Month: January 2024

Top security actors, including Swedish Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin and the country’s Commander-in-Chief, Micael Bydén, agree that Sweden could soon be facing a war and called for increased resilience, including among the civilian population.

As Sweden is expected to join NATO in 2024 and the broader context of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Sweden’s Civil Defence Minister, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, urged his fellow citizens to prepare for war at the Folk och Försvar conference in Sälen.

Bohlin expressed concern that the modernisation of the Swedish civil defence system was not happening fast enough and urged everyone, from managers and local councillors to private citizens, to take action.

NEW – All Swedes should prepare for war — BILD pic.twitter.com/t7f8eY3exW

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) January 10, 2024

Source

The unrest came as authorities raided prisons in search of weapons and in an effort to disperse gang members to different facilities. During Sunday’s search of the Guayaquil prison, law enforcement officials failed to find the leader of the Los Choneros gang, Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar.

Ecuadorian Armed Forces Joint Command chief RADM Jaime Vela Eraso on Tuesday, following a security council meeting, declared 22 criminal groups operating in the country as a “military target” and said there would be no negotiations with them.

#BREAKING #Ecuador JUST IN: A gang of gunmen entered an Ecuadorian TV studio during a live broadcast. pic.twitter.com/GkDrwqauJA

— The National Independent (@NationalIndNews) January 9, 2024

Source

The Pentagon began assembling a maritime coalition in the Red Sea last month led by US Navy’s Combined Task Force 153 and ships from the UK, Denmark and Greece amid a spate of Houthi hijackings, missile and drone attacks targeting Israeli-affiliated commercial ships traversing the strategic body of water.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations has warned the United States against any “adventurism” that could further destabilize the already fragile security situation in the Red Sea.

“[Iran] issues a stern warning against any US adventurism that could endanger regional peace,” Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said Tuesday in a letter directed to the US and its allies, a week after Iran’s Navy deployed a cruise missile-armed warship in the region.

Source

Pyongyang is ready to respond with force to any “foolish miscalculation” by Seoul, Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has said.

On Friday, Seoul announced that it was evacuating Yeonpyeong Island after North Korea fired 200 artillery shells off the west coast. It said the projectiles landed in a maritime buffer zone established between the neighbors under a 2018 deal, from which Pyongyang later withdrew. 

South Korea reacted to what it called a “crisis-escalating situation” by launching 400 shells of its own into the sea, in the same area. According to Seoul, it was followed by the North firing another 60 shells in the buffer zone on Saturday. 

In her statement on Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, who is a senior figure in North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, denied the latest claim by the South. Pyongyang “didn’t fire even a single shell into the relevant waters” on Saturday, she insisted.

Source

Russia dramatically ramped up missile strikes targeting Ukraine’s energy and military infrastructure in late December, attacking ammunition and fuel depots, airfields, military HQs, and other pertinent targets.

Russia has launched a new round of strikes against Ukrainian military targets, including military production facilities and a decision-making center, using Kinzhal missiles and other precision weapons, the Ministry of Defense has announced.

Source

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani has promised to launch a process to expel international coalition forces from the country, after a US airstrike killed a high-ranking militia commander in Baghdad.

An attack hit the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization composed of dozens of armed factions, on Thursday. At least two people were killed, including Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, the leader of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (HHN), which Washington has listed as a terrorist group and claims is backed by Iran.

“The Popular Mobilization Forces represent an official presence affiliated with the state, subject to it, and an integral part of our armed forces,” the Iraqi prime minister stated on Friday. “We condemn the attacks targeting our security forces, which go beyond the spirit and letter of the mandate that created the international coalition.”

Source

In only 24 hours, Russian air, artillery, drone and missile forces struck 127 positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 138 districts, the Russian Defense Ministry reported in a daily briefing.

The Russian Armed Forces conducted a successful strike on the Ukrainian command center responsible for coordinating the actions of Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the Russian Defense Ministry announced in a statement. The command center, located on the outskirts of Krasnoarmeysk, was hit with kamikaze drones, air strikes and artillery.

Source