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Boko Haram On The Retreat In Nigeria ADA News - Dateline September 15th, 2019 For the first time in over a year, Nigeria has gone a month without a terrorist attack on any of its major cities. This milestone, while not a decisive defeat of Boko Haram in the region, is part of a series of victories the government has touted as a sign of significant progress. This is a major success for the African nation, which less than six months ago was considering suspending elections in the Northeastern part of the country due to the heavy fighting. With the aid of a combined American-British peacekeeping force under Operation Alberta, Nigerian troops have pushed Boko Haram deep into the countryside, where the jihadist group has been forced to resort to “lone-wolf” attacks on villages and army posts. Nigerian officials have stated that while several villages do remain under Boko Haram’s control, it is only a matter of time before the group is forced out of the country altogether. Pictured: Nigerian soldiers standing guard in the town of Diwka The war is not yet won however, as last week's attack on a British Army helicopter proves. On Tuesday, Brigadier General Anthony Melchett confirmed the loss of both pilots and a soldier from 16 Air Assault Brigade in the shootdown, which Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for. Her Majesty's Government issued a statement honoring the soldiers, stating that “the forces of democracy will never stop fighting tyranny” and that the terrorist group’s days were numbered. The British and American forces have largely been in a support role for the fighting soldiers, but fifteen, nine British and six Americans, have lost their lives during Operation Alberta. There is also growing concern about where the scattered Boko Haram fighters will end up, as the borders are little more than lines on a map in most parts of Northern Nigeria, with little to no official presence. The African Union has called for a vote next Thursday to assemble a military task force to help guard the Cameroonian and Chadian borders, though the recent instability in Chad has left some wondering if the country will be willing to allow a foreign military to operate within its borders. The influx of ISIS fighters from Syria and Afghanistan towards Africa is also troubling, though it does not appear that Boko Haram has received these possible reinforcements, which has left analysts wondering where they are going. For the time being, however, Nigeria is relishing in its victories. Restaurants in Abuja and Lagos have begun offering security forces personnel discounts on drinks and meals, while the Nigerian President Ekundayo announced that preparations for a day of celebration were underway in the capital. Many in the West are also hopeful that the retreat of Boko Haram will enable the government to further establish its still-struggling democracy, as well as decrease the commitments they’ve made to the region. By Jan Smuts

Since we have a 5th weekend coming up I wanted to do something different, to change it up a bit. I will be hosting a PVP fun mission for anyone that wants to attend, the premise is Russian forces are defending several objectives on their island from an American special forces team. This will be a YDYD (ya die ya die) scenario meaning no respawns, once you die you will have access to the spectator camera and may chat among your fellow dead. That said I'm hoping each "session" should hopefully last about 30 minutes to an hour. multiple sessions are planed with the ability to change your side if you so wish there will not be a 2 hour limit we will go till we don't have enough players to continue. The catch; Russian forces don't have night vision and are limited to soviet block equipment but have more numbers than the Blufor team, right now I'm looking at a 4:1 ratio but that may change. Russians will have to rely on spotlights, flashlights and flares to find the Blufor team, they also have 2 armed GAZ's and 2 unarmed GAZ's for transport/patrols. Blufor also has a limited arsenal to affect balancing, they have Western based equipment, NVG's and IR equipment. 1x unarmed Reaper drone is available for use for ISR. Blufor has several ways that they may insert into the AO determined by the Blufor commander each game. Blufor has two types of objectives, primary (for winning the mission) and secondary (if completed offer powerful advantages to the Blufor). More information will be given during the mission setup phase. This game is not play tested and may not be balanced so I may restrict certain items if they deem to be overpowered. Right now the mission has 16 Redfor, 4 Blufor and 2 Zeus slots however I can add more depending on interest. Please reply below if you are interested in attending. Everyone is required to be a team player and have a good time. Comradery will be strictly monitored and if there is any problems then the mission will be ended prematurely. TIME: 1900 EST 31MAY20 MODS: Standard 3dMRB modpack

When you come back and the meme thread immediately pops off

Afghanistan; Where are we now? The Grand Central Times - Dateline September 12th 2019 The Afghan Flag flying over Kabul during a major Taliban Offensive in late 2018 The middle eastern country of Afghanistan has long been a hotbed for U.S. and NATO military activity. Cities and territory have changed hands so many times people have stopped keeping count and western progress in the region always seems to ebb and flow. The most recent ebb in the progress has been the Iranian-backed chemical weapon attacks which occurred just shy of 1 year ago in 2018, one in August and one in November. Since then, Afghanistan began a large spiral out of control as western backed leaders were assassinated, schools and roads were disrupted and NATO and ANA forces were muscled out of the entire northern part of the country. This action allowed ISIS and the Taliban to further grow in strength and the progress in Afghanistan to look bleaker than it had in years. This was, however, until a coalition of leaders within the anarchy of Northern Afghanistan banded together in the form of the Northern Alliance, a callback to a previous organization by the same name, and surprisingly began making ground against ISIS-A and Taliban forces. It is worth noting that while the Pentagon did not confirm the presence of US Special forces in this region aiding the Northern Alliance until mid August, there are many that speculate that after the withdraw of conventional troops, US Special Forces had a presence in the region much earlier than reported. Whatever the case, the fact remains that the newly formed Northern Alliance put an abrupt pause to the rapid expansion of ISIS and the Taliban in the region. During this time, alarming studies were revealed that as much as 45% of ANA forces had moderate to severe issues with substance abuse which resulted in a dramatic loss of discipline and combat effectiveness. This called into serious question the training, selection, and recruitment process being used by Afghan leadership and prompted a rapid turnover of much of the training and recruitment process to "NATO Specialists" who began a drastic rework of the ANA's combat potential. A few months later their efforts would appear to pay off, as in late July the newly reformed 3rd Brigade was deployed, with NATO supervision, to Kandahar to counter a major Taliban offensive in the area. Amidst five days of fighting more than 300 Taliban fighters were killed with only 18 men lost within the ANA's 3rd Brigade. The dramatic turnaround in the effectiveness of the ANA, or at least this group of them, is credited to the NATO reforms. US Special Forces conduct an early morning helicopter landing during training with ANA Finally, during mid August the Pentagon confirmed the presence of US Special Forces in northern Afghanistan who were directly interfacing with the Northern Alliance. We have yet to find out how NATO intends to deal with the Northern Alliance in the long run, as they have formed their own government and military forces separate to that of the ANA, but for the time being it seems that the US is more than happy to work with them to re-secure the country. This successful partnership and the steps back in the direction of stability was punctuated in late August by reports of intense Taliban infighting. There are no official sources that say what exactly happened, but rumors suggest an attempted coup-de-ta within Taliban leadership that resulted in this large scale internal conflict. Some reports say the coup was successful and Malik-al-ransoor, the de facto leader of the Taliban, was killed in the fighting and has been replaced. Other reports say he is alive and well or that the coup was crushed and he was replaced by another of the Taliban's leadership. The Pentagon has not commented on the status of the Taliban leader and only has said that US is "monitoring the situation." Whatever the reality is, the result is that the Taliban across Afghanistan have gone entirely quiet for nearly a month. The Northern Alliance, ANA, and NATO have seized on this opportunity and taken back major swathes of territory, now having only to contend with the remaining ISIS-A forces. The "New ANA" have reported several continued victories against the ISIS-A forces and a spokesperson for the ANA stated that portions of ISIS are now fleeing to Pakistan. What was a sharp downward spiral for the progression of Afghanistan appears to have been brought to a sudden halt through the efforts of local leaders, NATO and the New ANA. But, if there's one thing we've learned in the years of fighting, its that progress in Afghanistan ebbs and flows. Will this be the final stretch and settle the conflict in the region once and for-all? Or will it be another of the endless ups and downs, the country doomed to exist in a perpetual state of war. Only time will tell. Stay tuned for more as the story continues to unfold. Alan White - The Grand Central Times *This news report is a fictional work created to support the 3d MRB ARMA gameplay

Chaos grips Iran. Country on edge of collapse ADA News - September 5th The Islamic Republic of Iran has faced growing protests and dissent in the past weeks, calling for a dissolution of the theocratic rule that has characterised one of the largest players in Middle Eastern politics. These disturbances have been dormant in Iran for decades since the revolution in the 1970s but has recently seen a huge upswing following the iranian Government's failure to provide a military response to the raid on the Straits of Hormuz but US navy and Marine forces followed by the declaration of independence by the Kurdish minority in North Western Iran. Reports of disturbances started coming in almost two weeks ago and have steadily escalated since then. With the Iranian regime turning more and more to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps the crackdowns have increased significantly in brutality if not in efficiency. Just last week in the city of Ifshan the IRGC opened fire on a crowd of protesters who refused to disperse when told to do so by the IRGC commander. While the iranian government is not providing any official numbers, unofficial sources state that over 20 people were killed and nearly 100 wounded. Large activity at the local hospitals seems to indicate some degree of truth to these reports. These brutal crackdowns however seems to have done little more than galvanize the protesters. Just two days after what has become known locally as the Isfhan Massacre the IRGC tried to disperse another protest in Rasht. The IRGC units sent there quickly found themselves overwhelmed and lynched by the mob of protesters. Gruesome pictures of the mutilated bodies of the IRGC members strung up from light poles and hung from overpasses have circulated on social media lately. This finally triggered a public statement from the Iranian government with Minister of the Interior, Ismail Faishal, stating: “These protesters are nothing more than western sponsored terrorists. America is leading our youth astray, sowing division, hatred and violence in our country. This government vows to carry on the fight against the Great Satan”. Regardless of the harsh rhetoric coming out of Tehran it seems the Iranian government has very little control over the interior of their country. Three days ago reports from an anonymous source within the Iranian Armed Forces revealed that several large military installations across the country have been stormed by large mobs who secured large amounts of weapons, ammunition and even armored military vehicles. While it remains unclear if this was an attack coordinated by some higher leader of the protests or if they were spontaneous acts against a tyrannical government remains to be seen. As of writing this no known organisation has claimed responsibility. These stormings seems to have gone off without much bloodshed themselves leading analysts to wonder if the base commanders were sympathetic to the mobs or if they simply could not hold them back considering the significant deployment of Iranian forces to the Iran Iraq border facing the US-Iraqi buildup. One of the many military facilities that were stormed and looted by mobs of protesters Following these incident the Iranian government has refused to give any further comments on the situation. Journalists and foreign dignitaries have been barred from attending any Iranian government function. Several countries have also stated that they are considering evacuation plans for their embassies in Tehran following the increase in violence. The previously planned talks of increased autonomy for the self declared “Kurdish republic of Iran” has seemingly ceased entirely and rumors are currently flooding in regarding US and Iraqi Special Forces crossing the border into Iranian Kurdistan. ADA News Middle East division will continue to monitor this situation. Simon Tam, ADA News, Middle East Division

LClp Derek: "Peach you got no right being that goddamn thicc." LClp Orion: "No Right."

Chinese Submarine Crisis Has Region On Edge As It Enters Its Fifth Day Grand Central Times - Dateline September 3rd, 2019 Tensions in the South China Sea spiked again last night after Vietnam refused to return the Yuan Zheng 74 submarine that had run aground just south of a major Vietnamese naval base. Vietnamese President Tiêu Kiến Ðức issued a public statement saying “The People’s Republic of China has once again proven they care not for peace or the rule of law by threatening us to recover the submarine they illegally sent into our waters.” The crisis, which began four days ago, has shown few signs of de-escalation since the submarine was first captured. Pictured: The Yuan Zheng 74 run aground South of Cam Ranh Harbor. Photo Courtesy of the Vietnamese People's Navy. Spotted by patrol boats of the Vietnam People’s Navy on Tuesday just south of Cam Ranh Bay, which houses a significant portion of the Vietnamese fleet, the trapped submarine was at first thought to be one of Vietnam’s Kilo-class submarines that had gotten lost in the stormy weather of the previous night. However as the patrol boats closed in, they were greeted by the sight of Chinese sailors scrambling on the deck followed quickly by a loudspeaker warning them not to approach or they would be fired upon. The patrol boats pulled back, but the Vietnamese quickly deployed several warships to block any escape or rescue attempt and troops were sent to guard the nearby shores as well as look for any members of the crew who had come ashore. With this support, several heavily-armed Vietnamese patrol boats came alongside the stricken vessel, demanding the crew surrender or be fired upon themselves. After a brief standoff, a Chinese officer came out of the ship waving a white flag. As the Vietnamese began boarding the ship, they quickly found that the officer who had surrender the vessel was the second-in-command, with the captain having committed suicide sometime after the boat ran aground. They also soon found a large amount of the ship’s documents had been burned or shredded, and several sensitive systems had been smashed. The crew were equally uncooperative, and are currently being housed in a security facility at the naval base awaiting repatriation according to sources in the Vietnamese Navy. Those sources also claim that evidence has been recovered that proves the Chinese vessel was preparing to deploy commandos to sabotage Vietnamese warships in Cam Ranh Bay. China has denied these allegations and contends that the vessel merely became lost in the bad weather, while also accusing Vietnam of needlessly escalating the situation by illegally seizing a vessel in distress. Conspiracy theories are already circulating on Weibo and other Chinese social media sites that the captain was executed by Vietnamese soldiers to prevent the submarine from leaving. China has also mobilized the South Sea Fleet to a higher level of readiness, with several Chinese warships now patrolling just outside of Vietnamese waters near Cam Ranh. While the US has not taken an official stance on the matter, the 7th Fleet has issued a statement that it will be launching more Freedom of Navigation missions throughout the South China Sea in the coming weeks. Many in Washington view this as the latest in a series of aggressive acts taken by China towards the region, which has been on the rise since the 2016 RIMPAC Incident. The repeated harassment of Filipino vessels by the Chinese Navy has also been a sore point for US-China relations, with some Filipino officials calling for the reactivation of the Subic Bay Naval Base, a former US Navy installation that was closed in 1991. The proposals are receiving support from the Pentagon, who views China’s island building as a serious threat to US forces in the region, and looks to balance these forward bases with American ones. By Thomas E. Lawrence