US and Israel carry out strikes on Iran

(Tehran)  This morning (28th Feb 2026) saw the long expected attack on Iran carried out by the US and surprisingly the first strikes were carried out by Israel..  The video below is of at least 20 US cruise missiles flying over Iraq heading east

Video of strikes across Iran have been uploaded onto Social media. Interestingly there is also video of Iranians celebrating the attacks, Which has me asking,has the US targeted the bases of those Iranian units  who have been supressing the Iranian people these past couple of months

🚨BREAKING:

EXPLOSIONS all across Tehran right now as the Israeli Air Force is bombing the IRGC.

War has officially begun. Pray. pic.twitter.com/GBecAN2pLm

— Vivid.🇮🇱 (@VividProwess) February 28, 2026

🚨 CRIES OF HOPE IN IRAN

Women on rooftops are cheering amid smoke in Tehran. Showing their deep desire for freedom and change after years of struggle.

The people deserve peace, rights, and a better future.

Good luck.@gghamari @elicalebon pic.twitter.com/brvypHvPhL

— Kiera Diss (@KieraDiss) February 28, 2026

🚨 Breaking: Explosions in Bushehr, in southern Iran pic.twitter.com/37Ey3v7Wnv

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) February 28, 2026

Iran has retaliated launching missiles at Israel and Bahrain :

A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward Israel.

Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat. In the past few minutes, the Home Front Command has sent a precautionary directive directly to mobile phones in the relevant areas.

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 28, 2026

Iran targeted the United States’ naval installation in Bahrain as reports of additional Iranian missile launches against Israel, Qatar, and the UAE continue to come in. pic.twitter.com/MYmfQvK5L4

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 28, 2026

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Iran: Selects new rifle for its military

(Tehran) After 55 years of using the Heckler & Koch G3A6 as its standard military rifle , the Iranians have decided to replace it with a clone of the Heckler & Koch HK417  which is the 7.62 x 51 iteration of the world renowned HK416

Known in Iranian service as the MASAF-2 automatic rifle , which has been in selective use with special arms since 2021, has been given the go ahead to be rolled out to all and sundry , as per usual, the Iranians are claiming that the weapon is indigenous to Tehran , which is a claim they make about virtually all the weapons it clones. I quote: 

  

Brigadier General Qiyumars Heydari, Commander of the Iranian Army, announced the plans to modernize the small arms arsenal. “Following Admiral Sayyari’s order, the Army has officially abandoned the G3 rifle after 53 years of service. It has been replaced by the state-of-the-art MASAF-2 weapon developed by our specialists and mass-produced,”

 

The use of the larger 7.62mm round and not the ubiquitous 5.56 NATO round  (which replaced the 7.62 in NATO service) is presumed to be because Iran after using the 7.62 round for over 55 years cant be arsed to lose all its stocks of said ammo or to change all its tooling to drop down a calibre . That said the  MASAF-2  is a huge improvement over the G3 it replaces 

Pakistan: Suicide attack on army base kills 12 injures 30

(Bannu) A terrorist attack on a Pakistani army base has seen 12 people killed and another 30 injured (so far) The base situated in the city of Bannu was struck by 2 suicide car bombs at sunset around the time of the ending of the days fasting (part of Ramadan)  these blasts opened up a gap in the security wall which was then assaulted on mass by armed individuals belonging to the the Pakistani Taliban group Jaish Al-Fursan. 

#

The blasts caused the roof of a nearby mosque to collapse while a number of worshippers were inside, rescue workers trying to free people from underneath the rubble said that they had retrieved the body of the mosque’s imam. The attack is the third terrorist assault in Pakistan since Ramadan started Sunday.

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In homage to Ron Ely 1938-2024

 

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Interlude: Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Pump It Up

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Interlude: Ronan Keating - Lovin' Each Day

Russia: Ukraine carries out devastating attack on Russian ammunition compound

(Toropets) is a town and the administrative center of Toropetsky District in Tver Oblast, Russia.

It is also where in 2015, Moscow decided to build a huge ammunition compound which conformed to the highest modern safety standards and which they claimed would be able to withstand a small nuclear strike. which may explain why Moscow had around 30000 tonnes of ammunition in store there which included Iskander and Tochka-U missile systems, guided aerial bombs and assorted artillery ammunition. ... including some North Korean munitions. Well apparently somebody forgot to send that memo to Kyiv who struck the ammunition compound over the night of the 17th and early morning of the 18th of September when it carried out a drone strike on the compound resulting in this:

in fact so devastating was the blast it was recorded as a 2.9 Magnitude earthquake. Finnish microsatellite manufacturer ICEYE released this SAR image showing the extent of the damage to the ammunition storage site

In response, Russia claims that they shot down all the drones the Ukraine launched at the ammunition compound, but the wreckage from one they shot down landed on the ammo dump and set off a chain of explosions. Whatever the cause, the simple fact remains , Moscow has lost a lot of ammunition this past week.

Lebanon: Huge attack on Hezbollah operatives

(Beirut)  In what can only be deemed as audacious, somebody (looks at Israel) tampered with electronic communication devices used by Hezb-allah and on Tuesday 17^th September 2024 decided to detonate them. The initial strike targeted pagers which Hezb-allah started rolling out earlier this year, which it did so as to replace much higher tech Smart phones, which they believed could be compromised by others (looks again at Israel) and which they feel has been the reason how Israel has been able to successfully target Hezb-allah , Hamas and Iranian leaders. The use of pagers was seen as a cheap low tech solution to the problem above. But it appears that somebody (looks at Israel) was ahead of the curve here and set up a plan of action in which to doctor the order that Hezb-allah had placed for such and as we saw on Tuesday , at the push of a button somebody (Yup looks again at Israel) was able to detonate the newly supplied pagers resulting in the crippling of around 4000 Hezb-allah operatives and around 13 deaths

This was followed Wednesday (18th September 2024)  by a second wave of explosions , which this time targeted walkie talkies which ironically were also purchased at the same time resulting in another 20 deaths and around 450 injuries.

At a stroke somebody has managed to paralyse Hezb-allahs ability to communicate , which may explain why the IDF has started carrying out air attacks on Hezb-allah positions as of Thursday morning.  (19th September 2024)``

With the direction of IDF intelligence, the IAF struck approximately 30 Hezbollah launchers and terrorist infrastructure sites, containing approximately 150 launcher barrels that were ready to fire projectiles toward Israeli territory.

Additionally, the IDF struck Hezbollah… https://t.co/uqezvGXdZh

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 19, 2024

Syria: Israel carries out audacious raid on underground Iranian missile base inside Syria

(Masyaf) So last Sunday (8th Sept 2024) It was reported that Israel carried how numerous air strikes across Syria including the Scientific Studies and Research Center in Masyaf (Which is believed to be used by Syria as a development centre for missiles and chemical weaponry)

Well , it is now coming out in the wash, that the entire rash of airstrikes across Syria, was not only a  huge diversion , but also used to degrade Syrian Air defence in which to allow IDF special forces to carry out a raid on an underground Iranian missile base to the south west of Masyaf who choppered in, entered the underground base, killed a load of Syrian guards, captured a number of Iranians working there, set explosives, blew the place up and left ASAP. 

The .@IDF and the .@IAFsite destroyed reported Iranian underground missile factory in #Syria ground raid
.@BarakRavid on .@axios
1/ https://t.co/bCCXT7BNEH pic.twitter.com/oCYfBdfDtz

— Ronen (@RonenStauber) September 12, 2024

🧵⚔️ BREAKING: Israeli Forces Infiltrate Iranian Missile Facility in Syria 🚨

Israel’s largest airstrikes in years targeted an Iranian missile facility near Masyaf. Reports say Israeli forces infiltrated the site and gathered key intelligence.

Here’s what we know 👇 pic.twitter.com/fU2nrIBTp2

— Voice from the East (@easternvoices) September 12, 2024

Interlude: America : A horse with no name

Russia: Ukraine takes out a Ammo dump containing North Korean Ballistic missiles

(Soldatskoe) On the evening of the 7th Sept 2024, Kyiv carried out a drone attack on a Russian Ammunition compound in the village of Soldatskoe Voronezh Oblast

Yes, Ukraine has struck numerous Russia ammunition compounds since Feb 2022, but this one is slightly different as it was used to hold KN-23 Ballistic Missiles supplied by North Korea.

Basically its the North Korean version of the Russian Iskander M Ballistic missile, which has been purchased on mass by Moscow to make up the deficit in Short range Ballistic Missiles it has suffered due to its 3 day special operation now approaching the 3 year point.

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🇺🇦Ukrainian drones hit ammunition warehouse in Russia's Voronezh Oblast.#Ukraine #Voronezh pic.twitter.com/zrGQWhF1kh

— WORLD AT WAR (@World_At_War_6) September 7, 2024

Voronezh Oblast, Soldatskoye. Ammunition depot, September 7, 2024. pic.twitter.com/5AsiQUPfOb

— Russia on fire (@russiasonfire) September 7, 2024

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Russia: Putin lays down terms for a ceasefire.

(Moscow)  So Vladimir Putin speaking to diplomats at the Russian foreign ministry, issued his demands to Kyiv in order to halt his invasion of the Ukraine. they were:

• That Ukrainian troops leave the entire regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and that they be declared Russian territory by international agreement,
• Drop its NATO bid in order for him to end his war in Ukraine.

He also issued a demand to the West which was:

• drop all financial sanctions against Russia as a precondition to a ceasefire

To be fair, nothing has really changed as Moscow has laid claim to the 4 oblasts since the 30th of September 2022, however and a big however weeks after that proclamation Moscow suffered huge reversals in Kharkiv and Kherson Oblasts  meaning that currently Moscow doesnt fully control any of the Oblasts it covets. 

So here is what Moscow currently occupies inside the Ukraine:

What its demands are:

We saw something similar in 2014 when Moscow annexed the Crimea, which the world was told was all Russia wanted and in Feb 2022 we saw different. Who's to say that if Kyiv accepts this so called peace deal, that in say 8 years time after Russia has made good its losses, it decides its wants more. I mean isn't that how Russia has operated for over 200 years

Interlude: The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo : Black Bear

Germany: To bring back a limited form of conscription

(Berlin) Coming on the back of Moscow's invasion of the Ukraine and the viewpoint of Putin that he wishes to bring back into the fold the former parts of the Russian empire which went their own way. (Finland, Sweden, Poland and of course Ukraine) the spectre of the Russia bear again worries the leaders of Europe. Military experts taking note of Moscow's huge hikes in the funding of its military have arrived at the conclusion that Moscow will be powerful enough to march into Europe proper by 2029. (Yes I know Moscow hasn’t achieved much in 2 years inside the Ukraine other than return vast tracts of the country to the stone age, but I’m only regurgitating what is been parroted in the European corridors of power).

This threat has resulted in Finland and Sweden give up neutrality and join NATO . Poland which has a long history regards Russia has remilitarised which when completed will make Warsaw the most powerful nation (militarily) in Europe with its ground forces outnumbering Germany, France, Uk , Holland and Italy combined. In fact all the European nations have taken to increasing military spending (Bar the Uk, which whilst acknowledging the threat facing Europe continues cutting defence spending with a promise they will increase defence spending in 2030) Germany which until the other year held the title of defence spending laggard has turned that around with a record amount of funding poured into its military and the otherday declared that it intends to bring back a limited form of conscription in which to build up a reserve in case it is needed post 2030.

The government has plans to increase the size of the army from 182,000 to 203,000 by 2031. But military officials believe it needs as many as 460,000 soldiers to defend Germany in the event of an attack. Under the plan, men aged 18 will be required to fill out a form with information about their willingness and ability to serve in the army and then, if selected, to undergo a medical examination. Recruits will then be chosen from those tested.

Of the 400,000 18-year-olds who would be approached by the Bundeswehr under this plan every year, it is estimated about a quarter would likely express an interest in serving. Of these, 40,000 to 50,000 would be invited to undergo a medical examination.  Those who pass the medical will be offered six months of basic training which can be extended to a total of 23 months of service. Recruits will then become part of the reserve force, with an obligation to undergo annual training. However the Bundeswehr currently only had the capacity to train 5,000 additional recruits a year, though that number would rise in the coming years.

Meanwhislt the upcoming general election in the Uk (4th July 2024) sees the SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru (and a sizable element of Labour and the Liberals) stating that if elected they will get rid of the Uks nuclear deterrent in which to be the adult in the room in which to force others to get rid of their nukes and thus make the world a safer place. Yup good luck with that. (looks at how Ukraine got rid of her Nukes in 1994) seeing as how Moscow has threatened Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Romania, Poland and Holland with nuclear strikes if they don't do as told.

Russia: Adding Cope cages to Motorbikes

(Russia) So a few weeks ago I knocked out a post about how Moscow has started utilizing motorbikes  in which to allow its troops to advance quickly into Ukrainian territory in which to try and offset the vulnerability of slower armoured vehicles on the battlefield especially to First Person View UAVs, which have taken a terrible toll on Russian armour inside the Ukraine. Well as i mentioned at the time, Motorbikes whilst quicker than armoured vehicles (And a lot smaller) are a lot more vulnerable and taking note, the Russians have started fitting their Motor bikes with cope cages, fine if the device doesnt  detonate , but if it does, then the rider (lacking the protection afforded by armoured vehicles) is history and that assessment doesnt include artillery bursts . 

Germany: Latest iteration of Leopard 2 tank reveals unmanned turret

(Amsterdam) KNDS is a European defence industry holding company, which is the result of a merger in 2015 between German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and French Nexter Systems. Which is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. One of its first projects was to develop a new Main Battle Tank (MainGround Combat System) which would replace the leopard 2 tank in German and the Le Clerc in French Service. Well KND has just revealed its latest iteration of the Leopard 2 tank which has moved on from its last concept of fitting the Leclerc turret onto the Leopard 2 chassis, by ditching that idea and replacing the manned turret  for a unmanned one  and relocating the 3 man crew into the hull .

The Leopard 2 A-RC is designed to address the evolving challenges of modern battlefields, incorporating cutting-edge innovations to enhance its operational capabilities.

A major highlight of the new turret, is the ability to fit the current 120mm gun, Rheinmetall’s new 130mm gun, or KNDS’s proprietary 140mm Ascalon transformer gun. The turret comes fitted with an autoloader capable of firing three rounds in ten seconds and is configurable for both direct line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) engagements.

The sensor suite includes optronics and multiple detection systems such as laser warning, optics detection, and drone detection, ensuring heightened situational awareness and battlefield effectiveness.

The unmanned turret reduces the tank’s vulnerable area by 30%. The Leopard 2 A-RC modular armour configuration system allows for quick replacement and upgrades and is backed up by a active protection systems (APS) capable of intercepting incoming projectiles.

The Leopard 2 A-RC will weigh less than 60 tons and have a reduced height compared to its predecessors.