OSINT Report 8/8/24 (PM Edition)
THE HOUTHI HEADACHE THAT KEEPS ON GIVING — The Department of Justice announced today that it has indicted two Iranian citizens and one Pakistani citizen for allegedly providing material support to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction program.
Prosecutors say the two Iranians are brothers who work for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and the Pakistani is accused of working for them as the captain of a smuggling vessel. The government says are three are connected to an organization operating off the coast of Somalia.
In an operation in January in which two U.S. Navy SEALS died, forces with U.S. Central Command boarded a dhow suspected of carrying Iranian weapons bound for Houthi fighters in Yemen. The Justice Department said arms found on the boat were “consistent” with weapons used in Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea and included “critical components for medium range ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, including a warhead and propulsion and guidance components.”
The campaign to counter the Iran-backed Houthis is getting increasingly expensive. U.S. forces have launched roughly 800 missiles and seven rounds of air strikes against the Houthis since they started attacking Red Sea shipping lanes. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT), who serves as the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Seapower panel, said extended operations could force an increase in the Pentagon’s budget beyond the Biden administration’s request.
UKRAINE’S BOLD KURSK MOVE — Ukrainian forces battled Russian troops in Russia’s western Kursk region for a third day today. It is by far Ukraine’s largest incursion into Russia since Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Kremlin was reportedly caught off-guard by the attack, which marks the first time since WWII, that a foreign army has operated inside of Russia. Officials in Moscow claimed on Thursday that they have stopped Ukrainian forces but reports of continued fighting clearly suggest otherwise. The incursion has prompted a state of emergency in Kursk, and Russian reserves have been called in to boost defenses.
Russia has also deployed more security forces around the Kursk nuclear power plant, which Ukrainian troops are pushing towards. The Kyiv Post reports that nearly all of the plant’s male security staff have been mobilized for the invasion of Ukraine, and plant management has neglected to prepare for threats like drone attacks. The International Atomic Energy Agency says that it’s monitoring the plant, as fighting edges closer.
Kyiv has still not officially commented on the fighting in and around Kursk but an unnamed advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, confirmed the operation to The Washington Post.
The official said that the Ukrainian military has deployed over 1,000 troops and has seized around 100 square kilometers of land. Pro-Russian Telegram channels posted videos purportedly showing Ukraine using U.S.-provided Stryker fighting vehicles and German Marder fighting vehicles in the attack.
While this has yet to be confirmed, it could mean that Kyiv is more widely applying the permission granted by Western countries to use certain weapons for strikes inside Russia as a deterrent for Russia’s continued attacks.
MORE DETAILS IN CASE AGAINST FORMER GREEN BERET — Federal investigators say they have evidence implicating former U.S. Green Beret Jordan Goudreau in an illegal arms trafficking operation that was linked to a failed 2020 coup attempt against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
According to court papers filed after Goudreau’s arrest last week, investigators say they found Goudreau’s DNA on some of the 60 automatic weapons he is accused of smuggling to South America for the coup plot, in violation of U.S. arms control laws. Prosecutors say Goudreau trained a group of Venezuelan exiles in Colombia for the mission, which failed, resulting in the deaths of several fighters and the arrest of two of Goudreau’s former U.S. Special Forces colleagues in Venezuela.
Goudreau has claimed responsibility for the operation, though he says that he was working with the Venezuelan opposition and was in touch with then-President Donald Trump’s administration. So far, there has been no evidence to suggest that U.S. officials approved of the operation. Federal prosecutors want to deny bail to Goudreau, calling him a flight risk. They cite his Google searches that they say include queries like, “how to run and stay hidden from the feds,” “what happens if I run from the law” and “how do you prove gun smuggling.”
The case comes amid a fraught moment in Venezuela as Maduro cracks down on protests over the contested outcome of the recent presidential election.
MORE AMERICANS BEING HELD OVERSEAS — Following the historic prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia, during which Wall Street Journalreporter Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan were freed last week, the U.S. has been under pressure to secure the release of other Americans detained abroad.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said today that the U.S. still views securing the release of three Americans detained in Afghanistan — Ryan Corbett, Mahmood Habibi, and George Glezmann — as a top priority. Corbett and Habibi were detained two years ago in August 2022 after the Taliban took control of Kabul following the U.S. withdrawal.
Glezmann was detained later that year while visiting the country. Miller added that the U.S. raises the issue “at every engagement we have with the Taliban.” Another American being held is Marc Fogel, a 63-year-old teacher who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and is now serving a 14-year sentence in Russia for drug smuggling. Fogel was arrested after Russian authorities said they found marijuana, which he said was for medicinal use, in his luggage.