"Tower 22", the U.S. base in NE Jordan where three American troops were just killed, overlooks a Syrian refugee camp called Rukban, where 15,000 people have been living for years. It is also near the Al-Tanf Garrison, where a couple hundred U.S. troops are based.
This is a crucial node between Iraq and Syria that Iranian militias have long sought to control. There have been several drone attacks on Tanf since Oct. 7. This is a brazen escalation.
The group that will claim responsibility calls themselves the "Islamic Resistance of Iraq," but that's really a post Oct 7 umbrella group of IRGC sponsored militias. The actual attackers were likely Kateeb Hizballah with support of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujab and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq
I spoke w Syrian partner forces about the Islamic Resistance of Iraq. They told me that the IRGC Quds Force has consolidated various militias under the new moniker to focus efforts and resources on one shared mission: targeting Americans. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…
Here’s a map that shows how Tower 22 is in close proximity to Tanf, Rubkan, and Iraq’s Al Waleed air base. Several Iranian backed militias operate in this space. “Area 55” is the 55 km “safe zone” around Tanf protected by US troops.
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Concentration camp survivors Ms. Gulbahar Haitiwaji and Ms. Qelbinur Sidik testified about being arrested for no reason, tortured, indoctrinated, mistreated and now threatened that their family will suffer if they speak out. @committeeonccp#UyghurGenocide
The State Department's new human rights report on Saudi Arabia is damning. This is just the summary list of abuses:
"Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearances;...
...torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government agents; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; political prisoners or detainees; transnational repression against individuals in another country;...
...serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; punishment of family members for alleged offenses by a relative; serious abuses in a conflict, including related to civilian casualties...
"Beijing’s latest, horrible abuse of the Tibetan people is to forcibly collect their DNA, their last remaining vestige of privacy. What’s worse, U.S. companies are still working with the authorities perpetrating these atrocities..."
The Chinese government is leveraging technology, including artificial intelligence and big data, to identify people by their faces, their voices, their individual styles of walking and, now, even their cellular makeup...
Former @CDCgov and virologist Director Robert Redfield: “I still believe today that the data indicates that the outbreak of Covid 19 was more likely the result of a lab leak than as a result of a natural spillover event.” @GOPoversight@OversightDems
Redfield: “It is my opinion that we should impose a moratorium on gain of function research…” until we are able to have a national debate over its usefulness and the safety risks involved.
Redfield on whether to continue gain of function research: “I don’t think this is a decision that should be left for scientists to make alone. I think we should have a broader societal debate” including how to do it safely. But overall, he says, it’s not worth the risk.
"The significance of the Energy Department’s disclosure — along with the FBI’s subsequent revelation that it too believes that the coronavirus emerged because of a Wuhan lab leak — is that the government’s investigations are continuing and still turning up new information."
"Despite years of delays, it’s not too late to get to the bottom of this. The investigations must continue, and the public must be allowed to see all the relevant information. The truth must come out, whatever it is."
Read all about @semafor's new partner, the Center for China and Globalization, and its ties to CCP foreign influence operations and the United Front Work Department in this paper by @ASPI_org
"The centre is headed by Wang Huiyao (王辉耀), a prominent international commentator who is also an adviser to the UFWD, a member of several united front groups and an important figure in the development of China’s talent recruitment strategy."