Nordafrika, Revolutionen & Transformationen Einstellungen

[Schwabo Elite]

Liebe User,

nach längerer Downtime hat sich das WHQ-Team darauf geeinigt die zuletzt sehr heißen und wenig konstruktiven Diskussionen zu den Konflikten in Nordafrika sowie dem Nahen und Mittleren Osten neu zu starten. Dabei würden wir gerne den geographisch und politisch sehr weiten Raum von Iran bis Marokko in vorerst drei Threads aufteilen. Die Threads zu

• Bürgerkriege in Syrien und im Irak - Die Neuordnung Mesopotamiens?
• Nordafrika - Revolutionen & Transformationen
• Saudi Arabien vs. Iran vs. Türkei - Machtpole und "Regional Player" im islamischen Vorderasien

gehen damit online. Wir würden uns wünschen, dass die sicher auftretenden Überschneidungen, z. B. eine iranisch-saudische Stellvertreterproblematik in Mesopotamien, von Euch allen in einer Art freiwilliger Selbstkontrolle gesteuert werden. Das heißt, es liegt an Euch Überschneidungen auf möglichst einen Thread zu reduzieren oder direkt neue Threads zu beginnen.

Insbesondere das neue Beginnen von Threads oder die Bitte an uns um Ausgliederung hilft uns sehr und reduziert moderative Schließungen von Threads. Es ist immer umständlicher "am offenen Herzen zu operieren" und Themen auszulagern, während weitere Beiträge produziert werden. Wenn Ihr also selbst auf Kontexte und Rote Fäden achtet, bleiben Diskussionen länger lebendig. Neue Threads und ein Mehr an Diskussionen finden daher grundsätzlich unsere Unterstützung.

Viel Vergnügen,
Euer WHQ-Team

[Dave76]

U.S. Airstrikes Kill 80 ISIL Fighters in Libya, Carter Says

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2017 — The overnight U.S. precision airstrikes on two Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant training camps near Sirte, Libya, are estimated to have killed more than 80 enemy fighters, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said today.

On the eve of leaving his position as defense secretary, Carter told reporters at the Pentagon the airstrikes were vital in the American and coalition forces’ campaign to “deal ISIL the lasting defeat it deserves.”

The secretary said many of the estimated dead were fighters who had converged on the camps after fleeing from local partner forces that cleared Sirte last month with U.S. help. Sirte is nearly 28 miles southwest of the training camps that were struck last night.

Strikes Targeted External Plotters

The operation involved the United States in conjunction with its partners and Libya's Government of National Accord, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.

“The fighters training in these camps posed a security risk to Libya, its neighbors, our allies in Africa and Europe, and to the United States and its interests,” he said.

“Importantly, these strikes were directed against some of ISIL's external plotters, who were actively planning operations against our allies in Europe,” Carter noted. “These were critically important strikes for our campaign and a clear example of our enduring commitment to destroy ISIL's cancer -- not only in Iraq and Syria, but everywhere it emerges.”

Strikes Help Sirte’s Liberation

As the U.S. assessment of the airstrikes in Libya continues, Cook said, the initial analysis is the strikes were successful in destroying the camps, and their destruction will degrade ISIL's ability to threaten the Libyan people or disrupt efforts to stabilize Sirte after its liberation.

Two U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bombers, which took off from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, primarily conducted the joint direct attack munitions hit both camps, the press secretary said.

“The use of the B-2 demonstrates the capability of the United States to deliver decisive precision force to the Air Force's Global Strike Command over a great distance,” he noted, adding that the use of the bombers was a decision by commanders, given the capabilities of the platform and the requirements of the mission.

The spokesman showed surveillance video at one of the camps where he described ISIL members as moving equipment such as homemade bombs and shells.

“We have been watching [the training camps] for some time,” he added.

[...]

http://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/NEWS-ARTICLES...ya-carter-says/

Air Force refuelers enable B-2 strike against Daesh in Libya

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, IL, UNITED STATES, Jan. 20, 2017 — KC-135 Stratotanker and KC-10 Extender crews from five bases on three continents provided aerial refueling support during the B-2 bomber mission which struck two Daesh training camps in Libya Jan. 18, 2017.

Two B-2 Spirit bombers dropped 500-pound GPS-guided bombs on the camps, which were being used to plan and train for attacks against U.S. and allied interests in North Africa and Europe.

A total of 15 tankers participated in the operation, enabling the B-2s to fly the more than 30 hours round-trip to the target from their home base at Whiteman AFB, Missouri. Planners at 18th Air Force and the 618th Air Operations Center at Scott AFB coordinated the tanker mission, ensuring the refueling aircraft were at the right place at the right time to get the bombers to and from the Daesh training camps.

“Our goal was to find the aircraft to do the mission,” said Lt. Col. James Hadley, 18th AF Operations Planner. “The mobility enterprise flexed to put tankers from the U.S., U.S. European and U.S. Central Commands toward this effort. Everybody had a part in making this work, and it was very successful.”

The 305th Air Mobility Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, was one of the units that contributed tankers to the refueling mission. Col. Darren Cole, the 305th AMW commander, said several units had to come together from different locations and commands and function together as a team to make this mission happen.

“It’s a big team that has to execute things on time to make it work right,” he said. “It’s pretty impressive to be able to hit a target globally at a moment’s notice with so many people participating.”

Making sure the tankers and bombers meet at the right place and time is like choreographing a Broadway production, Hadley said.

“When you get the request, you have to look at the whole enterprise,” he said. “Some tankers may already be in the right spot, some may have to be moved. The speed of the aircraft are completely different, so they won’t all take off at the same time, and it takes several mid-air refuelings to make an air bridge. If one person is off, the whole mission can go awry.”

Col. Clint Zumbrunnen, 305th Operations Group commander, said the 305th AMW keeps two aircraft on continuous alert just in case such a mission should come up. He said that, coupled with an efficient operations team, made sure the 305th would fly on time.

“The crews grow up here being conditioned for short-notice missions, to show up, plan and get the fuel to the fight,” Zumbrunnen explained. “Our Current Operations team is also particularly skilled at making operations happen on short notice. It makes us particularly well-equipped to do this sort of mission.”

Hadley said the stakes can be high.

“If a tanker fell out you might have seen on the news how a couple of bombers had to land somewhere in Europe,” he said. “Or even worse, you might have seen a news report about two bombers lost in the North Atlantic. Our tanker fleet enables them to do what they do.”

Using tankers sends a message to friend and foe alike, said Hadley.

“They affect things on a global scale,” he said. “They tell our forces that we can support them where ever they are, and it tells our adversaries that we can find you and touch you on a moment’s notice.”

Cole said he’s proud of the role his Airmen played in this mission.

“As always, they do an outstanding job when their nation calls upon them to do the tough tasks,” he said. “And it came off extremely well. It’s air refueling that puts the ‘global’ in ‘global strike.’”

The Libya strike is just one example of how the command facilitates the tanker war against Daesh, said Brig. Gen. Lenny Richoux, 18th AF vice commander.

"The air bridge our planners and tanker crews create enable U.S. and allied strike aircraft to continuously hit Daesh, or any enemy, no matter where they hide," Richoux said.

"Missions like this one are merely one of many executed every day,” he added. “The mobility enterprise conducts a massive amount of planning every single day, and we coordinate with customers around the globe for each mission. America's air refueling tanker capability are one of the key missions that set us apart from every other Air Force in the world. Everyone needs air refueling and we deliver it."

http://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/NEWS-ARTICLES...daesh-in-libya/