The D Brief: Israel’s West Bank raids; Ukraine’s Kursk progress; USAF’s Ukrainian EW; Shipmaker, fined; And a bit more.
Israel launched a military operation overnight in the West Bank, the larger of its two Palestinian enclaves. According to the New York Times, reporting from Jerusalem: “Hundreds of troops entered cities in the occupied territory, targeting Palestinian militants. It was a significant escalation after months of raids that have unfolded alongside the war in Gaza.”
The operation began with drone strikes on Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas, followed by ground assaults by helicopter-borne infantry, tanks, and bulldozers. It is focused on Jenin and Tulkarm, which have become militant strongholds, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters. At least ten Palestinians have been killed so far, the Palestinian health ministry said.
One high Israeli official is calling the raids a second front in the current war on Hamas. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also told reporters that Israel should "deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza." Read more at ABC News.
It’s Israel’s largest operation in the West Bank since the second intifada ended in 2005, though it’s hardly the first since the Oct. 7 attacks. The Times has a timeline of earlier raids and a map of the latest, here.
Welcome to this Wednesday edition of The D Brief, brought to you by Ben Watson with Bradley Peniston. Share your newsletter tips, reading recommendations, or feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1988, three Italian Air Force aircraft collided during an airshow at Ramstein air base in Germany, killing 67 spectators and three pilots; more than 300 others were seriously injured.
Ukrainian forces reportedly downed another Russian jet, a ground-attack aircraft known as the Su-25 “Frogfoot.” It happened in the Kramatorsk sector in Donetsk Oblast, according to the Kyiv Independent, which notes this is the 368th Russian fixed-wing aircraft allegedly downed since Russia began its full-scale invasion more than two years ago. View footage of the purported downing, here.
Two more oil depots are reportedly on fire in Russia’s Rostov Oblast, directly east of Ukraine. That includes the Russian Federal Agency for State Reserves oil depot near Astakhov, which appears to have been targeted by some kind of Ukrainian projectile for the second time in 25 days, Mark Krutov of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty reports.
Update: “Ukrainian forces control about 100 settlements in [Russia’s western] Kursk region and have captured nearly 600 Russian troops,” the NYT reports, citing Tuesday remarks from Ukraine’s top commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi. He also said Moscow has dispatched 30,000 troops to Kursk, and more are likely to follow. Ukrainian forces entered Kursk exactly three weeks ago, and have yet to be pushed back by Russian elements.
But Russian invasion troops are still advancing incrementally in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. They’re heading closer and closer to the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, with a prewar population of around 60,000. A former Ukrainian officer calls it “a key distribution hub, supporting Ukrainian forces along a broad frontline from Vuhledar to the north of Donetsk and beyond.”
Also: A top Russian official is again talking publicly about a “Third World War,” this time in the context of Ukraine’s allies authorizing their weapons to be used to target Russian military sites and equipment inside Russia.
Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the remarks Tuesday, saying the U.S. and others were “playing with fire” in considering lifting the restrictions, which he said could eventually lead to a nuclear exchange that would not be limited to the European continent. Reuters has more.
Developing: The British say privately they’re ok with Ukraine attacking inside Russia using UK-provided Storm Shadow cruise missiles, the Telegraph reported Tuesday. But they don’t want to make this a public position out of concerns it would irritate U.S. officials in Washington.
According to one British senior military official, “The U.S. fear escalation more than we do because they have to deal with it. We don’t. They, after all, would have to pick up the pieces. Little Britain cannot fight Russia,” the source told the Telegraph.
Mapped: Review “hundreds of known Russian military and paramilitary objects” Ukraine could strike if the White House lifts its restrictions on ATACMS use, via a new report published Tuesday by the Institute for the Study of War in Washington. We flagged this data point in our last newsletter, but now we have an interactive map to view the range of possibilities listed in precise GPS coordinates, as curated by ISW analysts.
New: A U.S. Air Force unit loaded Ukrainian F-16s with updated electronic warfare capabilities ahead of the jets’ delivery, and it plans to reprogram those capabilities based on what’s learned fighting the Russians, Defense One’s Audrey Decker reported Tuesday.
What’s going on: The 68th Electronic Warfare Squadron, a small unit based at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, was tasked with reprogramming the electronic warfare system aboard F-16s being donated by Denmark and the Netherlands to enable them to survive Russian jamming and other electromagnetic attacks.
Said one Air Force official: “One F-16 with a reprogrammed pod won’t achieve air dominance alone, but it may give you a pocket of air superiority for a moment’s time to achieve an objective that has strategic importance and impact.” Continue reading, here.
NATO officials are meeting today at Ukraine’s request. “Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov is expected to brief Allies via video-link on the battlefield situation and priority capability needs,” a spokesperson told Reuters.
The SEC and Justice Department have reached a deal with shipmaker Austal USA to pay a $24 million fine in the wake of indictments revealing three top officials lied to investors about earnings and costs between January 2013 to July 2016. USNI News has details.
Related reading:
- “Slovakia set to buy six air defence systems from Israel,” Reuters reported Wednesday;
- And the “Thai air force wants to acquire Swedish Gripen 39 fighter jets,” the wire service reported separately Tuesday from Bangkok.
U.S. intelligence agencies seek closer partnerships with the private sector. Among several new projects, the IC is working to improve analysts' access to industry and academia-provided data, and to more quickly declassify information to flow to the public, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines said Tuesday.
Also: The IC is training a team to downgrade classified information so it can be transferred to private companies, while agencies are developing a library of cleared intelligence products. As well, intel agencies will soon add private-sector engagement to its workforce performance objectives. Nextgov/FCW has more, here.
Lastly today: Newly released photos document a 2005 massacre in Haditha. The New Yorker filed a FOIA request, then sued the military to obtain the photos, taken after Marines killed 24 Iraqi men, women, and children in the Iraqi town. See them, here.