Displaying items by tag: missiles

Ukraine has reportedly used British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to strike targets in Russia's Kursk region. These long-range missiles, capable of striking targets nearly 200 miles away, mark a significant escalation in Ukraine's defence capabilities. The missiles were supplied under a policy shift allowing the use of British and US military equipment within Russian territory. However, experts warn their impact may be limited due to Ukraine's small stockpile. Military analysts suggest the missiles have already been used for strategic strikes on logistics hubs and ammunition depots. Meanwhile, tensions escalate as Russia lowered its threshold for using nuclear weapons following the US's similar policy shift. Critics fear this could spark wider conflict. On the one thousandth day of Putin’s invasion, the UK announced extra support for Ukraine with funding to provide new drone capabilities. See also and Europe article ‘Biden’s decision on missiles’.

France, Germany, and the UK have introduced new sanctions on Iran for supplying ballistic missiles to Russia, which US secretary of state Antony Blinken said  will be used against Ukraine. The sanctions include restrictions on Iran Air and travel bans on military officials. UK foreign secretary David Lammy described Iran's actions as ‘a dangerous escalation’. Several individuals and organisations involved in the supply of the missiles face sanctions, and Russian cargo ships transporting these supplies have also been targeted. The Western nations have demanded that Iran halt its missile deliveries, citing security threats to Europe. Blinken and Lammy also flew to Ukraine to ‘hear directly from the leadership’ about their objectives. Volodymyr Zelensky has asked for authorisation to use Western-supplied missiles to strike targets inside Russia - a move the USA has so far resisted. Russia continues to make advances in eastern Ukraine.

Hundreds of rockets were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel on 12 June, hours after an Israeli airstrike which killed a senior Hezbollah commander. The Israeli military reported detecting about 215 projectiles, with some intercepted and several causing fires. The death of the commander, Hajj Abu Taleb, has intensified clashes along the border, with Hezbollah using more advanced weaponry and Israeli airstrikes penetrating deeper into Lebanon. Over 400 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, including more than seventy civilians. On the Israeli side, fifteen soldiers and ten civilians have died since the conflict began. Meanwhile, Antony Blinken stated that mediators are working to finalise a cease-fire deal after Hamas proposed amendments to a US-backed proposal which aims to ensure a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. The proposal, announced by Joe Biden, includes these provisions, but Hamas remains sceptical about Israel’s commitment to implementing the terms.

Saudi news channel Al-Hadath reported that hundreds of Iranian missiles armed with the lethal chemical thionyl chloride have arrived at a warehouse in Syria, with a bird’s eye view of Lebanon’s border nine miles away. They were transferred there by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The recipient was Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese terror army on Israel’s northern border. According to Saudi media, Hezbollah has Iran and North Korea to thank for the arsenal. Plans are reportedly in place to move them to a site three miles from Israel’s border. Israel’s defence ministry identified ten Syrian locations where Iran has facilities producing advanced weapons for its proxies in the region. Pray for Israel’s defence force to constantly look to God for guidance. May the Lord enable them to think outside the box as Gideon did when he divided the men into companies with trumpets and companies with jars containing torches (Judges 7:16).

The Azeri-Turkey offensive is worsening, with cluster bombs falling on innocent civilians even as they sheltered in churches. There is justifiable concern among Armenian Christians of a rising threat of ethnic cleansing from their historic Christian land. On 1 November the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that the indiscriminate attacks on densely populated areas with associated loss of civilian life and destruction of infrastructure ‘contravenes international humanitarian law’ and ‘could be a war crime’. Recent reports indicate that large supplies of Israeli-built weapons, including devastating ‘kamikaze drones’ and unmanned aerial vehicles have been supplied to Azerbaijan and deployed against Christian civilians. Since September 90,000 Armenians, over half the region’s population of 144,000, have fled the conflict to take refuge in Armenia. Pray that the supply of military weapons to Azerbaijan will cease immediately and for guarantees that Israeli technology, including lethal drone strikes, will not be used in the conflict.

Even though it appears that denuclearization talks with North Korea are going nowhere, Kim Jong-un still claims to have a special relationship with Donald Trump who says that there are a "lot of things going on" with North Korea.  Yet, Kim calls on the U.S. to "act wisely" through the end of the year, blaming U.S. policymakers for their hostility to North Korea. And, to make matters worse, the North shot off two missiles on the last day of October.

In the meantime U.S. and U.N. sanctions continue to hurt the North, including its fishing and coal industries even as coal smuggling into China continues at full speed and the military sells coal in order to purchase uniforms. 

The North continues to send workers into China by taking advantage of loop-holes in the sanctions. A recent report to the U.N. shows the ongoing impact of sanctions on the most vulnerable in North Korea, especially women and children, pointing out that nearly 4,000 civilians have perished as a result.  The report was produced by Peace Now and delivered by our Ignis partner, Joy Yoon, who, along with her husband, Dr. Steve Yoon, have been treating children in North Korea over the past ten years.  Here is an interview with Dr. Yoon about North Korean children.

Meanwhile, the elderly in the North are turning increasingly to begging to survive and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is predicting that the food situation will worsen.  As is widely known, the North has been manufacturing and selling drugs to generate funds. The consumption of "ice" in North Korea has become a massive problem as a defector recently shared.

On the technology front, North Korean smart phones are having an increasing impact, changing society and helping merchants to cut down on their costs. The manufacture of smart phones and other high tech devices depends on rare earths which are largely controlled by China.  They are strengthening their position by preparing to tap North Korea's extensive reserves in exchange for providing solar power technology.  The North is also reforming its education system to put science and technology at its center. 

At the same time, construction on tourist attractions forge ahead with completion of the new Wonsan beach resort expected by the spring of next year. Kim Jong-un, in a recent inspection of a new spa being built, expressed his "great satisfaction" with its "socialist architecture" even as he belittled the Diamond Mountain resort built by South Korea, calling for the old buildings to be demolished to make way for new ones. Moon Jae-in of South Korea has agreed to talks about the future of the resort.

Remembering Our Brothers in Prison 

We continue to pray for six South Koreans held in the North as well as Daily NK journalist, Choi Song Min (alias). Here's information on the pastors and others who have been detained and released.  Please remember them in your prayers.

Ben Torrey - Director

The Fourth River Project, Inc.

www.thefourthriver.org

South Korea’s national intelligence service told a closed-door parliamentary audit session that it expected working-level denuclearisation talks between Kim and Trump to resume by early December. As recently as 31 October Kim test-fired two short-range missiles that traveled 350 to 400 kilometres. The tests were believed to be the nuclear-armed country’s 19th and 20th launches since May. Japan’s prime minister condemned the launches as an act threatening the peace and safety of his country as North Korea was refining weapons capable of reaching it. Meanwhile, Iran announced launching a new batch of advanced centrifuges to accelerate uranium enrichment on the 40th anniversary of the start of its Islamic Revolution. However, Tehran has left room for diplomacy by saying that talks are possible if Washington lifts all the sanctions and returns to the nuclear deal. See

Iran has built a new precision missile factory in the outskirts of Latakia, a port city in Syria near the Russian air force base. The Syrian government and Hezbollah reportedly assisted Iran in constructing the factory. Missile parts were ordered from Italy, China, and other Asian countries, through companies established by Syria’s scientific research centre. Meanwhile, Iran’s official news agency reported a new ballistic missile with a range of 1,000 kilometres to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. In September 2018 Israel Defence Forces issued a rare statement confirming they struck a Syrian military facility near Latakia ‘from which systems to manufacture accurate and lethal weapons were about to be transferred on behalf of Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon’.

On 29 August North Korea launched a missile over Japan, saying that it was ‘the first step’ of military operations in the Pacific. State media also repeated threats to the US Pacific island of Guam, which it called ‘an advanced base of invasion’. Russia and China said that US military activity in the region was partly to blame for the increase in tensions. BBC correspondent Jonathan Marcus reported, ‘Launching a rocket over Japanese territory, with the possibility that it could deposit debris on Japanese soil, shows that Pyongyang is intent on maintaining its brinkmanship. However, it is noteworthy that North Korea did not make good on its threat to direct a missile towards the US Pacific territory of Guam - something that might well have precipitated a US military response.’ See also British Isles article 4, ‘Theresa May on North Korea’.

An award-winning professor and author of four books on North Korea says that not only is North Korea’s current instability, violent attitude and weaponry, including missiles a threat to Asia, United States, key regions in the Middle East and Africa, but there is also the threat that North Korea’s collapse could unleash a variety of their military systems into the black market for sale to Iran and Syria. He, and others, believe that the two ways to contain this threat are tactical and strategic. A tactical approach would be an increased ballistic missile defence system providing a realistic umbrella against nuclear attack. The strategic way means going after banks and front companies globally where Pyongyang launders the dirty money it uses (much of it gained from military proliferation). It is important to note that when it comes to targeting North Korea’s dirty money there are mafia-like illicit financial networks in Singapore, Malaysia, Africa and China.