Today's Headlines and Commentary

Russia launched airstrikes from an Iranian air base into Syria for the second day in a row on Wednesday, killing more than 150 militants and destroying two command posts in Syria’s Deir al-Zor province. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed allegations by the United States that these actions violated UN Security Council resolution 2231, prohibiting the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran, and maintained that the aircraft used by Russian forces are “part of an anti-terrorist operation.” Reuters has more.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, acknowledged that Russia is using one of Iran’s air bases for airstrikes in Syria. Boroujerdi is the first Iranian official to confirm that Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has permitted Russian fighters to land and refuel at Shahid Nojeh Air Base. The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, clarified that Russia does not have a permanent military base in the nation.

Analysts say Russia’s decision to use Iran’s base was motivated more by geopolitics than a shift in military strategy. Al Jazeera explores the operational benefits of the move, concluding that Russia will only see a modest improvement in its military capabilities vis-a-vis Syria. The Washington Post adds that this partnership will assist Russia in expanding its clout in the Middle East. Tehran also hopes to translate this counterterrorism campaign into a stronger relationship with the Kremlin, extending to trade, energy, and offsetting U.S. influence in the region.

The Washington Post reports that the successful liberation of Manbij from ISIS will serve as a template for future US-backed operations in Syria, with a small group of US special forces coordinating airstrikes and advising Syrian ground forces. For more on the role U.S. special forces are playing in the ongoing war against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, take a look at Buzzfeed’s deep dive.

Dianne Feinstein penned an editorial in the Wall Street Journal urging the United States to invoke NATO’s self-defense clause so that the full strength of the alliance can be applied against the Islamic State. Feinstein cited CIA Director John Brennan’s repeated warnings that the West should be readying for more attacks by the Islamic State. Only seven of the 27 nations in NATO have joined the United States in directly fighting ISIS.

Forces loyal to Libya’s government claim they are close to completely retaking Sirte from the Islamic State after capturing a key neighborhood in the heart of the city on Tuesday. The U.S.-backed loyalists are closing in on capturing “District One,” ISIS’s last remaining stronghold in Sirte. Al Jazeera has more here.

Iranian-backed Houthi militias in northern Yemen fired a missile into Saudi Arabia that killed seven people. The missile, which hit a commercial center in the city of Najran, was fired in retaliation for a series of airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition that killed 35 people earlier this week. The United Nations has criticized both sides of the civil war for indiscriminately causing civilian casualties.

The New York Times reports that a Saudi airstrike on a residential area near Yemen’s capital Sana’a killed 17 civilians on Tuesday. The strike occurred a day after the Saudi-led bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in northern Yemen. Though an investigation is underway, Saudi officials insist they have only struck at military targets.

The ongoing civil war in Yemen has cost $14 billion, according to a confidential report compiled by the World Bank, the United Nations, the Islamic Development Bank, and the European Union. Reuters writes that the cost estimate includes damages to the country’s shattered infrastructure and widespread economic disruptions. The country’s debilitated health care system has added to the surge in civilian morbidity and mortality rates.

A spokesman for the U.S. military confirmed that U.S. forces assisted Somali commandos in killing several members of the al Shabaab militant group. The raid took place last Wednesday, when a contingent of elite American troops accompanied Somali forces in an assault on a Shabaab checkpoint in Saakow, a remote outpost in southern Somalia that has become a notorious hide-out for the militants. But Lieutenant General Anthony Falvo, a spokesman for the U.S. military’s Africa Command, said it is too early to verify rumors that senior Shabaab operatives were killed in the raid.

Turkey began freeing 38,000 prisoners on Wednesday in order to make room for the tens of thousands of suspects who have been rounded up over last month’s attempted coup. Western allies have accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of exploiting the botched coup as a pretext to purge Turkish society and target his opposition, but Turkish officials have dismissed these concerns with the claim that Erdogan is rooting out a persistent internal threat. The Hürriyet Daily adds that the Turkish government has issued another decree dismissing more than 2,000 police officers and hundreds of members of the military.

German authorities are concerned that the country’s mosques are playing a growing role in Turkish politics. After the coup attempt failed and the government’s crackdown began, an association of Turkish mosques in Germany released a series of public statements in support of Erdogan that led German politicians on both the left and right to denounce the mosques as Erdogan’s mouthpiece. CNN reminds us of the tensions between Germany and Turkey centering on Turks living in Germany, noting that Erdogan once told German Turks that “assimilation is a crime against humanity.”

Ankara’s relationship with Berlin further soured after a confidential government document was leaked to the German press referring to Turkey as a “central platform for action for Islamist groupings and stating that the “Islamization” of Turkey’s foreign policy has helped destabilize the Middle East. Turkey’s foreign minister was quick to point to this document as further evidence that Western forces were conspiring to “demoralize our country while taking aim at our president and our government.” Germany’s interior ministry did not confirm the contents of the letter, but stressed Turkey’s importance in the war against ISIS. Al Jazeera has more.

Chinese state media claimed on Wednesday that Beijing aims to build a framework for a code of conduct with its Southeast Asian neighbors to ease tensions in the South China Sea by the middle of next year. China has been discussing a set of rules for the disputed waters with the members of ASEAN since 2010, but the stakes have only been raised after an international tribunal recently ruled that China has no historic title over the South China Sea.

North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom has defected with his family to South Korea, according to the Wall Street Journal. A spokesman for the South Korean government said Thae Yong Ho, who had earned sufficient trust from the regime to bring his family to London with him, was “sick and tired” of Kim Jong Un’s regime. The defection of a high-ranking political official is not uncommon in Pyongyang, but some North Korea watchers believe this is a sign of the troubles beleaguering the Hermit Kingdom. The New York Times has more.

Reuters tells us that North Korea claims to have resumed plutonium production and has no intention to halt its nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency said in June that North Korea appeared to have reopened the Yongbyon plant to produce plutonium from spent fuel of a reactor central to its atomic weapons drive.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged longtime adversaries Serbia and Kosovo to mend ties and normalize relations, a requirement for both Balkan nations to join the European Union. Serbia does not recognize the nationhood of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008. The two countries have signed a number of deals under the European Union’s supervision, but some of them—including a deal to give Kosovo’s Serbian population self-rule—remain unsigned.

The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence officials are concerned that the actor who leaked NSA code earlier this week may also have hacked into the agency’s top-secret servers either in the United States or abroad. A number of analysts suggested that Russia might have engineered the hack as a means of warning the United States not to retaliate after Moscow’s alleged involvement in the recent DNC hacks. Meanwhile, Politico adds that the NSA website was offline for almost a full day from Monday night to Tuesday evening, though it is not clear whether the outage and the hack were connected.

ICYMI: Yesterday, on Lawfare

Nicholas Weaver analyzed a release of two encrypted NSA files from an unknown source showing TS//SCI documents from 2013, suggesting Russia is responsible for the leak.

Nora Ellingsen shared the latest cases of domestic terrorism prosecutions, including some in the deep south and upstate New York.

Bobby Chesney examined the implications of a more aggressive FBI and DOJ under a Donald Trump presidency.

Benjamin Wittes used the transfer of 15 detainees from Guantanamo Bay as a moment to reflect on the detention facility's move towards obsolescence.

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