We live in a busy world with a lot of information being thrown at you. Don’t feel overwhelmed. OpsLens will give you a weekly briefing on the major stories you need to know about and cut out all the extra information that isn’t important. Here’s your weekly briefing on what’s going on in national security and military news.
Government Shutdown’s Impact on the Military and National Security
Going on twenty-five days, the government shutdown is now the longest in U.S. history. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are staying home from work and many more are working without pay, including members of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration, and air-traffic controllers.
President Donald Trump has suggested that he will declare a national emergency, which could potentially allow funds to flow for his promised border wall.
FBI agents have suggested that the agency’s limited resources due to the shutdown may compromise national security and impact investigations.
Cybersecurity is also a concern, as the Department of Homeland Security has felt the brunt of the shutdown, with more than half of the staff at the new Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency furloughed.
Members of the Secret Service, both front and back-office, are also going unpaid right now. There are limited concerns about the short-term impact, but the long-term effects are unknown and can be catastrophic.
The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs have continued to operate without interruption during the shutdown, but members of the Coast Guard have been impacted. The Coast Guard is funded through the Department of Homeland Security, leaving 43,000 members working without pay as they ensure U.S. maritime security around the world.
Situation Report on Syria
According to the Institute for the Study of War, the security situation in Syria has rapidly evolved since the U.S. announced a planned military withdrawal from the country.
In the south, the Syrian government has attempted to reassert authority over the Druze population. Israel has been targeting Hezbollah positions in Damascus and Hay’at Tahrir a-Sham (HTS), an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group, has made gains against rival groups in Idlib Province. The Islamic State has carried out numerous attacks in the east, including an assassination of a high-ranking civil council member, despite losing control of the town of Hajin to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Syrian government forces of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) reportedly attacked fighters from the U.S.-backed group Jaysh Mughawir a-Thawra (MaT) in the south last month, violating a fifty-five kilometer deconfliction zone agreed upon by the U.S. and Russia.
To protect our Kurdish allies after the withdrawal of U.S. military forces, the U.S. has continued to seek a deal with Turkey. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to launch military campaigns against Kurdish groups, which Turkey classifies as “terrorists.”
U.S. Continues to Target al-Shabaab in Somalia
The Pentagon released a report last week that stated the U.S. intends to narrow down the mission in Somalia, but the United States has already launched five air strikes against al-Shabaab in Somalia in 2019.
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) announced that the U.S. carried out airstrikes against al-Shabaab on January 3rd, 6th, two on January 7th, and one more on January 8th. In total, at least twenty-six al-Shabaab fighters were reportedly killed from the five air strikes.
An unnamed U.S. official said “we’re running out of targets” in Somalia, according to an NBC News report, but al-Shabaab continues to pose a threat to the Somalia government and controls large areas in southern and central Somalia. The United States carried out only three strikes in Somalia in 2015, fifteen in 2016, thirty-one in 2017, and forty-seven in 2018.
“U.S. Africa Command will continue to work with its partners to transfer the responsibility for long-term security in Somalia from AMISOM to the Federal Government of Somalia and its Member States, and U.S. forces will use all effective and appropriate methods to protect the Somali people, including partnered military counter-terror operations with the Federal Government of Somalia, AMISOM and Somali National Army forces,” said an AFRICOM press release announcing the January 8th airstrike.
CENTCOM Releases 2018 Rollup of Airstrikes in Yemen
Last week, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) released a rollup of U.S. counterterrorism strikes in Yemen in 2018. The United States carried out a total of thirty-six strikes that targeted both the Islamic State in Yemen and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The airstrikes took place in Abyan, al-Bayda, Hadramawt, Shabwah and Zamakh governorates.
It is significant to note that there were no airstrikes carried out in the last three months of 2018.
Uptick in Violence in Afghanistan, Despite Cold Weather
The cold weather and looming winter months often offer a respite from the heaviest fighting in Afghanistan, but the level of violence in the country has not fallen as it has in past years.
The Taliban have recently carried out numerous attacks in Balkh Province, a province that has remained relatively quiet for the last several years. At least 138 members of the pro-government forces and 15 civilians were killed in the last week.
On January 10 alone, Taliban forces attacked security outposts in six different provinces, including Kunduz and Herat, killing close to forty security force members. Using lasers and night-vision devices in one attack on January 9, Taliban fighters attacked eighteen security force members at a government security outpost.
President Donald Trump announced last month that the United States intends to withdraw at least 5,000 of the 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
