the chief of a pediatrics clinic in a frantic search for a place to move his young patients,” AP reports, noting, “So far, more than 100 people have been killed across northern Syria since Tuesday… Many hospitals and clinics in the besieged area [of Aleppo] have moved their operations underground after months of relentless bombings and airstrikes. The World Health Organization said in 2016, it recorded 126 attacks on health facilities, a common tactic in the war in Syria.”
And in case you need reminding, AP writes that “Russia and the Syrian government deny targeting hospitals in airstrikes.” More here.
Brush up on your French and learn how France’s Directorate of Military Intelligence is helping pick ISIS targets in their Raqqa stronghold, via this report from France 2 TV.
Turkey wants to get its hands on Russia’s S-400 air defense system, Reuters reports. But Ankara’s Defense Minister Fikri Isik said Turkey is also in talks with other countries for a similar system as well. More, but not a lot, here.
President-elect Donald Trump’s Pentagon transition will likely begin today, the Pentagon announced late Thursday. According to Defense News, Trump’s defense transition team is reportedly “being led by retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, with former Pentagon official and Boeing executive Mira Ricardel, also listed as ‘defense’ under him, and retired Army Brig. Gen. Michael Meese listed as the transition head for Veterans Affairs.”
Retired Generals Jack Keane and James Mattis could be on deck for the Defense Secretary gig, Bloomberg reports this morning, citing a single anonymous source.
Meantime, Mike Flynn has officially been tapped to become Trump’s National Security Advisor, meaning he’ll have to drop his ties to the consulting firm that bears his name, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday evening.
Trump has also reportedly selected Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo to lead the CIA. For what it’s worth, here’s Pompeo on Twitter just yesterday: “I look forward to rolling back this disastrous [Iran nuclear] deal with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
And Guantanamo Bay will get a new commander, Miami Herald’s Carol Rosenberg reported Thursday. The new guy: “Rear Adm. Edward Cashman, 51, is due to assume command of the downsizing detention center early next year, replacing Rear Adm. Peter Clarke, a submariner whose onward assignment has yet to be disclosed. No exact date was provided in the Department of Defense announcement. Cashman’s assignment was already in the Pentagon pipeline before the presidential election.”
For what it’s worth: “As of Thursday, the detention center had 60 captives, 20 of the men approved for release with security assurances that satisfy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, and a staff of around 1,900 troops and civilians.” More here.
With Sen. Jeff Sessions now selected as Trump’s attorney general, will Sen. Tom Cotton become SecDef? “Mr. Cotton could be called a Trumpian conservative — eager to spend billions of dollars more on the military, virulently opposed to the Iranian nuclear deal and determined to bomb the something out of the Islamic State,” The New York Times writes. “But he also wove a careful line in an interview on Thursday, warning about President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.”
Many of Trump’s political enemies during his campaign run “have become the objects of his attention as he considers them for cabinet positions,” NYTs reports in this transition team roll-up.
Apropos of nothing: Check out the new cover from the latest edition of The Economist.
How the troops feel: A new survey suggests 75 percent of U.S. servicemembers are not worried that PEOTUS Trump “may issue orders that violate military rules or traditions,” according to a new poll from Military Times.
The positive takeaways: “More than 60 percent said they think the new president will be able to work with Congress to find a solution to defense spending caps, and 56 percent said they believe Trump will improve troops’ pay and benefits. In addition, 54 percent of troops surveyed believe Trump will be able to address the threat posed by Islamic State militants in the Middle East.”
The negatives: “More than 27 percent said that having Trump as commander in chief will negatively affect their military job or mission. Among officers, 39 percent expressed those concerns. Among women, 55 percent worry their jobs will be adversely affected.” More here.
From Defense One
A big thank-you to everyone who spoke, sponsored, supported, and especially attended yesterday’s Defense One Summit! We’re working to post the video; we’ll provide the link as soon as we can.
Sen. Cotton: Trump Will Likely Take a Tougher Line on Russia // Bradley Peniston: The SASC member — and just maybe, future SecDef? — also laid out a few priorities at the Defense One Summit.
Rep. Schiff: ‘Grave Concerns’ About Trump’s Relationship to America’s Intelligence Community // Bradley Peniston: The House intelligence committee’s ranking member cites the president-elect’s contradiction of the IC’s consensus views.
The Global Business Brief: November 17 // Marcus Weisgerber: How Trump could increase defense spending; Backseat in an F-15; U.K. wants 26 Reaper drones; and more.
The YouTube Effect: Intelligence Operations Move Out of the Shadows // Tom Shoop: The U.S. military’s intel chief describes a shift from “secret wars” to “low-visibility wars.”
Welcome to the Friday edition of The D Brief by Ben Watson and Bradley Peniston. Remembering the USS Maine, launched this day in 1889 at the New York Navy Yard. (Send your friends this link: http://get.defenseone.com/d-brief/. And let us know your news: the-d-brief@defenseone.com.
Ally update: NATO Sec-Gen Jens Stoltenberg, trying to get on Trump’s schedule for a phone call, nevertheless says, “I am absolutely confident that President Trump will maintain U.S leadership in the alliance.” That from Reuters, which reminds us that the president-elect “questioned during his election campaign whether the United States should protect allies that have low defense spending, raising fears that he could withdraw funding for the alliance at a time of greater tensions with Russia.”
Meanwhile, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared Trump a “trustworthy leader” after a Manhattan meeting. Again, Reuters: “Trump had fanned worries in Tokyo and beyond with comments on the possibility of Japan acquiring nuclear arms, demands that allies pay more for keeping U.S. forces on their soil or face their possible withdrawal, and his opposition to the U.S.-led 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact.”
Cleared for take-off: The U.S. has finally approved more than $31 billion in fighter jet sales to MidEast allies, IHS Janes reports this morning. The Thursday announcement from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency lays out “the approval of 40 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets for Kuwait and 72 Boeing F-15 Advanced Eagles for Qatar, valued at USD10.1 billion and USD21.1 billion respectively.”
In that number: The two deals nearly equal the $33.6 billion in arms sales the Obama administration approved globally in fiscal 2016, Defense One’s Global Business Editor Marcus Weisgerber writes.
ICYMI: Nixon’s SecDef and former Wisconsin Republican Rep. Melvin R. Laird passed away Wednesday from heart failure at the age of 94 in Fort Myers, Fla. Laird presided over the height of the Vietnam war and oversaw the change from the draft to an all-volunteer force. The Washington Post has a remembrance of “Mel,” here.
Lastly this week: The plane in a bag. Yesterday we asked readers if they had ideas what aircraft was concealed in this photo transiting somewhere in the continental U.S. on a trailer with no license plates. The overwhelming response: an F/A-18.
Replied one reader: Why assume it’s an aircraft? It could be this.
Added another: “It almost has to be a Rebel Alliance X wing fighter, along with various service modules and attending droid attachment pods. The guys and girls at Groom Lake have been refurbishing them in anticipation of Trump's promised assault on the Immigrant Death Star approaching from the south.”
Thanks for playing along, gang. And we’ll see everyone again on Monday!