Regional geopolitics

[Vrej1915]

Breaking: Houthi forces launch missiles at Saudi King Fahd Airport

By Leith Fadel
-
27/07/2017 BEIRUT, LEBANON (9:45 P.M.) – Minutes ago, the Houthi forces fired a number of missiles towards the King Fahd Airport in southern Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni group’s official media announced.

According to the Houthi media wing, their units fired several Burkan-1 missiles at the King Fahd Airport, scoring direct hits on their target late at night.

The Houthi forces have launched several Burkan-1 missiles into Saudi Arabia recently, targeting oil fields and military installations around the country.


Previously, the Houthi forces fired a multitude of Burkan-1 missiles at a Saudi oil field in the western part of the country, sparking outrage from the Al-Saud regime.

The Houthi forces typically fire missiles into Saudi Arabia to hound the Al-Saud regime for their continuous bombing campaign campaign of northern Yemen.

[Vrej1915]

Breaking: Houthi forces launch missiles at Saudi King Fahd Airport

By Leith Fadel
-
27/07/2017 BEIRUT, LEBANON (9:45 P.M.) – Minutes ago, the Houthi forces fired a number of missiles towards the King Fahd Airport in southern Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni group’s official media announced.

According to the Houthi media wing, their units fired several Burkan-1 missiles at the King Fahd Airport, scoring direct hits on their target late at night.

The Houthi forces have launched several Burkan-1 missiles into Saudi Arabia recently, targeting oil fields and military installations around the country.


Previously, the Houthi forces fired a multitude of Burkan-1 missiles at a Saudi oil field in the western part of the country, sparking outrage from the Al-Saud regime.

The Houthi forces typically fire missiles into Saudi Arabia to hound the Al-Saud regime for their continuous bombing campaign campaign of northern Yemen.

Yemenis unveil 'new' Burkan-1 ballistic missile

Jeremy Binnie, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
07 September 2016

A still from footage released on 2 September shows a 'Scud'-type ballistic missile labelled as a Burkan-1, which supposedly has a range of 800 km. Source: Al-Masirah TV

The Yemeni forces that Saudi Arabia is fighting have unveiled a ballistic missile that they claim has a range of more than 800 km, which would enable them to hit the port city of Jiddah.

Yemen's SABA news agency reported on 2 September that the Burkan-1 is a modified 'Scud' that was developed by the Missile Research and Development Centre of the military's ballistic missile force, which is allied with the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group against Saudi-backed forces loyal to ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

SABA reported that the Burkan-1 has a diameter of 88 cm, a length of 12.5 m, a total weight of 8,000 kg, and a 500 kg warhead. That would make it the same diameter as a standard Soviet R-17 (SS-1C 'Scud-B') ballistic missile, but more than 1.5 m longer than a conventionally armed R-17, and around 2,000 kg heavier even though the warhead weighs roughly half as much.

The Al-Masirah television channel that supports Ansar Allah and allied military forces released a video showing three 'Scud'-type missiles that were labelled as Burqan-1s, as well as footage purportedly showing one being launched. Neither the missile nor the launcher could be seen in the latter footage, which was filmed at night.

The military of South Yemen acquired an unknown number of R-17s from the Soviet Union before unification with North Yemen in 1990 and these were subsequently supplemented with North Korean versions of the missile.

Apparently under the sway of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni ballistic missile force sided with Ansar Allah and has continued to sporadically launch attacks against Saudi Arabia since the kingdom began is military intervention in March 2015.

It was announced on 13 December 2015 that the missile force had repurposed missiles from S-75 surface-to-air missile systems as Qahir-1 ballistic missiles, suggesting it was running low on 'Scuds' or their launchers.

http://www.janes.com/article/63468/yemenis-unveil-new-burkan-1-ballistic-missile

[Vrej1915]

Beyond The Genocide - Armenia in WW1 I THE GREAT WAR Special

[Vrej1915]

Թուրքիայի ձեռք բերած c 400 համակարգերը կփոխանցվե՞ն Ադրբեջանին

• 
• • ՀԱԿՈԲ ԲԱԴԱԼՅԱՆ, Մեկնաբան
  • Մեկնաբանություն - 28 Հուլիսի 2017

Ռուսաստանը պետք է բացատրություն տա Հայաստանին


Թուրքիայի նախագահ Էրդողանի խոսնակը հայտարարել է, որ Ռուսաստանից Ս 400 ՀՕՊ համակարգերի ձեռքբերման շուրջ պայմանավորվածությունն ընդհանուր առմամբ կայացած է եւ մնացել են աննշան հարցեր: Թե ինչ աննշան հարցերի մասին է խոսքը, նա չի հայտնել:



Աննշան են մնացած հարցերը, թե ոչ, պարզ չէ, բայց բացառված չէ, որ այդ մասին հայտարարությունները կարող են ունենալ առավելապես քարոզչական, դիվանագիտական նպատակ: Այսինքն, համաձայնությունը կարող է լինել ոչ այդքան մոտ, բայց հայտարարվի, որ այն մոտ է: Ի վերջո դա ձեռնտու է թե Ռուսաստանին, թե Անկարային: Համենայն դեպս ուշագրավ է, որ ռուսական կողմը պաշտոնական մեկնաբանություններում բավական զուսպ է:



Միջազգային մամուլը գրել է, որ Անկարան ու Մոսկվան քննարկում են երկու համալիրի վաճառքի եւ եւս երկուսի Թուրքիայում համատեղ արտադրության մասին:



ՆԱՏՕ պաշտոնյաները, Պենտագոնի ներկայացուցիչները հայտարարել են, որ Թուրքիան ՆԱՏՕ անդամ է եւ պետք է բացատրություն տա ռուսական ՀՕՊ համակարգ գնելու վերաբերյալ: Թուրքիան մատնացույց է անում Հունաստանը, ասելով, թե Աթենքը ունի Ս 300, բայց դա կարծես թե չի առաջացրել որեւէ անհանգստություն ՆԱՏՕ-ում:



Անկասկած է, որ հարցը քաղաքական է եւ կապված է Թուրքիա-Արեւմուտք հարաբերության հետ: Ս 400-ով Անկարան թերեւս մտադիր է բարձրացնել իր անկախությունն Արեւմուտքից, առնվազն պաշտպանունակության առումով: Դա էլ հարց է առաջացնում իհարկե, թե արդյոք Թուրքիան կարող է աստիճանաբար հեռանալ ՆԱՏՕ-ից ընդհանրապես:



Մյուս կողմից հստակ է, որ ՆԱՏՕ-ն աստիճանաբար հեռանում է Թուրքիայից, առնվազն նրա տարածաշրջանային դերի առումով: Քայլ առ քայլ խորանում է հարաբերությունը Վրաստանի հետ, եւ ՆԱՏՕ-ն փորձում է ավելի ինստիտուցիոնալացնել ներկայությունն ու հարաբերությունը Թբիլիսի հետ: Դա հիմք է տալիս եզրակացնելու, որ ՆԱՏՕ-ն տեսանելի ապագայի համար Վրաստանն է դիտարկում Կովկասում «հենակետ»: Դա էլ նշանակում է Թուրքիայի դերի նվազում:



Բավական բարդ է ասել՝ ՆԱՏՕ Վրաստանի հանդեպ մոտեցումներն ու հեռանկարնե՞րն են Թուրքիային ստիպել «տեսնել իր գլխի ճարը» նվազող նշանակության պայմաններում, միաժամանակ նաեւ գնալ հակադրության՝ իր դերը պահելու համար, թե՞ հակառակը՝ ՆԱՏՕ-ն Թուրքիայի քայլերը կանխատեսելով է գնում Վրաստանի հենակետը ամրացնելու եւ ինստիտուցիոնալացնելու ճանապարհով:



Ընդհանուր առմամբ, այստեղ առաջնային կարող է լինել ՆԱՏՕ ռազմավարությունը: Բանն այն է, որ վրացական հենակետը ՆԱՏՕ-ին տալիս է ավելի լայն եւ ճկուն տարածաշրջանային ներգրավվածության հնարավորություն: Վրաստան հենակետը ՆԱՏՕ-ին տալիս է նաեւ Հայաստանի հետ կոոպերացիան առավել սերտացնելու եւ առավել արդյունավետ առաջ մղելու հնարավորություն, քան Թուրքիայի դեպքում: Իսկ առանց Հայաստանի տարածաշրջանային ներգրավվածությունն ու ռազմավարությունը կլինի թերի եւ անարդյունավետ: Անգամ ռուսական պաշտպանական գերազդեցության տակ գտնվելու պայմաններում հայկական զինուժն իր ռազմավարական առաքելությամբ առավել համահունչ եւ ներդաշնակ է հենց եվրատլանտյան անվտանգության ռազմավարությանը, քան ռուսականին, համենայն դեպս ռուսականի մինչ այժմ եղած տեսքի եւ բովանդակության պարագայում:



Դրա ակնառու վկայությունն էլ Թուրքիայի եւ Ադրբեջանի հետ Մոսկվայի ռազմա-տեխնիկական եւ ռազմա-քաղաքական գործակցության աստիճանն է, որն ակնհայտորեն չի թուլանում անգամ այն դեպքում, երբ ակնհայտ է կողմերի միջեւ փոխադարձ անվստահությունը: Պարզապես նույնքան ակնառու է նրանց փոխադարձ շահը, առանց իրար գործելու անկարողությունը, սակայն որի պայմաններում անգամ նրանք շարունակում են զինել ու սնել միմյանց:



Եվ այստեղ ռուս-թուրքական ՀՕՊ գործարքի հարցում Հայաստանի համար էլ առաջանում են հարցեր, որոնց վերաբերյալ ինչպես Թուրքիան պետք է բացատրություն տա ՆԱՏՕ-ին, այնպես էլ Հայաստանին բացատրություն պետք է տա Ռուսաստանը: Մասնավորապես, արդյոք Թուրքիայի ձեռք բերած Ս 400 համակարգերը չեն հայտնվի Ադրբեջանի տրամադրության տակ, կամ պարզապես չեն ինտեգրվի ադրբեջանական ՀՕՊ համակարգին, այդպիսով նվազեցնելով Հայաստանի ռազմավարական կամ օպերատիվ-մարտավարական արդյունավետությունն Ադրբեջանի նկատմամբ: Ի վերջո պատասխանի անհրաժեշտություն ունի հարցը, թե արդյոք Ս 400-ն ի վիճակի է կամ չեզոքացնել, կամ զգալիորեն նվազեցնել Իսկանդերի արդյունավետությունը:

[Haykakan]

Breaking: Houthi forces launch missiles at Saudi King Fahd Airport

By Leith Fadel
-
27/07/2017 BEIRUT, LEBANON (9:45 P.M.) – Minutes ago, the Houthi forces fired a number of missiles towards the King Fahd Airport in southern Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni group’s official media announced.

According to the Houthi media wing, their units fired several Burkan-1 missiles at the King Fahd Airport, scoring direct hits on their target late at night.

The Houthi forces have launched several Burkan-1 missiles into Saudi Arabia recently, targeting oil fields and military installations around the country.


Previously, the Houthi forces fired a multitude of Burkan-1 missiles at a Saudi oil field in the western part of the country, sparking outrage from the Al-Saud regime.

The Houthi forces typically fire missiles into Saudi Arabia to hound the Al-Saud regime for their continuous bombing campaign campaign of northern Yemen.

I hope the Houthis win this war.

[Haykakan]

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Asbarez Armenian News July 27 2017 U.S. General Visits Armenia, Meets With Defense Officials Major General Lee Tafanelli (center) with US Ambassador Richard Mills (right) during a meeting with Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan on July 26 YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—A U.S. general overseeing the Kansas National Guard is visiting Armenia for a third time in less than a year shortly after his troops trained more Armenian soldiers as part of growing U.S.-Armenian defense cooperation. Major General Lee Tafanelli, the Kansas adjutant general, met with Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian on Wednesday. He reportedly pledged to continue training programs for Armenian military personnel mostly serving in a special brigade that contributes troops to multinational peacekeeping missions around the world. The Armenian Peacekeeping Brigade has received considerable technical assistance from U.S. Army Europe and the Kansas National Guard. In particular, U.S. instructors have been training the brigade’s medical personnel and demining experts. The Armenian military inaugurated a U.S.-sponsored paramedic school in October last year. Tafanelli’s department reported earlier this week that more soldiers of the Peacekeeping Brigade have undergone training at a Kansas National Guard facility in Salina, a small city in the U.S. state. “The Guardsmen and Armenian soldiers conducted training exercises in the Humvee egress rollover trainer and in the virtual convoy simulator,” it said in a statement. The Kansas Adjutant General’s Department also released several photographs of the joint exercises held this month. The U.S. has also helped Armenia to recruit and train more non-commissioned contract officers. As part of that effort, 25 Armenian army sergeants underwent further training in Kansas in August 2016. According to the Armenian Defense Ministry, Sargsian and Tafanelli discussed these training programs at their meeting. “The American side expressed readiness to continue cooperation in these directions through long-term programs,” read a ministry statement. Despite its military alliance with Russia, Armenia has deepened defense cooperation with NATO and the United States in particular since the early 2000s. It currently contributes troops to NATO-led missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan and regularly participates in multinational exercises organized by U.S. forces in Europe. U.S. military assistance to Armenia has totaled about $50 million since 2002. Tafanelli said that U.S.-Armenian military ties are now “as strong as they have ever been” during his previous visit to Yerevan in January. “Each year continues to get better and better with the quality of the engagements and partnership between our two countries,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). Tafanelli as well as a deputy commander of U.S. Army Europe, Major General John Gronski, also attended last September official ceremonies in Armenia that marked the 25th anniversary of the country’s independence. A military parade in Yerevan was the main highlight of those celebrations. In addition, the Kansas National Guard has been assisting Armenia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations. Emergency Situations Minister Davit Tonoyan praised that assistance when he met Tafanelli on Thursday. In a statement, Tonoyan’s office said the two men discussed ongoing training courses for Armenian firefighters and rescue workers organized by the Kansas Guard and the British military. The ten-day courses began on July 18 at two different locations in Armenia. The statement said Tonoyan and Tafanelli will visit both venues on Thursday and Friday. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2...dNW199HahTs&e=

[Haykakan]

PRAVDA, Russia
July 27 2017









Russia and Armenia create unified army

27.07.2017 | Source: Pravda.Ru

Source: Mil.ru

President Vladimir Putin signed the law on the ratification of the agreement with Armenia about the creation of a group of combined forces. The Russian Parliament, the State Duma, considered the agreement in June 2016. The document was posted on the official website of legal information. "To ratify the agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia on the united group alignment (forces) of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, signed in Moscow on November 30, 2016," the law says. Last week, Armenia announced a possibility for a war to break out after Russia supplied weapons to Azerbaijan. According to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, this is the most painful aspect of the Armenian-Russian friendship and bilateral relations between the two countries in general. Pravda.Ru http://www.pravdareport.com/news/world/ussr/27-07-2017/138269-russia_armenia-0/

[Haykakan]

Emerging Europe
July 31 2017

Can Armenia Keep a Foot in Both Camps?


July 31, 2017 Michael Hindley

Geography and history are political tyrants and nowhere more so than for in Armenia. For all the emphasis, nowadays, on the potential of regional trade, Armenia is boxed into a situation that offers little or no openings. History, distant and none too distant, rules our alliances with Turkey or Azerbaijan and Russia’s brutal show of force in Georgia, in 2008, casts a sombre shadow on Tbilisi’s room for manoeuvre.
The collapse of the Soviet Union raised the profile of its European nemesis, the European Union (EU). The liberated Baltic States found sanctuary and hope in membership of the EU as did Soviet satellites such as Poland and Hungary. Putin has since stabilised Russia, though we may disapprove of his methods, and this has prevented any other former Soviet Union states following the Baltics. The EU’s ham-fisted and naive attempts to draw the whole of the Ukraine into its orbit have proven catastrophic, leaving other aspiring candidates for EU membership apprehensive.
With no contingent border with any EU state, Armenia has observed this still-unravelling drama with a mixture of optimism, pessimism and above all resigned realism.
Looking westwards from Armenia has been useful, practically, but of limited practicability. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe, formerly in the Soviet sphere, have had a rocky road of integration with the EU. The earliest pilgrims, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary set the pattern when their political elite used the incentive of membership of the EU to push through domestic economic reforms. The cold shower therapy brought immediate collapses but was mitigated by the promise of the warmer waters of the EU market. Subsequent disillusionment has led to the rise of nationalist populism in Poland and Hungary.
Armenia realised early enough that “membership” was some distant grail and better kept as such, membership — given geography alone — simply wasn’t and isn’t on any immediate agenda. But, and here the Armenian elite have been canny, using the EU’s templates for economic reform have proved extremely useful in reforming parts of the Armenian economy, particularly in areas such as food safety and the potential reform of state aid legislation. This certainly helps Armenia’s export potential to the EU, the country’s largest market.
Armenia’s autocratic governments have no difficulty ramming through reforms with little fear of effective opposition. Going further and deepening relations with the EU, as was once seen as possible and is certainly logical, towards a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU, would have obvious benefits. However, and it is a very large however, the EU offers no safety net as the pro-EU factions in Ukraine have found to their bitter cost. As an economic model, Russia has little attraction for Armenia, but in a convoluted way Russia does offer security, in the sense of offering not to become a threat.
This is the background to Armenia’s volte-face when it joined the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in 2014, under Russian duress. The attractions of the Belarus, Kyrgyz and Kazakh markets are scarcely tempting and certainly not in comparison to the EU. However, offending Russia in order to further a dream, rather than a promise, from the EU simply wasn’t worth the risk.
The question now is can Armenia keep a foot in both camps? Certainly the EU has deep reservations, because membership of the EEU is incompatible with membership of the EU and probably incompatible with any enhanced trading relations with the EU which Armenia had wanted, prior to 2014.
With its unfortunate experience of over-enthusiasm towards Ukraine, the EU has retrenched and decided that, for the time being, a “Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement” with Armenia is enough to keep things warming on the back-burner.
The EU is popular in Armenia and the Armenian elite, who benefit from technical and law framing guidance and financial aid from the EU. Armenia also wishes to expand its exports to the world largest single market and needs technical aid to meet EU market regulations.
Both the EU and Armenia realise that “membership” offers can indeed be counter-productive. In Hungary and Poland, the previous reformist governments have got too far ahead of the population and have provoked populist backlashes. On the other hand, for Armenia the EEU is a realistic, though limited, scenario. In the unlikely event of the EEU being economically successful, then Armenia gains; and anyway joining keeps Russia happy.
A revived EU/Armenia Agreement has been initialled at ministerial level, but needs approval. This is no problem in authoritarian Armenia, where the political process has been compliant to the demands of its elite, even when it involves a volte face on the EEU in 2014.
On the EU side, the deal has to be ratified by the Strasbourg Parliament, which can be a tricky matter. Justified concerns will be expressed about human and democratic rights in Armenia and there will be a vocal anti-Putin caucus that is distrustful of the EEU. But for how long Armenia’s tightrope walk of external trade and internal economic reform à la Berlaymont (EU HQ) and external security à la Kremlin lasts, remains to be seen. Certainly luck and good judgement will be needed in great measure.
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The views expressed in this opinion editorial are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Emerging Europe’s editorial policy.
About Michael Hindley

Michael Hindley is an adviser on trade relations to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), including reports on EU/Central Asia relations. Earlier, he was vice-president of the European Parliament’s Trade Committee and an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) election monitor in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. He is a frequent lecturer on EU External Relations including at Economics University of Varna Babes Bolyai University in Cluj; Higher Schools of Economics Perm and Moscow, Russia; Academy of Economic Science in Chisinau and Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv.
http://emerging-europe.com/voices/voices-intl-relations/can-armenia-keep-a-foot-in-both-camps/

[Vrej1915]

In pictures: Syrian Army holds parade in Qamishli, shows off military power to rival Kurds

By Chris Tomson
-02/08/2017



DAMASCUS, SYRIA (11:20 P.M.) – Tanks and armored vehicles patrolled Qamishli on Wednesday afternoon as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) sent a clear message to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that government troops refuse to tolerate the establishment of Rojava, a self-proclaimed Kurdish federation spanning across much of northern Syria.

Although cut off from the government mainland, the SAA’s Qamishli garrison proved itself a force to be reckoned with today, posing in front of the cameras for a rare parade:
Chris Tomson | AMNChris Tomson | AMNChris Tomson | AMNChris Tomson | AMN
The Qamishli pocket, one of two government enclaves in Hasakah province, stretches from the border crossing with Turkey to some 50 government-held villages south of the city.

With control of Qamishli split between the Kurds and SAA from 2012 onwards, sporadic clashes have erupted ever since although neither side has been able to expel the other. The latest ongoing skirmishes took place in April 2016 after which a Russian delegation brokered a ceasefire.

The SDF’s political wing has proclaimed Qamishli its capital city and administrative center although most of its residents come from a ethnicities, most notably Kurds, Arabs and Assyrians.

ISIS remains at odds with both the SDF and SAA but has never managed to reach Qamishli city, having been expelled from Hasakah city in late July, 2015.

[Vrej1915]

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/nationwide-map-syria-august-2-2017/