Russia Has Launched Kalibr Missile; ISIS Attack in Northern Iraq; U.S. Leaving Some Troops in Syria

By TOC On Oct 22, 2019

PANAGYURISHTE, (BM) – Your briefly report on October 22 in last twelve hours from BulgarianMilitary.com:

Russia’s top brass reject reports of Kalibr launches not from ‘first attempt’ in drills

The reports that seaborne Kalibr cruise missiles were not launched from the first attempt during the Grom-2019 (Thunder-2019) strategic command and staff drills have nothing to do with reality, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

“The information published by RBC that Kalibr missiles allegedly were not launched from the first attempt from the ships Tatarstan and Grad Sviyazhsk is nonsense from the beginning to the end. The Kalibr seaborne cruise missiles were launched from the small missile ship Grad Sviyazhsk successfully and in the normal mode,” the statement says.

“Finally, the missile ship Tatarstan mentioned by RBC has never been armed and is not armed with sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles. That is why, it could not, in principle, launch them,” the Defense Ministry said.

The missile launches were registered by the recording equipment in real time and were subsequently demonstrated on central TV channels both to the Russian and foreign audiences, the ministry stressed.

ISIS attack kills two security forces near northern Iraqi oilfields

Two members of Iraq’s security forces were killed and three wounded when Islamic State militants attacked checkpoints in the Allas oilfields area of the northern Salahuddin province on Monday, the military said in a statement.

The Allas oilfield, 35 km (20 miles) south of Hawija, was one of the main sources of revenue for Islamic State, which in 2014 declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.

Iraq declared victory over the hardline Sunni militants in late 2017 after pushing them out of all territory it held in the country. They have since reverted to hit-and-run insurgency tactics aimed at destabilizing the government in Baghdad.

“Elements of the terrorist Daesh gangs attacked two security checkpoints in the Alas oilfields area of Salahuddin province, and an improvised explosive device blew up a vehicle belonging to security forces stationed there, leading to the martyrdom of two of them,” the statement said.

Militants also opened fire on the security forces who attempted to evacuate the bodies, injuring three more.

U.S. mulls leaving some troops in Syria to guard oil – Pentagon

The Pentagon is considering keeping some U.S. troops near oilfields in northeastern Syria alongside Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to help deny oil to Islamic State militants, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Monday.

U.S. troops are crossing into Iraq as part of a broader withdrawal from Syria ordered by President Donald Trump, a decision that allowed Turkey to launch an offensive against the SDF which for years was a U.S. ally battling Islamic State.

More than 100 vehicles crossed the border into Iraq early on Monday from the northeast tip of Syria, where Turkey agreed to pause its offensive for five days under a deal with Washington.

The truce expires late on Tuesday, just after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is set to discuss next steps in the region at a meeting in Russia with President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to reporters during a trip to Afghanistan, Esper said that, while the U.S. withdrawal was under way, some troops were still with partner forces near oilfields and there had been discussions about keeping some of them there.

He said that was one option and no decision had been made “with regard to numbers or anything like that”. The Pentagon’s job was to look at different options, he added.

“We presently have troops in a couple of cities that (are)located right near that area,” Esper said. “The purpose is to deny access, specifically revenue to ISIS (Islamic State) and any other groups that may want to seek that revenue to enable their own malign activities.”

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BulgarianMilitary.com
Editorial team
Source: TASS, TJP, Reuters