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THREE suicides, in TWO days, at ONE U.S. Army Division

mahla — Sat, 02 Oct 2021 10:08:04 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – THREE suicides, in TWO days, at ONE U.S. Army Division. The 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army at Fort Drum, New York, reported the suspicious death of three U.S. soldiers within 48 hours.

According to the Military News report, one of these soldiers was a member of the last U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan. Tyler Thomas, a 21-year-old Signal Support specialist from Texas, died September 16. The next day, two other soldiers also died: Angel Green, 24, of Barstow, California, and Sika Tapueluelu, 26, of Washington.

10th Mountain is still investigating the cause of death, but Lt. Col. Josh Jacques, a spokesman for the Division, said it is believed all three died of self-harm.

Angel Green, who was serving in the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, had recently returned from Afghanistan on September 6. Green and his unit were in Kabul during the last traumatic final days of the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.

A spokesman for the 10th Mountain Division said troops from the Division were present at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul and left the airport during the final days of U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. This was Angel Green’s second deployment to Afghanistan. He was also had been deployed to Qatar once.

The three deaths in a row have added to the military’s difficulties in reducing the death toll and suicide risk among service members and veterans. Earlier this year, a study at Brown University found that more than four times as many troops and veterans who had served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars had died by suicide as were directly killed in the conflicts.

In a release, Major general Milford Beagle urged soldiers to reach out on their own behalf if they were having troubles.

“To the soldiers of Fort Drum, the 10th Mountain Division, and our entire Army, I want you to know every life is worth living!” he wrote. “If you have problems, challenges, or issues, there is help available from this chain of command all the way down to help you get the resources you need. Do not suffer in silence.”

“10th Mountain shouldered some of the heaviest burdens of the Afghanistan War. For nearly 20 years, soldiers from the Division were either deployed there or preparing to deploy.” He added.

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General Warns US If Iran’s Maritime Boundaries Violated

reporter 1222 — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 11:47:14 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – A ranking Iranian commander cautioned the “terrorist US army” forces that the mistake of violating Iran’s maritime boundaries would draw a crushing response from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy that would inflict irreparable damage on invaders.

In an interview with Tasnim, commander of the IRGC Navy’s first naval zone, General Abbas Gholamshahi, denounced the US terrorist forces’ “illegitimate presence” in the region.

The presence of American forces in every part of the world has only created insecurity, he said, stressing that Iran and other regional countries can protect the region’s security by themselves.

He warned the American forces that any mischievous action against the Iranian sea border will be confronted by the IRGC Navy, saying the US is already aware of Iran’s military power.

The enemies have realized that any mistake will cause them to suffer irreparable damages, the general warned.

Iranian military and political officials have repeatedly warned the enemies about the dire consequences of a military action against the Islamic Republic.

In May, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri warned the “adventurist and terrorist” US army that any threat against Iran’s interests or security will draw a decisive response.

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Former US Army Member Arrested for Spying for Russia

reporter 1222 — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 08:15:20 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – A former member of the US Army was arrested on Friday for conspiring with Russian intelligence operatives to provide them with United States national defense information, the US Department of Justice said in a press release on Friday.

“According to court documents, from December 1996 to January 2011, Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, a former member of the US Army, allegedly conspired with agents of a Russian intelligence service. During that time, Debbins periodically visited Russia and met with Russian intelligence agents,” the Department of Justice said, TASS reported.

“In 2008, after leaving active duty service, Debbins disclosed to the Russian intelligence agents classified information about his previous activities while deployed with the Special Forces. Debbins also provided the Russian intelligence agents with the names of, and information about, his former Special Forces team members so that the agents could evaluate whether to approach the team members to see if they would cooperate with the Russian intelligence service,” according to the press release.

If convicted, Debbins faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

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Top General Warns US of Iran’s Harsh Response to Miscalculations

reporter 1222 — Fri, 22 May 2020 17:13:24 +0000

Top General Warns US of Iran’s Harsh Response to Miscalculations

According To Iran News, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces warned the “adventurist and terrorist” US army that any threat against Iran’s interests or security will draw a decisive response.

Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri on Friday released a message on the occasion of the anniversary of liberation of Khorramshahr, a city in southwestern Iran that had been occupied by the Iraq’s Baathist army in the early 1980s under former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

In his message, the top commander said the Iranian Armed Forces have “full intelligence control” over the status of all enemies, their positions, plots and movements.

The general underlined that Iran keeps a close and constant watch on the activities of the “adventurist, terrorist and anti-human American army” in the region and in the faraway territories.

The Iranian Armed Forces will prevent any adversary from hatching modern plots against the Islamic Republic’s independence, security and territorial integrity or from threatening the Islamic Revolution and Establishment, he added.

“Any miscalculation made by them (enemies) at any part of the world against dear Iran’s national interests will receive a decisive and proportionate response,” Major General Baqeri added.

He also congratulated the Iranian people on the 38th anniversary of liberation of Khorramshahr from the occupation of “international invaders and criminals, above all the terrorist and bellicose US regime”.

Iranian military and political officials have repeatedly warned the enemies about the dire consequences of a military action against the Islamic Republic.

In comments in April 2018, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said the US is aware of the crushing response it will have to face in case of taking military action against Iran.

The era of hit and run is now over, and the US knows that if it gets entangled in military action against Iran, it will receive much harsher blows, Ayatollah Khamenei underlined.

The US is seeking a way to evade the costs of standing against Iran and place them on regional countries, the Leader said, reminding certain regional countries that if they confront Iran, “they will definitely suffer blows and defeat”.

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US Army: Two soldiers killed, six injured in Afghanistan attack

reporter 1222 — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 12:35:59 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Two US soldiers were killed and six wounded in a so-called insider attack in eastern Afghanistan Nangarhar Province last Saturday when an Afghan dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire, the US military said.

A member of Nangarhar’s provincial council, Ajmal Omer, told The Associated Press that the gunman was killed. There have been numerous attacks by Afghan national army soldiers on their allied partners during 18 years of America’s protracted war in Afghanistan.

Six US service members have been killed in Afghanistan since the start of 2020, including Saturday’s casualties. Last year, 22 US service personnel died in combat there.

An Afghan Defense Ministry official, who was not identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the shooter was an Afghan soldier who had argued with the US forces before opening fire. He was not a Taliban infiltrator, the official said.

In a statement, the US military said “an individual in an Afghan uniform opened fire on the combined US and Afghan force with a machine gun. We are still collecting information and the cause or motive behind the attack is unknown at this time.”

Omer, the provincial council member, is from Nangarhar Province’s Sherzad district, where he said the incident took place. An Afghan soldier was also wounded, Omer said.

The US military said American and Afghan military personnel were fired on while conducting an operation in Nangarhar Province.

Last July, two US service members were killed by an Afghan soldier in the southern Kandahar Province. The shooter was wounded and arrested. In September, three US military personnel were wounded when a member of the Afghan Civil Order Police fired on a military convoy, also in Kandahar.

Washington’s envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has been meeting with Taliban representatives in the Middle Eastern state of Qatar in recent weeks. He’s seeking an agreement to reduce hostilities to get a peace deal signed that would start negotiations among Afghans on both sides of the conflict.

There are roughly 12,000 American troops in Afghanistan, and the Pentagon is planning to reduce the number to 8,600 in the next few months, with or without a signed peace deal.

Twenty American troops died during combat operations in 2019, the most in any year since 2014.

In his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, President Donald Trump referenced the peace talks, saying U.S. soldiers were not meant to serve as “law enforcement agencies” for other nations.

“In Afghanistan, the determination and valor of our warfighters has allowed us to make tremendous progress, and peace talks are now underway,” he said.

The Taliban today hold sway over practically half of Afghanistan, staging near-daily attacks that target soldiers, security forces and government officials but also kill civilians.

The US first invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the banner of fighting “terrorism.” The invasion toppled the Taliban, but the terror group has never stopped its attacks.

More than 32,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict, according to the United Nations.

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US Army Investigating Plane Crash in Afghanistan’s Ghazni

reporter 1222 — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 17:04:05 +0000

US Army Investigating Plane Crash in Afghanistan’s Ghazni

According To Iran News, The US military is investigating reports of a plane crash in Afghanistan’s central province of Ghazni.

The plane crashed Monday in territory under Taliban control but the number of casualties and exact details remain unclear. Social media images, purportedly from the site, show the possible remains of a Bombardier E-11A aircraft.

US Army Maj. Beth Riordan, a spokeswoman for US Central Command, told AP it remained unclear whose aircraft was involved in the crash and declined to comment further, CNBC reported.

Meanwhile, Arif Noori, a spokesman for the governor’s office in Ghazni, said fire brigades, security officials and rescue teams were at the scene of the crash. Noori added that there we approximately 100 bodies at the scene.

It was initially reported to be a plane from the state-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines. However, the airline’s acting CEO Mirwais Mirzakwal has since denied that one of its planes had crashed.

“There has been an airline crash but it does not belong to Ariana because the two flights managed by Ariana today from Herat to Kabul and Herat to Delhi are safe,” Mirzakwal told Reuters.

A Facebook account belonging to the airline also said that if any crash did happen, it didn’t involve one of its planes.

The spokesman for the provincial governor said the plane went down around 1:10 p.m. local time in the Deh Yak district. Two provincial council members also confirmed the crash, according to AP.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said the group was checking on news of a plane crash, Reuters also reported.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) currently has a notification which cites Afghanistan airspace warnings from a number of countries. The UK Aeronautical Information Service suggests a potential risk to aircraft flying below 25,000 feet due to “anti aviation weaponry.”

United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) advises “extreme caution” when flying into Afghan airspace, adding that ground time in the country should be minimized.

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