Skip to main content

Home/ CULF 3331: "Middle Eastern Revolutions"/ Group items tagged strikes

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
tdford333

Everything you need to know about the drone debate, in one FAQ - The Washington Post - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...ut-the-drone-debate-in-one-faq

shared by tdford333 on 08 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • "drone" has come to refer to unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), which are UAVs equipped with combat capabilities, most commonly the ability to launch missiles.
  • Predators were deployed to Afghanistan almost immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and on Oct. 7, 2001 they conducted their first armed mission there.
  • The current program is jointly administered by the CIA and the Joint Special Operation Command (JSOC).
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • Predator drones can carry up to two Hellfire missiles. Those have warheads of about 20 pounds, which are designed to pierce tank armor;
  • Reapers are another story. They feature a maximum payload of 3,000 pounds, or 1.5 tons. That means they can carry a combination of Hellfires and larger 500 pound bombs like the GBU-12 Paveway II and GBD-38 JDAM. Those have an "effective casualty radius" of about 200 feet.
  • From 2008 through October 2012, there were 1,015 strikes in Afghanistan, 48 in Iraq, and at least 105 in Libya
  • Primarily al-Qaeda and its affiliates. That includes al-Shaabab in Somalia, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (which works in Yemen), and the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
  • Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born al-Qaeda operative in Yemen, was killed in a drone strike in 2011, as was his American-born 17-year-old son
  • Ahmed Hijazi, also an American citizen based in Yemen, was killed in 2002. 
  • The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) will prepare lists of potential targets, which will be reviewed every three months by a panel of intelligence analysts and military officials. They are then passed along to a panel at the National Security Council, currently helmed by CIA director nominee Brennan, and then to Obama for final approval.
  • There is, however, substantial evidence that the percentage of casualties borne by civilians is much lower with drone strikes than with just about any other kind of military intervention
  • It derives the authority for the strikes from the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed in the wake of 9/11, which grants the government broad powers against al-Qaeda.
  • allows states to make war in the interest of self-defense
  • Critics, like UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns, say that this defense is a stretch, and the killings plainly run afoul of the laws of war and international human rights treaties.
  • Only the United States and the United Kingdom (which assists in the Pakistan drone effort) currently use drones in combat
  • All told, the GAO estimates that 76 countries, at least, have drone technology.
  • The Yemeni government quietly agreed to the strikes
  • Citizens in both countries deplore the campaigns.
  • there are deeper doubts as to whether the strategy is recruiting more militants than it kills, by turning local populations against the United States.
tdford333

Daniel Byman | Why Drones Work | Foreign Affairs - 0 views

www.foreignaffairs.com/...why-drones-work

shared by tdford333 on 08 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • Whereas President George W. Bush oversaw fewer than 50 drone strikes during his tenure, Obama has signed off on over 400 of them in the last four years
  • And they have done so at little financial cost, at no risk to U.S. forces, and with fewer civilian casualties than many alternative methods would have caused.
  • So drone warfare is here to stay, and it is likely to expand in the years to come as other countries’ capabilities catch up with those of the United States.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Critics of drone strikes often fail to take into account the fact that the alternatives are either too risky or unrealistic.
  • Even the most unfavorable estimates of drone casualties reveal that the ratio of civilian to militant deaths is lower than it would be for other forms of strikes.
  • signature strikes,” which target not specific individuals but instead groups engaged in suspicious activities.
  • After a strike in Pakistan, militants often cordon off the area, remove their dead, and admit only local reporters sympathetic to their cause or decide on a body count themselves. The U.S. media often then draw on such faulty reporting to give the illusion of having used multiple sources. As a result, statistics on civilians killed by drones are often inflated.
  • data show that drones are more discriminate than other types of force.
  • Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, also at times allowed drone strikes in his country and even covered for them by telling the public that they were conducted by the Yemeni air force.
  • As officials in both Pakistan and Yemen realize, U.S. drone strikes help their governments by targeting common enemies.
  • A 2012 poll found that 74 percent of Pakistanis viewed the United States as their enemy, likely in part because of the ongoing drone campaign. Similarly, in Yemen, as the scholar Gregory Johnsen has pointed out, drone strikes can win the enmity of entire tribes.
  • Many surveys of public opinion related to drones are conducted by anti-drone organizations, which results in biased samples.
  • And for most Pakistanis and Yemenis, the most important problems they struggle with are corruption, weak representative institutions, and poor economic growth; the drone program is only a small part of their overall anger, most of which is directed toward their own governments.
aromo0

Drone strikes in Yemen Archives - The Bureau of Investigative Journalism - 0 views

www.thebureauinvestigates.com/...drones-yemen

strikes yemen drones archives

shared by aromo0 on 27 Jan 16 - Cached
  • aromo0 on 27 Jan 16
     
    Site offers information on the drone strikes in Yemen and data charts depicting who is dying. Other links on website lead to other news articles relating to drone strikes in other countries as well such as Pakistan. 
  • aromo0 on 28 Jan 16
     
    Site offers information on the drone strikes in Yemen and data charts depicting who is dying. Other links on website lead to other news articles relating to drone strikes in other countries as well such as Pakistan. 
jreyesc

UAE's 1st female fighter pilot carried out strikes on ISIS - CBS News - 0 views

www.cbsnews.com/...ter-pilot-part-of-isis-strikes

ISIS Women UEA Strikes

shared by jreyesc on 28 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • jreyesc on 28 Sep 14
     
    Mariam al- Mansouri took part in an air strike against ISIS. She was the first women to lead an air strike in the country. In the UEA women do have hight positions in government minister, police officers, and as executives, but it's still a men dominated country.
tdford333

Drone Strike in Yemen Said to Kill Senior Qaeda Figure - NYTimes.com - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...en-killed-in-drone-strike.html

drone strikes yemen

shared by tdford333 on 15 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • Drone Strike in Yemen Said to Kill Senior Qaeda Figure
  • Jan. 31, destroyed a car in Shabwah Province, in southern Yemen, killing four of its members who were inside. One of them, the statement said, was Harith al-Nadhari, an ideologue who had publicly praised the attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
  • Houthi fighters forced the resignation of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Jan. 22
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The Houthis, though bitter enemies of Al Qaeda, have publicly opposed American drone strikes in Yemen. But they have apparently done nothing to interfere with the strikes since they took de facto control last month, and the American military has said the strikes will continue.
  • Mr. Nadhari praised their actions and said that France would face further attacks if it did not halt its “aggression against the Muslims.”
tdford333

Monthly Drone Report, March 2015: US drone strikes drop 50% as chaos envelops Yemen | T... - 0 views

www.thebureauinvestigates.com/...kes-halve-chaos-envelops-yemen

Yemen drone

shared by tdford333 on 03 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • Monthly Drone Report, March 2015: US drone strikes drop 50% as chaos envelops Yemen
  • tdford333 on 03 Apr 15
     
    Drone strikes and casualties dropped by about 50% in the first quarter of 2015, compared with the final three months of 2014. US officials told the Associated Press that CIA drone strikes would continue but that there would be "fewer of them", amid concerns about the lack of on-the-ground intelligence or coordinating partners.
tdford333

Almost 2,500 Now Killed by Covert US Drone Strikes Since Obama Inauguration Six Years A... - 0 views

www.commondreams.org/...ama-inauguration-six-years-ago

Yemen drones

shared by tdford333 on 27 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • Almost 2,500 Now Killed by Covert US Drone Strikes Since Obama Inauguration
  • tdford333 on 27 Mar 15
     
    At least 2,464 people have now been killed by US drone strikes outside the country's declared war zones since President Barack Obama's inauguration six years ago. According to the BIJ, there has been a 9 time increase in drone strikes since Obama took office.
kbrisba

Tunisia province declares strike over protester death | Africa | Worldbulletin News - 0 views

www.worldbulletin.net/...es-strike-over-protester-death

shared by kbrisba on 15 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • kbrisba on 15 Mar 15
     
    A strike was declared near the border with Libya, two days after deadly clashes with security forces left a protester dead and another injured. The strike was a result from the response to calls by Tunisia's largest trade union and the local provincial council. They had called on public and private institutions in the province except for hospitals and pharmacies. Following the death of the protester the UGTT renewed calls for banning the use of birdshot by police to disperse demonstrations.
tdford333

41 men targeted but 1,147 people killed: US drone strikes - the facts on the ground | U... - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...-sp-us-drone-strikes-kill-1147

drones Yemen civillians

shared by tdford333 on 27 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • 41 men targeted but 1,147 people killed
  • tdford333 on 27 Mar 15
     
    A new analysis of the data available to the public about drone strikes, conducted by the human-rights group Reprieve, indicates that even when operators target specific individuals - the most focused effort of what Barack Obama calls "targeted killing" - they kill vastly more people than their targets, often needing to strike multiple times. Attempts to kill 41 men resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,147 people, as of 24 November.
kevinobkirchner

Egypt hunger strikes gain momentum - Middle East - Al Jazeera English - 0 views

www.aljazeera.com/...entum-2014913154059914388.html

egypt protest hunger strikes

shared by kevinobkirchner on 28 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • kevinobkirchner on 28 Sep 14
     
    Several political parties and journalists have began hunger strikes in protest of prisoners locked up under the draconian anti-protest law enacted after Morsi was deposed by the military. The law has drawn international criticism and the post Morsi period saw violent crackdowns, torture, and executions that some say rival the darkest days of the Mubarak presidency.
fcastro2

The U.S. Needs to Rethink Its Anti-ISIS Approach in Syria | TIME - 0 views

time.com/...u-s-anti-isis-campaign-syria

ISIS syria politics US strategy

shared by fcastro2 on 09 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • As a result, morale among nationalist fighters in northern Syria has plummeted
  • ISIS remains essentially unchallenged in its heartland in northern Syria, despite repeated U.S. air strikes
  • In the south, nationalists have fared better at keeping ISIS out and Jabhat al Nusra in check, partly due to a coherent, rational U.S.-led support program operating covertly out of Jordan
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • A strategy to beat the jihadists and make sure they stay beaten must be locally-driven, led by nationalist forces supported by the Sunni population that forms the insurgency’s social base.
  • The U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) has scored some points in Syria, weakening ISIS’s oil infrastructure and revenues and keeping the group out of Kobane
  • the promised U.S. train-and-equip program is unlikely to reverse the nationalists’ losses or jihadists’ gains in northern Syria
  • air strikes alone, and treating nationalist groups as agents rather than partners, violates this principle
  • , the U.S. has helped nationalists in the south avoid the fragmentation, infighting, and lawlessness that weakened them and benefited the jihadists in northern Syria
  • ISIS offers conquered populations the choice between submission – which brings a sense of order and some protection from regime violence – or futile resistance and death
  • Jabhat al Nusra has driven nationalist forces out of much of their core territory in northern Syria, and ISIS continues to threaten those that remain
  • Even if the coalition wants to avoid confronting regime forces, it can and should concentrate air strikes closer to ISIS’s front lines with the nationalist insurgency, helping the latter block ISIS advances in cooperation with local Kurdish forces when possible
  • the United States has excluded them from the coalition military effort
  • , U.S. interests would be better served by a two-pronged approach in northern and southern Syria, helping nationalist rebels contain ISIS and compete with Jabhat al Nusra for control of the insurgency.
  • U.S. airstrikes on jihadists have spared the regime’s forces and inadvertently killed Syrian civilians
  • that Sunni Muslims are under siege by oppressive regional minorities, Iran, and even the United States itself
  • Ironically, the coalition campaign has contributed to the near-collapse of nationalist forces in northern Syria who, despite their imperfections, were ISIS’s most effective rivals and competed with Jabhat al Nusra for leadership of the insurgency
  • campaign has had serious local side effects that have undermined the broader, long-term objective of degrading and destroying ISIS in Syria and preventing the Al Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat al Nusra, from replacing or thriving alongside ISIS
  • fcastro2 on 09 Mar 15
     
    The U.S. should no long really solely on air-strikes to bring down the ISIS group in Syria but it needs other strategic plans. They need to work with the people in Syria and gain their support and trust in order to defeat ISIS.
tdford333

US drone strikes al-Qaeda amid Yemen political crisis - Al Jazeera English - 0 views

www.aljazeera.com/...-qaeda-yemen-political-cr.html

strikes yemen drones

shared by tdford333 on 28 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • tdford333 on 28 Jan 15
     
    The strike killed two Yemeni fighters and a Saudi fighter, an al-Qaeda member told The Associated Press news agency.
tdford333

US drone strike in southern Yemen kills 3 AQAP fighters | The Long War Journal - 1 views

www.longwarjournal.org/...yemen-kill-3-aqap-fighters.php

shared by tdford333 on 22 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • US drone strike in southern Yemen kills 3 AQAP fighters
  • The strike is the third in the province this year.
  • AQAP has re-established its presence in Shabwa as the Yemeni government has been weakened by the Houthi rebellion
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The US has launched four drone strike in Yemen since the beginning of 2015.
  • The US lost its biggest partner in Yemen when the Houthis took control of Sana’a and forced President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the government to resign.
  • US officials have insisted that counterterrorism operations against AQAP will continue.
  • President Obama previously praised the US counterterrorism strategy in Yemen as “one that we have successfully pursued.”
  • tdford333 on 22 Feb 15
     
    This article is about the a recent US drone attack in Yemen which killed 3 AQAP fighters. Also mentioned are the reassurances of the US that drone attacks will continue.
nicolet1189

BBC News - Battle for Iraq and Syria in maps - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-middle-east-27838034

Isis Syria Iraq air strikes

shared by nicolet1189 on 29 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • The US with Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates launched 14 strikes against IS in Syria, hitting a number of targets, including Raqqa, a stronghold in eastern Syria captured by the group in 2013.
  • al-Qaeda veterans named
  • These refineries are believed to be producing "between 300-500 barrels of refined petrolium per day", generating as much as $2 million (£1.2m) per day for the militants, a key source of revenue for IS.
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • Khorasan
  • killed 14 of the group's fighters and five civilians
  • more than 200 attacks on IS targets in Iraq since 8 August. F
  • concentrated on targets around the Mosul Dam -
  • a caliphate, or Islamic state, stretching from Aleppo in Syria to the province of Diyala in Iraq.
  • Mosul
  • Ramadi
  • Falluja
  • Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
  • beneath him are four advisory councils:
  • 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria -
  • 12,000 fighters from almost 80 countries
  • foreign recruits - the number of whom has surged since IS declared itself a caliphate in the summer, international investigators say.
  • majority are from nearby Arab countries, such as Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
  • 16 "wilayats", or provinces, that IS claims to control,
  • match areas where its predecessor, al-Qaeda in Iraq
  • three million people have fled abroad to escape the fighting in Syria.
  • nicolet1189 on 29 Sep 14
     
    This article provides a detailed outline of the battle against ISIS in Iraq and Syria through the use of maps, charts, and photographs to allow readers to visualize areas where fighting is taking place. Several maps provide locations of ISIS controlled territory, locations of airstrikes, and locations of ISIS controlled oil refineries. It was really helpful to see different maps outlining this information because I often hear about this conflict on the radio or television programs and it can be hard to understand the scope of the conflict without any visual aids. I really appreciated the effort to show in detail the specific locations.
  • nicolet1189 on 13 Oct 14
     
    This article outlined the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq providing detailed maps, charts, and photos to present a more clear picture of where violence and air strikes are occurring.
kbrisba

South Tunisia in strike over export tax and man's death - Al Jazeera English - 0 views

www.aljazeera.com/...man-death-150210173304752.html

shared by kbrisba on 01 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • kbrisba on 01 Mar 15
     
    Southern Tunisia lives largely off illegal cross-border trade. A strike has been staged following deadly clashes between police and demonstrators after the seizure of contraband fuel. Unions are demanding job creation schemes, the lifting of an export tax imposed on goods imposed in October. It is estimated that about 328,000 tonnes of contraband products pass through Ras Jedir annually. Smuggling was costing the Tunisian exchequer at least $675m a year.
tdford333

The 3 Real Problems With Drone Strikes | Cenk Uygur - 0 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...es-barack-obama_b_2832172.html

shared by tdford333 on 08 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • We have used drones to execute U.S. civilians without a trial.
  • Most of the drone strikes are signature strikes where we have no idea who we're killing.
  • We often do double taps where we kill first-responders and the people trying to help the wounded.
nfyffe

PJAK members on hunger strike for Kobanê | ANF - 2 views

en.firatnews.com/...n-hunger-strike-for-kobane.htm

shared by nfyffe on 22 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • nfyffe on 22 Oct 14
     
    A group of PJAK [Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê, Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan] members in the Danish city of Arhus have started a three-day hunger strike to protest against the ongoing attacks of ISIS on Kobanê. The hunger strike which is being carried out in front of the Arhus Municipality building will end on Sunday.
mpatel5

UK launches first drone strike in Iraq against Isis militants - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...k-first-drone-strike-iraq-isis

drone-strike Britain ISIS Bayji Baghdad Cyprus

shared by mpatel5 on 11 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • mpatel5 on 11 Nov 14
     
    Britain has launched its first drone strike against Islamic State (Isis) fighters in Iraq. An RAF Reaper drone fired a Hellfire missile at Isis forces laying improvised explosive devices near Bayji, the site of Iraq's biggest oil refinery, north of Baghdad, over the weekend, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday.
tdford333

Drone Wars Yemen: Analysis | The International Security Program - 0 views

securitydata.newamerica.net/...analysis

shared by tdford333 on 28 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • tdford333 on 28 Jan 15
     
    This site records Yemen Drone Attacks and air strikes over the course of years. Yemen strike locations are also shown via map.
tdford333

We dream about drones, said 13-year-old Yemeni before his death in a CIA strike | World... - 2 views

www.theguardian.com/...ammed-tuaiman-death-cia-strike

drone strikes yemen

shared by tdford333 on 15 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • We dream about drones, said 13-year-old Yemeni before his death in a CIA strike
  • he lived in constant fear of the “death machines” in the sky that had already killed his father and brother.
  • They turned our area into hell and continuous horror, day and night, we even dream of them in our sleep.”
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • In 2011 an unmanned combat drone killed his father and teenage brother as they were out herding the family’s camels.
  • the Tuaiman men have been involved in pushing back against the Houthis.
  • Maqdad said the family had been wrongly associated with al-Qaida, and family members strongly deny that Mohammed was involved in any al-Qaida or anti-Houthi fighting.
1 - 20 of 105 Next › Last »
Showing 20▼ items per page