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A group of protesters demonstrating against military rule in Myanmar lobbed petrol bombs on a bridge in the city of Yangon on Tuesday, March 16, setting makeshift barricades on fire.
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Russia’s government tried to seed the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign with “misleading or unsubstantiated allegations” against then-candidate Joe Biden through allies of former President Trump and his administration, U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday.The assessment was made in a 15-page report into election interference published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It underscores allegations that Trump’s allies were playing into Moscow’s hands by amplifying claims made against Biden by Russian-linked Ukrainian figures in the run up to the November 3 election. Biden defeated Trump and took office on January 20.U.S. intelligence agencies found other attempts to sway voters, including a “multi-pronged covert influence campaign” by Iran intended to undercut Trump’s support. The report also punctures a counter-narrative pushed by Trump’s allies that China was interfering on Biden’s behalf, concluding that Beijing “did not deploy interference efforts.””China sought stability in its relationship with the United States and did not view either election outcome as being advantageous enough for China to risk blowback if caught,” the report said.U.S. officials said they also saw efforts by Cuba, Venezuela and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to influence the election, although “in general, we assess that they were smaller in scale than those conducted by Russia and Iran.”U.S. intelligence agencies and former Special Counsel Robert Mueller previously concluded that Russia also interfered in the 2016 U.S. election to boost Trump’s candidacy with a campaign of propaganda aimed at harming his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. 
 
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The Adam Ezra Group has streamed more than 22,000 minutes, performed over 2,500 songs, and garnered nearly 13 million views with their daily livestream called The Gathering Series.“Switching To Whiskey” is the latest release part of Adam Ezra Group’s ambitious new recording series dubbed The Album Project which will see the band releasing 19 new singles over the next few years, trading in the traditional LP format for a steady flow of fresh material designed to keep their ever-expanding community active and engaged even beyond the pandemic.
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Authorities in Myanmar extended martial law in more areas of the main city of Yangon Monday amid reports of more killings of protesters at the hands of security forces.State-run MRTV news channel announced that the districts of North Dagon, South Dagon, Dagon Seikkan and North Okkalapa are under martial law, a day after security forces killed at least 40 people across Myanmar. Most of the killings took place in the Yangon suburb of Hlaingthaya, making it the bloodiest day of demonstrations against the junta that seized power in a February 1 coup.Protesters carry an injured man after riot policemen and soldiers shot rubber bullets during a crackdown on demonstrations in Yangon, Myanmar, March 14, 2021.Authorities imposed martial law on Hlaingthaya, a suburb of Myanmar’s main city, after several Chinese-owned factories were set on fire and about 2,000 people had stopped fire engines from reaching them, according to Reuters quoting army-run Myawaddy television. China is seen as supportive of the Myanmar junta.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian responded to Sunday’s attack on the factories during a regular news briefing Monday, “The burning and looting of Chinese companies is abhorrent. We hope the Myanmar side will take concrete measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens in Myanmar.”The spokesman also said, “The top priority is to prevent the occurrence of new bloody conflicts and to achieve an easing of the situation as soon as possible.”Various reports quoting the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said more than 30 people were killed Sunday in Hlaingthaya, up from the initial 22 fatalities reported by the group.Sixteen more protesters were killed in other cities and townships, the AAPP said, as well as one police officer. [[ https://aappb.org/?p=13671 ]] The previous deadliest day was March 3, when 38 deaths were reported across Myanmar.Two people were killed in protests in Myingyan, while three people were killed there and two in Aunglan town, according to Reuters which quoted the Myanmar Now media outlet.On Monday the AAPP was quoted as saying the nationwide death toll for Sunday had reached 44.As the violence continued to rage across Myanmar Monday, a scheduled court hearing in the capital Napyitaw for deposed de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi via videoconference was postponed because internet service had been blocked, according to her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw.Suu Kyi has been detained since the February 1 coup and is facing five criminal charges, including accepting $600,000 in illegal payments plus gold bars while in office. She is also charged with illegally possessing six unregistered walkie-talkie radios, operating communications equipment without a license, violating COVID-19 protocols by holding public gatherings and attempting to incite public unrest.The AAAP says security forces have killed at least 126 people in the seven weeks since the coup, not including the latest fatality reports since Sunday, and detained more than 2,150 as of Saturday, with more than 300 released so far. Christine Schraner Burgener, the U.N. special envoy of the secretary-general on Myanmar, Sunday strongly condemned the continuing bloodshed. “The international community, including regional actors, must come together in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and their democratic aspirations,” Burgener said in a statement. We ‘Have the Mind to Win This Battle’ – Myanmar Activist Speaks Out About Coup, Crackdown‘Our future must be defined by the civilians, not by the soldiers,’ says Thinzar Shunlei YiOn Saturday, the acting head of the country’s parallel civilian government, who was appointed by deposed legislators after the military coup, promised a “revolution” to oust the junta. Mahn Win Khaing, who is in hiding along with most other top NLD (National League for Democracy, a ruling political party in Myanmar since 2015 until the 2021 coup) officials, addressed the public for the first time, announcing on Facebook that the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, or CRPH, plans to establish a federal democracy.  CRPH is formed by NLD MPs who escaped arrest and are elected members of the ousted parliament on February 5. Mahn Win Khaing told supporters the CRPH would try to “legislate the required laws so that the people have the right to defend themselves.” He added, “This revolution is the chance we can put our efforts together.” The military government did not immediately respond to Mahn Win Khaing’s remarks, but it has declared the CRPH illegal. The junta has called the CRPH a terrorist organization and said anyone involved with it could face treason charges, which are punishable by death, the military government said. Military officials have claimed widespread fraud in last November’s general election, which the NLD won in a landslide, as justification for the takeover. The fraud allegations have been denied by Myanmar’s electoral commission. 
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Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish won the top prizes at the Grammy Awards on Sunday in a ceremony that also saw Beyonce become the most awarded female artist in Grammy history. Swift’s surprise lockdown record “Folklore” was named album of the year and Eilish’s “Everything I Wanted” won record of the year. Sunday’s win made Swift, 31, the first woman to take home album of the year three times. Beyonce’s four Grammys on Sunday took her total career wins to 28, surpassing the previous record for a woman set by bluegrass singer Alison Krauss.British singer Dua Lipa won best pop vocal album for her dance-y “Future Nostalgia.”Alicia Keys and Dua Lipa react at the 2020 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, March 14, 2021.The writers of “I Can’t Breathe” by R&B artist H.E.R won song of the year. It was written in response to the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States last summer. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion was named best new artist and the 26-year-old known for promoting women’s empowerment won two more Grammys for her rap performance of single “Savage,” featuring Beyonce. Hosted by Trevor Noah, the hybrid ceremony was packed with pre-recorded and live performances by the likes of Lipa, Taylor Swift, Post Malone, Cardi B, DaBaby, Black Pumas and Mickey Guyton. It took place both indoors and outdoors in Downtown Los Angeles but mostly without the elaborate sets and special effects that traditionally mark the highest honors in the music business. K-Pop band BTS lost in the best pop duo or group performance against Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande for their single “Rain on Me” but performed their hit English-language single “Dynamite” from South Korea at the close of the show. 
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International deliveries of arms were flat in the period from 2016 to 2020, ending more than a decade of increases, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report on Monday.The United States, France and Germany, three of the world’s biggest exporters, increased deliveries, but decreases in exports from Russian and China offset the rise, SIPRI said.It was the first time since 2001-2005 that the volume of deliveries of major arms between countries — an indicator of demand — did not increase from the previous five-year period, SIPRI said.While the pandemic has shut down economies across the world and pushed many countries into deep recessions, SIPRI said it was too early to tell whether the slowdown in arms deliveries was likely to continue.”The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could see some countries reassessing their arms imports in the coming years,” Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, said in a statement.”However, at the same time, even at the height of the pandemic in 2020, several countries signed large contracts for major arms.”The United Arab Emirates, for example, recently signed an agreement with the United States to purchase 50 F-35 jets and up to 18 armed drones as part of a $23 billion package.Middle Eastern countries accounted for the biggest increase in arms imports, up 25% in 2016-20 from 2011-15.Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest arms importer, increased its arms imports by 61% and Qatar by 361%.Asia and Oceania were the largest importing regions for major arms, receiving 42% of global arms transfers in 2016-20. India, Australia, China, South Korea and Pakistan were the biggest importers in the region.”For many states in Asia and Oceania, a growing perception of China as a threat is the main driver for arms imports,” said Siemon Wezeman, senior sesearcher at SIPRI. 
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Queen Bey is closer to sitting on her Grammys throne: The singer won her 26th Grammy on Sunday, almost matching, and on track to surpass, Alison Krauss’ record of 27 wins.Beyoncé, this year’s leading contender with nine nominations, won two honors during the pre-ceremony including best rap performance for “Savage” with Megan Thee Stallion and best music video for “Brown Skin Girl.” She shares the latter with daughter Blue Ivy Carter, who is also having a historic night: At 9 years old, she’s the second youngest to win a Grammy.Beyoncé’s other nominations, including song and record of the year, best R&B performance and best rap song, will broadcast during the live show, which kicked off with host Trevor Noah telling jokes about the coronavirus pandemic and the year that was 2020.He was live from downtown Los Angeles, with attendees wearing masks and sitting, socially distanced, at small round tables.  That was followed by performances from Harry Styles, who is competing for his first Grammys this year, and Billie Eilish, who won five Grammys last year and picked up her sixth honor during the preshow.Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa and Beyonce Battle for Grammys Top Prizes  Beyoncé, now the most nominated female artist in Grammy history with 79 career nods, leads all comers with nine nominationsOther performances, taped days before the big show, will air throughout the night, including Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, BTS, Bad Bunny, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Dua Lipa, Post Malone, Chris Martin, Lil Baby, John Mayer, Maren Morris and Doja Cat.During the preshow, Fiona Apple and Kaytranda were also double winners Sunday. John Prine and Chick Corea both earned two wins posthumously. Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Dan + Shay, James Taylor, H.E.R., Beck, Brandi Carlile, Burna Boy, Tiffany Haddish and Rachel Maddow also won Grammys.While Beyoncé is set to have a historic night, history could repeat itself and she could be shut out of winning a top award — a common occurrence for R&B and rap artists throughout Grammy history. Of her 26 wins, only one has been for one of the big four Grammys, song of the year. She has lost album of the year three times and record of the year five times.Jay-Z has never won a top award, and he and his wife join a list of mostly Black performers who have only won in the rap and R&B categories, including Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Eminem, Drake, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige and more.This year The Weeknd was the one who was snubbed. Despite having the biggest hit of 2020 with “Blinding Lights” and a top-selling, multihit album, he didn’t earn any nominations.  Still, Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” could become the second hip-hop song to win record of the year.Taylor Swift could make history, too, and become the first woman to win the show’s top prize, album of the year, three times. Her first surprise album of 2020, “Folklore,” is competing for the top honor, an award she first won in 2010 for “Fearless,” and again in 2016 for “1989.”  Artists competing with Swift for album of the year include Coldplay, Post Malone, Dua Lipa, Jhené Aiko, HAIM, Black Pumas and Jacob Collier, who picked up a win during the pre-ceremony.The Grammys were originally scheduled for Jan. 31 but were pushed back because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Haitian authorities said Saturday that four police agents were killed and several wounded Friday during a botched anti-gang operation in the capital, Port-au-Prince.The ill-fated operation drew harsh criticism on social media after a video emerged of assailants dragging and beating the bodies of two members of a special police unit.Eight other officers were wounded, three of whom remained hospitalized Saturday in stable condition, said national police director Leon Charles.In a brief statement Charles expressed sympathy to the victims’ families as well as to “those who support the police and are sickened by the publicity around the bodies of dead officers.”The police have yet to recover the bodies of those killed in the crime-ridden Village de Dieu neighborhood, where the sound of automatic gunfire filled the air Friday.Charles did not say if any arrests had been made.Images posted on social media showed several damaged police vehicles, including an armored truck, abandoned on a street in the waterfront district.Charles admitted that some equipment “remained in the theater of operations,” without providing details.The criminal gang reportedly also recovered some high-caliber automatic weaponry and other police equipment.A statement Saturday from the United Nations office in Haiti said it was imperative that the circumstances surrounding the raid be clarified and that those responsible for the violence be brought to justice.Gang influence in Haiti has grown steadily in recent years.Criminal networks exercise total control over several poor, densely populated neighborhoods of the capital, creating no-go zones where they hold kidnap victims.Haiti has seen a surge in kidnappings for ransom in recent months, targeting both the wealthy and those of far more modest means.
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North Korea has not responded to behind-the-scenes diplomatic outreach since mid-February by President Joe Biden’s administration, including to Pyongyang’s mission to the United Nations, a senior Biden administration official told Reuters on Saturday.The disclosure of the U.S. outreach, which had not been previously reported, raises questions about how Biden will address mounting tensions with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.It also adds a dimension to a visit America’s top diplomat and defense secretary will make next week to South Korea and Japan, where concerns over North Korea’s nuclear arsenal are expected to be high on the agenda.The senior Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, offered few details on the diplomatic push. But the official said there had been efforts to reach out to the North Korean government “through several channels starting in mid-February, including in New York.””To date, we have not received any response from Pyongyang,” the official said.North Korea’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Biden administration has so far been cautious in publicly describing its approach to North Korea, saying it is carrying out a comprehensive policy review following former President Donald Trump’s unprecedented engagement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.FILE – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then-U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during a meeting on the south side of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea, in Panmunjom, June 30, 2019.Trump’s efforts failed to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.Year-plus of silenceThe Biden administration official said it appeared there had been no active dialogue between the United States and North Korea for more than a year, including at the end of Trump’s administration, “despite multiple attempts during that time by the United States to engage.”The U.S. official declined to speculate about how the silence from Pyongyang would affect the Biden administration’s North Korea policy review, which was expected to be completed in the coming weeks.During his election campaign, Biden described Kim as a thug and said he would meet him only “on the condition that he would agree that he would be drawing down his nuclear capacity.”U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has held out the possibility of additional sanctions, in coordination with allies, to press North Korea to denuclearize.Sanctions have so far failed to persuade Kim to give up his nuclear weapons.Blinken is slated to host the first face-to-face discussions between senior Biden administration and Chinese officials on March 18 in Alaska. The Trump administration accused China of failing to enforce sanctions against North Korea.A confidential U.N. report found that North Korea maintained and developed its nuclear and ballistic missile programs throughout 2020 in violation of international sanctions, helping fund them with $300 million stolen through cyber hacks.The report by independent sanctions monitors said Pyongyang “produced fissile material, maintained nuclear facilities and upgraded its ballistic missile infrastructure” while continuing to seek material and technology for those programs from abroad.    
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Protesters took to Myanmar streets again Saturday and security forces responded, firing live rounds into the crowds.  At least four demonstrators died in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, and in the central town of Pyay.  
 
Amid the continued protests and violence in Myanmar, the United Nations human rights investigator on Myanmar has called for the international community to take a united stand against the military junta that took power in a February 1 coup.
 
“It is heartbreaking to bear witness to the terror and lawlessness by those who have illegally grabbed power in Myanmar,” which is also known as Burma, Thomas Andrews told the U.N. Human Rights Council Friday.
 
He added that the international community “must strip away the junta’s sense of impunity.”
 
A Myanmar official told the council that authorities in the country were using “utmost restraint” toward the protesters.
 
Andrews called that claim “absurd.”
 
Since Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected government, he said, security forces have killed at least 70 people and arbitrarily arrested more than 2,000.
 
Andrews also said there is video evidence of security forces viciously beating protestors, destroying property, looting shops, and firing indiscriminately into people’s homes, and that the junta has been systematically destroying legal protections and crushing freedom of expression and assembly.
 
Last month, the U.S. announced sanctions on the Burmese military regime.
 
Earlier this week, the U.S. government placed sanctions on the two adult children of Burmese military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing.
 
The United States has called for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy party, ousted President Win Myint, and protesters, journalists and human rights activists who have been unjustly detained since the takeover.
 
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After the pandemic began, COVID medical workers became modern-day heroes.  Vladimir Lenski has the story of a New York City artist who created a portrait series to honor them.  Anna Rice narrates.Video: Max Avloshenko
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An Iowa journalist recounted getting pepper-sprayed and arrested while covering a protest for racial justice last year, testifying in her own defense Tuesday at her trial on charges stemming from the incident.Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri told jurors she was running away from a scene where riot police had shot tear gas and were advancing to disperse protesters outside a mall in Des Moines, Iowa. She said that after she rounded the corner of a Verizon store, she saw an officer charging at her and put her hands up.“I wasn’t doing anything wrong,” Sahouri said. “I said, ‘I’m press, I’m press, I’m press.’ He grabbed me, pepper-sprayed me and as he was doing so said, ‘That’s not what I asked.’”Sahouri said the pepper spray was “extremely painful” and made her think she was going to go blind.Sahouri’s testimony came on the second day of a trial in which Sahouri and her former boyfriend, Spenser Robnett, are charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts. The case has drawn widespread criticism from media and human rights advocates, who call the charges an attack on press freedom. The pair face fines and potentially jail time if convicted of the misdemeanors.Judge Lawrence McLellan on Tuesday reserved a ruling on the defense’s motion for an acquittal and could issue one from the bench Wednesday. A six-member jury is expected to begin deliberations Wednesday morning.Body camera video played for jurors before Sahouri’s testimony backed up her account, showing that she was temporarily blinded and hurting from pepper spray and repeatedly told police she was a reporter.“This is my job,” Sahouri tells an officer. “I’m just doing my job. I’m a journalist.”The Freedom of the Press Foundation called the video powerful evidence that Sahouri was “arrested while doing her job reporting on historic protests” and should have never faced prosecution.Robnett, who accompanied Sahouri to the protest for safety reasons, also took the stand Tuesday. He said he saw Officer Luke Wilson spray Sahouri from close range, and that he stepped forward to say that Sahouri was a Register reporter. The officer then shot pepper spray at him, knocking him to the ground, before he was handcuffed and jailed, Robnett said.Robnett and Sahouri testified that they did not hear any earlier police orders to leave the scene, and that they did not interfere with the officers who arrested them.The newspaper assigned Sahouri to cover the protest at Merle Hay mall days after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was declared dead after a white officer in Minneapolis put his knee on Floyd’s neck for about 9 minutes.Des Moines Register executive editor Carol Hunter testified that Sahouri did her job “very well” that night, reporting observations and images of the event live on Twitter. She noted the protests were the largest in the city in decades.A second Register reporter who was with Sahouri, Katie Akin, testified that she was surprised to see Sahouri get arrested because “I didn’t understand us to be breaking any laws.” Akin yelled that they were journalists and showed a press badge, before Akin was told to leave without arrest.Wilson, an 18-year Des Moines Police Department veteran, said he responded to the protest and found a “riotous mob” breaking store windows and throwing rocks and water bottles at officers. He said his unit was told to clear a parking lot, and he used a device known as a fogger to blanket the area with clouds of pepper spray.He said he decided Sahouri needed to be arrested when she did not leave and that he was unaware she was a journalist when he grabbed her. He said that Robnett tried to pull Sahouri out of his grasp, and he deployed more pepper spray that “incapacitated” Robnett.Sahouri had her hands cuffed in zip ties and was taken to jail in a police van.Under cross-examination by defense attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt, Wilson said that he charged Sahouri with interference because she briefly pulled her left arm away while he was arresting her. He acknowledged that he did not mention that claim in his police report.Wilson said he failed to activate his body camera before arresting Sahouri, saying he mistakenly believed it was recording.The cameras are always capturing video when on and can retrieve video of incidents that were not recorded in some circumstances. Officers who fail to record significant incidents are required by department policy to notify supervisors, who can then try to recover video. Wilson said he did not do that.Prosecutors say Sahouri and Robnett ignored police orders to leave the area that were broadcast over a public address system about 90 minutes before their arrests.The defense argued those orders were intended only to clear an intersection where protesters were surrounding a squad car. Body camera video played for jurors showed officers yelling at protesters to get out of the intersection and be peaceful. Separate orders to disperse could be heard faintly in the background — so quiet that an officer testifying for the prosecution struggled to make them out.Sahouri testified she did not hear any dispersal orders and continued reporting on what she called a historical moment.“It’s important for journalists to be on the scene and document what’s happening,” she said.
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The nightly internet shutdowns in Myanmar are part of a strategy employed by many governments worldwide in times of crisis. But they come with costs. VOA’s Michelle Quinn reports.   
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At least 20 people are dead and hundreds more injured after a series of explosions at a military base in Equatorial Guinea. A party official in Myanmar tells VOA’s Burmese Service that a member from ousted de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party has died in police custody. Swiss citizens have narrowly approved a proposal that would prohibit women from wearing full facial coverings in public. On International Women’s Day, more on a debate in Nigeria over a proposal to make six months paid maternity leave a national right for women in both the private and public sectors. 
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Saturday said a metal barrier to wall off the presidential palace ahead of a planned women’s march on International Women’s Day was to avoid provocation and protect historic buildings from vandalism.In a country where femicides rose nearly 130% between 2015 and 2020, critics said the decision to erect the 3-meter-high barriers was symptomatic of Lopez Obrador’s apathy toward the crisis of violence afflicting women.Ahead of International Women’s Day on Monday, barriers were also installed around other emblematic buildings and monuments in downtown Mexico City, where a year ago tens of thousands of people protested rampant violence against women and impunity.”We have to avoid provocation of people who only want to cause damage,” Lopez Obrador said at an event in Yucatan. “Imagine, if we don’t take care of the national palace and they vandalize it. What image will this send to the world?”Lopez Obrador reiterated that women had the right to protest and cited his own movement in 2006 as an appropriate form of peaceful protest.”The presidency was stolen from us … and we protested but never broke glass. … I walked two, three times all the way from Tabasco to Mexico City,” he said. Lopez Obrador has repeatedly accused opponents of electoral fraud over the years.At least 939 women were victims of femicide last year in Mexico, official data shows.Interior Minister Olga Sanchez Cordero said on Twitter that the barriers were “for the protection of the women.”Anger among women was stoked this year after Felix Salgado, who has been accused of rape, announced his candidacy for governor for the southern state of Guerrero.A representative for Salgado did not reply to repeated requests for comment; he has denied the allegations, according to media reports.Lopez Obrador has said that those calling on him to drop support for Salgado, a member of the ruling Morena party, are politically motivated.
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A key U.S. partner in the fight against terrorism is growing increasingly uneasy about the Biden administration’s new guidance on the use of drones and airstrikes, concerned that the changes are giving an already emboldened al-Qaida affiliate more room to operate.Since U.S. President Joe Biden took office January 20, the United States has not launched a single airstrike against al-Shabab in Somalia, after seven strikes were conducted  from January 1 to 19.Senior Somali military officials worry the new guidance, which has imposed tighter controls on ordering airstrikes and requires the White House to sign off on operations, means al-Shabab will begin to gather momentum.“Lack of strikes mean al-Shabab leaders will come out of hiding,” a senior Somali military commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the issue publicly, told VOA’s Somali Service.“They will bring their battle wagons out. They will mount big guns on top of vehicles again. They will start to gather in large numbers again,” he said. “It will be detrimental not only to the security of Somalia but to the region if al-Shabab were given freedom to move around.”Grave threatU.S. defense and intelligence officials have long considered the Somalia-based al-Shabab one of the gravest threats emanating from Africa, targeting the group with 53 airstrikes in 2020 and  63 airstrikes in 2019.The impact, though, has been debatable.Recent U.S. intelligence estimates indicate al-Shabab commands as many as 10,000 fighters across Somalia and parts of Kenya. And despite consistent counterterrorism pressure, officials concluded by the latter half of 2020 that the group was starting to show it was operating without fear.“The terrorist threat in East Africa is not degraded,” the U.S. Department of Defense inspector general warned in a November report. “Al-Shabab retains freedom of movement in many parts of southern Somalia and has demonstrated an ability and intent to attack outside of the country, including targeting U.S. interests.”, are part of a larger review of the existing “legal and policy frameworks” governing such actions.“The purpose of the interim guidance is to ensure the president has full visibility on proposed significant actions,” according to National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne. She said it would be “premature to anticipate” when the review would conclude.Review understoodCurrent and former Somali security officials indicate they understand the new administration’s reasoning for the review. They just fear that the interim guidance is putting them and the U.S. at a disadvantage.“Of course, the operations should be conducted with the utmost care and should protect civilians,” Gaid said. “But the reality is, the group [al-Shabab] needs to be on the defensive and should not have freedom of movement and operations, and that’s what the airstrikes helped with.”The extent to which those concerns have made it up the Somali chain of command and have been communicated to U.S. officials is unclear.In a statement on civilian casualties Friday, U.S. Africa Command acknowledged Somali defense officials have said airstrikes are a critical part of the effort against al-Shabab.“The Somali National Army fully supports U.S. Africa Command’s efforts to degrade al-Shabab through kinetic airstrikes,” the statement quoted Somali Chief of Defense Forces Brigadier General Odawa Yusuf Raage as telling U.S. officials at a recent meeting.“These strikes are a key part in our fight against an enemy that has shown no hesitation in terrorizing innocent Somali citizens through repression, extortion and murder,” Raage said.US Troops to Withdraw From Somalia Amid Ongoing Terror ThreatSenior US military spokesman says terror threat remains but ‘is contained’And that came after the Defense Department inspector general raised concerns that Somalia’s security forces were not yet ready to take the lead in the effort to contain al-Shabab.#Somalia reliant on #Danab Brigrade units for majority – 80% – of counter #alShabaab ops@StateDept tells @DoD_IG Danab performing relatively well but progress hurt by “inadequate troop generation, normal attrition, and combat losses”— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) November 25, 2020Somalia’s security forces “continue to rely on international support,” the inspector general warned in November. “Al-Shabab is not degraded to the point where Somali security forces can contain its threat independently.”VOA’s Somali Service contributed to this report. 
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The Biden Administration ordered its first military strike on Iran-backed militias in eastern Syria. Ellen Laipson, professor and director of the Center for Security Policy Studies at George Mason University, and Randa Slim, Director of the Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues Program at the Middle East Institute, join Carol Castiel to discuss how these strikes could affect US-Iran nuclear talks, US-Iraq relations and US policy toward Syria.
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