On Monday and Tuesday, Tobruq Legacy 2019 conducted the live fire exercise portion of the 16 day long, multinational air and missile defense exercise. This year, Tobruq Legacy was hosted and directed by Poland and 3,000 personnel from 13 nations participated in the live fire to ensure and improve interoperability among allies.
Also on Monday, Iran announced it will exceed the JCPOA limit on its stockpile of uranium in ten days. A spokesman for Iran’s atomic energy agency said the country had quadrupled the rate of enrichment to exceed the limit. The limit set by the deal was 300 kilograms enriched no higher than 3.67% - far below the 90% level required for nuclear weapons.
On Wednesday, to counter rising tensions with Iran, the United States announced 1,000 additional troops will be deployed to the middle east. A Patriot Missile Battalion will be part of the new deployment to protect U.S. forces and assets in the area.
Also on Wednesday, two rockets landed near compounds housing ExxonMobil staff in Iraq’s southern city of Basra. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the strike. Three people were injured in the attack.
On Thursday, Yemen’s Houthi rebels continued their missile and drone attacks in Saudi Arabia by striking a power station in the southern province of Jizan. The rebel’s affiliated news claimed the strike used a ‘cruise missile’. There were no injuries reported in the attack.
Also on Thursday, U.S. troops partnered with Romanian forces in an air defense live fire exercise, part of the ongoing Saber Guardian 19 exercise in Romania. Patriot missile systems were used to intercept drones flying over the black sea. Romania is scheduled to acquire and field Patriots next year.
In the latest of developments with Iran, on Thursday the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard shot down an RQ-4A Global Hawk. Iran claims the drone violated their territorial space, while the DoD states it was operating in international air-space over the Strait of Hormuz.
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