Damemas ری ٹویٹ کیا
//The Wire//1900Z March 25, 2026//
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//BLUF: WAR ESCALATES AGAIN IN THE MIDDLE EAST AS ISRAEL AND IRAN BEGIN MORE ROUTINE TARGETING OF EACH OTHERS NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS. MULTIPLE FPV DRONE ATTACKS REPORTED IN BAGHDAD. US ARMY RAISES ENLISTMENT AGE TO 42 FOR NEW RECRUITS.//
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-International Events-
Middle East: Multiple escalations of the conflict took place overnight. Following Israeli/American bombing yesterday, Iranian forces retaliated by striking multiple US bases/positions in Kuwait. In Israel, strikes were also reported at the Orot Rabin Power Plant in Hadera, however the munition appears to have missed the generation facilities by a narrow margin. Another Iranian strike targeted fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport overnight, and similar strikes were reported in Tel Aviv which resulted in unknown damage.
Iraq: Multiple significant events occurred overnight as the PMF begins more deliberate offensive operations. Yesterday morning, the United States conducted airstrikes at the personal residences of PMF leadership in Al Habbaniya. This strike killed Saad Al Baiji (an operations chief), and subsequently resulted in an intensification of targeting efforts on American positions throughout Baghdad. As a result of this targeting of PMF leadership, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani has authorized PMF militia groups to retaliate against American forces.
Analyst Comment: This is a major escalation that could effectively open up another front in the war. The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) are a semi-autonomous, highly-organized militia group that serves as one of Iran's major proxy groups outside their own borders. Technically, they are linked to the Iraqi government, but in practice they mostly just do what they want while being supplied by the Iranians. The official Iraqi government stating that they will let them off leash (while not entirely surprising) is in effect a return to GWOT era, but this time the Iraqi government is openly endorsing their attacks on Americans. So in effect, battle lines are being drawn and the Iraqis are now taking the side of Iran. Depending on how kinetic PMF operations become, American forces may face more contested airspace over not just Iran, but Iraq as well.
Otherwise, this week has witnessed an escalation of the war as FPV drone attacks have become more commonly carried out at Camp Victory by insurgents targeting American forces. In a video released yesterday evening, one HH-60M helicopter was targeted, along with a Sentinel radar array.
Analyst Comment: The success of these attacks is not known, but the Iraqi militias conducting these attacks have significantly improved their targeting efforts with lessons learned from Ukraine, or probably more accurately...Russia. One of the FPV drones recorded the other drone attacking the radar site, before flying off to find another target. However, while searching for other targets of opportunity, the idiots accidentally targeted a MEDEVAC helicopter, which is evidenced by the video being edited to blur out the giant Red Cross painted on the side of the aircraft. After reviewing the tape, the militia group probably realized that makes them look bad, so they blurred the footage themselves.
Kuwait: Civil Defense authorities have begun producing informational videos for the general public, regarding what to do in the event of a nuclear incident at a power plant in a neighboring country, such as if Israeli/American forces were to target the active reactor building at Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant.
Analyst Comment: All eyes are on Bushehr. The Israelis dropped munitions in the parking lot a few days ago, probably as a warning, but in retaliation the Iranians hit the residential buildings housing scientists at Dimona yesterday, and this morning they hit an unknown target immediately adjacent to the Hadera plant. In response to this, the IAEA said that the Israeli's hit Bushehr again last night, with unknown impacts. As a result of these constantly rising threats when it comes to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, most GCC states are now actively assuming that this facility will be struck within the next few days, which will probably result in a release of radioactive material.
-HomeFront-
Washington D.C. - Yesterday the Pentagon published the newest changes to the Regular Army and Reserve Components Enlistment Program. These changes raise the maximum enlistment age from 35 to 42, and also removed the need for a waiver for recruits who have a prior marijuana conviction.
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Analyst Comments: This decision was probably made some time ago, but is now just coming into effect, due to the long-term effects of poor recruiting efforts over the years. Turns out, the reports of recruiting goals being met were probably inaccurate, and increasing the enlistment age window by a substantial margin is interesting, although most of the other services already had an age limit of 42 years for enlistment. So in effect this is probably just an administrative, pencil-whipped policy.
However, this policy change coming about right now, during a time of war, is certainly a case of exceptionally poor timing. In wartime everyone defaults to the worst-case scenario. Even if this was a benign policy decision, in the context of this coming to light in the same week that the 82nd Airborne is being deployed to the Middle East...most people will think this is not exactly a good omen, and there's no real way to smooth things out when the Pentagon is not really interested in alleviating concerns themselves.
Analyst: S2A1
Research: publish.obsidian.md/s2underground
Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report.
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