Strikes on T-4 airbase most likely a US attack, says Syria; Pentagon denies

Syrian state TV said on Monday the United States was suspected of striking an air base hours after US President Donald Trump warned of a “big price to pay” as aid groups said dozens of people were killed by poison gas in a rebel-held town.

The United States denied attacking the Syrian base.

“At this time, the Department of Defense is not conducting air strikes in Syria,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

“However, we continue to closely watch the situation and support the ongoing diplomatic efforts to hold those who use chemical weapons, in Syria and otherwise, accountable.”

When asked about the explosions, an Israeli spokeswoman declined to comment. Israel has struck Syrian army locations many times in the course of the conflict, hitting convoys and bases of Iranian-backed militias that fight alongside Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s forces.

Syrian state TV said there were casualties in what it said was a suspected US missile attack on the T-4 airfield near Homs, which is close to the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria.

As Saudis go nuclear, US seeks an edge over power rivals China, Russia

At a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna last September, word spread that Saudi Arabia had identified a handful of countries that could build two nuclear reactors in the kingdom. The US wasn’t among them -- until Energy Secretary Rick Perry buttonholed the Saudi delegates and told them America wanted in.

Within weeks, a mostly US consortium headed by Westinghouse Electric Co. had joined the race. Its executives have visited the kingdom. So has Perry, whose intervention was described by two people who attended the meeting. In the next few months, the Saudis are expected to narrow the field to two or three bidders.

A glance at the current list of contenders shows the geopolitical perils that accompany this business opportunity. American allies South Korea and France are on it -- and so are China and Russia, recently designated by the Pentagon as the main US threats. Reactor-building could become another arena of superpower rivalry.

China is coercing neighbours to reorder Indo-Pacific region: Pentagon

China is coercing its neighbours to reorder the Indo-Pacific region, the Pentagon told Congress in its annual budget proposals for the fiscal 2019, beginning October 1 this year.
Trump administration on Monday released their proposal for the fiscal year 2019 budget.

Fiscal years are different from calendar years. The budgetary proposal covers October 1, 2018, through September 30, 2019.
"China is leveraging military modernisation, influence operations and predatory economics to coerce neighbouring countries to reorder the Indo-Pacific region to their advantage," the Pentagon said in its annual defence budget for the fiscal 2019.

Pentagon must show Pakistan consequences of supporting terror: US lawmakers

The Pentagon must "demonstrate" to Pakistan the "consequences" of continued support to terrorists, US Congressional leaders have said as they came out in support of President Donald Trump's new South Asia policy.

Trump in August unveiled America's new policy for South Asia and Afghanistan, criticising Pakistan for providing safe havens to terrorists.

The bipartisan group of Congressional leaders, reconciling the differences between the House and Senate versions of the 2018 National defense Authorisation Act (NDAA), also urged the Department of Defense to closely monitor US security assistance to Pakistan and ensure that the country does not use it to support terrorist groups.

The lawmakers, in a joint report of the Senate and House Armed Services committees released yesterday, asked the Pentagon to "demonstrate to Pakistan the consequences of continued support to terrorists".

Such a demand from lawmakers comes days after the Indian security forces recovered US-made rifle meant for Pakistan from terrorist in Jammu and Kashmir.
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North Korea fires ballistic missile over Japan, sharply escalating tensions

North Korea fired a missile that flew over Japan and landed in waters off the northern region of Hokkaido early on Tuesday, South Korean and Japanese officials said, marking a sharp escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The test, which experts said appeared to have been a recently developed intermediate-range Hwasong-12 missile, came as U.S. and South Korean forces conduct annual military drills on the peninsula, against which North Korea strenuously objects.

Earlier this month, North Korea threatened to fire missiles into the sea near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang would face “fire and fury” if it threatened the United States.

North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests under young leader Kim Jong-Un, the most recent on Saturday, but firing projectiles over mainland Japan is rare.

“North Korea’s reckless action is an unprecedented, serious and a grave threat to our nation,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters.
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Chinese fighter jets intercept US Navy plane over East China Sea

A US Navy surveillance aircraft was intercepted by two Chinese J-10 fighter jets in an "unsafe" manner over the East China Sea on Sunday, prompting evasive action by the former's pilot to avoid a collision, the Pentagon has said.

"(the US Navy aircraft) EP-3 flying in international airspace over the East China Sea was intercepted by two Chinese J-10s. One of them came underneath it at a high rate of speed, then slowed and pulled up. This caused the EP-3's T-Cast alarm to go off essentially, and it was forced to take evasive action to prevent the possibility of collision," Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters yesterday.

"Obviously it's something we watch very closely," he said.

Another Pentagon official later described the Chinese action as "unsafe".

Davis said the incident took place on Sunday in the area between the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, west of the Korean peninsula and east of Qingdao.

He said the Chinese fighter jets were there for a while and "flying wing-to-wing" as well.

"Again, such intercepts, when they're conducted safely, are not uncommon. This particular manoeuvre that took place during the course of it was not safe," Davis said in response to a question.

According to the Pentagon spokesman, the vast majority of interactions that they have with the Chinese military are perfectly safe.

"This was the exception, not the norm," he said.

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Pentagon claims death of IS leader Abu Sayed in Afghanistan raid

The US forces have killed Abu Sayed, the leader of ISIS-Khorasan, the terror group's Afghanistan affiliate, said a CNN report.

Quoting Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White, the CNN report said, "The 'Emir' of ISIS-K was killed in a strike on the group's headquarters in Kunar Province on July 11."

US Navy Captain Bill Salvin, spokesman for US Forces Afghanistan, said Sayed was killed in an airstrike by a US drone. The initial Pentagon statement described Sayed being killed in a "raid".

The CNN reported Secretary of Defence James Mattis as saying that "the death of a leader like Sayed is obviously a victory on our side in terms of setting them back, it's the right direction".

Gen. John Nicholson, Commander, US Forces Afghanistan said in a statement, "This operation is another success in our campaign to defeat ISIS-K in Afghanistan in 2017. Abu Sayed is the third ISIS-K emir we have killed in the last year and we will continue until they are annihilated. There is no safe haven for ISIS-K in Afghanistan."

Hafiz Sayed Khan was killed in July 2016 and another emir Abdul Hasib was killed during a joint US-Afghan commando raid in April.
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