US keeping 'watchful' eye: US official on Chinese activities along India's northern border
New Delhi, Nov 2: The US remained "watchful" on Chinese activities along India's northern border as it cannot take its eyes off the regional security issues, a senior American official said on Wednesday in the backdrop of the over 29-month border standoff in eastern Ladakh that has significantly frayed ties between the two neighbours.
Rear Admiral Michael L Baker, the US Defence Attache to New Delhi, also said that it is important to be "mindful" of Chinese actions in the South China Sea as well, even as he described India-US defence ties as the "cornerstone" of the overall bilateral relations.
"It is certainly an important area for us. We do remain watchful," he told a small group of reporters.
"We do work closely with India to exchange our views on this area to make sure that we have a clear understanding of what we think may be happening and I think it is a space that, for both India and the United States, we are going to remain watchful over time. We cannot take our eye off the regional security issues," Rear Admiral Baker said.
His remarks came when asked whether the US has been tracking the developments along India's border with China and how the US views the lingering conflict playing out in the coming months.
The senior defence official also noted that the US wants to be a "partner of choice for India" and that New Delhi has the ability to choose its partners.
He was asked about India's decades-old defence ties with Russia including in projects relating to nuclear-powered submarines.
"We want to be partner of choice for India. India has its ability to choose its partners and it has made a conscious decision to diversify more over the last decade. It has made a conscious decision to continue to diversify going forward. And it has made a conscious decision to partner with the US on a host of areas," Rear Admiral Baker said.
In response to another question on China's increasing military muscle flexing in the South China Sea, Rear Admiral Baker said it is important to assist countries across the region to have a choice of security partners.
"They have a very aggressive stance in the South China Sea. The United States has a pretty clear public position on this too. That's something we need to be mindful and watchful of," the senior American defence official said.
He said the countries in the region could partner with someone like India or the US or both. "That is the key to ensuring that the Indo-Pacific remains free and open, which is the mutual goal for both India and the United States."
To another query on the successful launch of a ballistic missile by a nuclear-powered submarine of India last month, he said the country has done it in a "responsible way".
On whether the US was assisting India to deter China, he did not give a direct reply but said, India has an "incredibly bright future" as it has "superb geography and high mountains" which are critical for defence.
He also mentioned India's large landmass and access to the sea saying, "these are key elements for becoming a highly powerful country."
On the situation in the Indian Ocean, he said China has been having a pretty continuous maritime presence in the region for at least a decade now.
"That has been a pretty consistent presence," he said.
Rear Admiral Baker said the robust defence trade, numerous high level dialogues and increasing number of military exercises in the sea, air and the land are further strengthening the defence relations between India and the US.
"I think we have a lot of trust between our countries and between our militaries. We conduct more exercises together in India than any other country. We operate together at sea routinely and these kinds of interactions deepen trust and familiarity everyday," he said.
Rear Admiral Baker also noted that India and the US are carrying out joint maritime patrols and operating in the same operational space in the North Arabian Sea as well as in the Pacific.
"We know each other so well with a strong level of trust," he added.
Asked how the US sees increasing collaboration between Russia and China in the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, Rear Admiral Baker, said the amount Moscow is getting from "that other partner" is not in accordance with international law or rules.
"We would call on both of them to take proper stand in that war in Ukraine immediately," he said and referred to comments by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that if Russian President Vladimir Putin "stops fighting, the war ends and if Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends."
The Indo-US defence ties have been on an upswing in the last few years.
In June 2016, the US designated India a "Major Defence Partner" paving way for sharing of critical military equipment and technology.
The two countries have also inked key defence and security pacts over the past few years, including the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016 that allows their militaries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.
The two sides also signed COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement) in 2018 which provides for interoperability between the two militaries and provides for the sale of high-end technology from the US to India.
In October 2020, India and the US sealed the BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement) agreement to further boost bilateral defence ties.
The pact provides for sharing of high-end military technology, logistics and geospatial maps between the two countries.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
