Rapid Alerts

LATVIA — The National Armed Forces of Latvia issued a yellow-level notice of a possible air threat in Krāslava Municipality and told the public that no further action is required at this time.

The notice is the informational tier of the two-level cell-broadcast system, a phone alert sent to mobiles in a designated area, that the National Armed Forces began using on May 23.

MIDDLE EAST — On September 21, a tanker on an inbound transit through the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an unknown projectile. Two crew members received minor injuries, after which the ship continued to its next port under its own power.

No environmental impact has been reported, and authorities are investigating the incident, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

KOREAN PENINSULA — On September 20 at about 8:54 AM UTC (5:54 PM Japan time), North Korea launched at least one ballistic missile from the vicinity of its east coast toward the northeast, the Japanese Defense Ministry and Cabinet Secretariat said.

The ministry estimated that missile reached a peak altitude of about 43 miles (70 km), flew about 367 miles (590 km), and fell in the Sea of Japan outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, the maritime belt extending up to 200 nautical miles from the coast in which a coastal state holds resource rights. Government notices to nearby aircraft and ships had produced no damage reports at the time of the release.

EUROPE — Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Military-Industrial Commission in the Kremlin on September 18 that a new State Armament Program and a companion defense-industry program will set what the army and other security services design and build in series. In the same session he said Russia has no plans to attack Europe.

The session opened in public and then moved into a closed portion. He listed six program lines: the nuclear triad; air defenses meant to stop aircraft, missiles, and other airborne and space weapons; unmanned robotic systems; precision munitions; a finished orbital satellite group; and further work on digital systems and artificial intelligence. He put Strategic Missile Forces modernization at 92 percent.

EUROPE — The International Atomic Energy Agency said on September 18 that it had been informed a drone struck the cooling tower of a reactor unit at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia early on Thursday.

The agency said the unit was operating at the time, that its operating mode did not change, and that there was no fire.

SAUDI ARABIA — The Joint Forces of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen said Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces brought down a drone south of Mecca at 6:50 p.m. Saudi time on September 15 (3:50 p.m. UTC), before the aircraft entered prohibited airspace over the city.

Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, in a Saudi Press Agency statement dated September 16, attributed the drone to the Houthi group and said the security of the Two Holy Mosques and Umrah visitors was a red line.

YEMEN — Staff Colonel Majid Abdullah Al-Nuzaily, official spokesperson for the internationally recognized Yemeni Armed Forces, said on September 13 that the air force was still destroying Houthi equipment, gatherings, and fighters inside a declared kill zone around the Red Sea port of Mokha and the Dhubab district in western Taiz Governorate.

A kill zone, also called a kill box in the Aden command’s Arabic statement, is a pre-marked patch of ground set aside for concentrated fire. Al-Nuzaily said the air force had opened that box on September 11 and asked civilians to stay off the Taiz-Mokha road and the Mokha-Dhubab road until a further notice.

JAZAN, SAUDI ARABIA — The General Directorate of Civil Defense said that on September 12 a projectile launched by Houthi forces struck Al-Tuwal Governorate in the Jazan Region, wounding two people and damaging a mosque plus other buildings and vehicles.

The same evening, the National Early Warning Platform, the Civil Defense cell-broadcast system that pushes emergency text to phones on licensed mobile networks, issued potential-danger warnings for Abha City and Khamis Mushait Governorate in the Asir Region.

EASTERN EUROPE — Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said on September 12 that a drone which had already crossed Ukrainian and Moldovan airspace came down in a cornfield near Botoșenița Mare in Suceava County, in northeastern Romania.

The ministry said the Air Operations Centers of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova had first notified Bucharest that the aircraft was moving toward Romania’s northeast.

HORN OF AFRICA — U.S. Africa Command struck al-Shabaab near Quumbi, Somalia, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Kismayo on Sept. 8, according to a Sept. 11 release from U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) Public Affairs. AFRICOM said the strike was carried out in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia.

The command withheld units, aircraft, weapons, battle-damage results, and casualty figures, citing operations security.