The Wire - March 17, 2025

//The Wire//2300Z March 17, 2025// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: UNITED STATES BEGINS LARGE-SCALE BOMBING CAMPAIGN IN YEMEN. SWATTING INCIDENTS CONTINUE AROUND THE UNITED STATES.//  -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Red Sea/HOA: Over the weekend the United States began a large-scale bombing campaign in Yemen, targeting the Houthi government. Following this escalation, President Trump also took to social media to state that America's policy going forward will be to treat every shot fired by Yemen as a shot fired by Iran. AC: This is probably a pivot to increasing tensions with with the Iranians. The war in Yemen has been going on for many years, despite the Saudis bombing Yemen fairly regularly over the past decade. Much like the campaign against ISIS in the Mid-Euphrates River Valley (MERV) in Iraq and Syria, a mostly aerial campaign against insurgent groups (or even governments) in the Middle East is a challenging style of warfare that hasn't worked out well in the past. In short, continuing to bomb Yemen probably won't do very much in the long run to provide security for the region, though it does divert from the reasons as to why the Houthis are waging this war in the first place. Germany: This morning German officials announced a €300 million aid package for Syria. This brings the total European Union support to Syria to roughly €5.8 billion. United Kingdom: Plans to deploy British soldiers to Ukraine continue to go ahead, with PM Starmer stating in a virtual summit that up to 10,000 soldiers will be slated to deploy to Ukraine as part of a joint "peacekeeping" mission along with 35 other nations. -HomeFront- Washington D.C. - Much controversy has continued regarding a variety of actions in Washington over the past few days. Up first, D.C. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg issued an emergency order to stop the White House from deporting illegals to El Salvador. As the aircraft were already in the air, it wasn't logistically feasible to radio an in-flight aircraft regarding a court order that was issued, so the aircraft continued it's deportation flight. The second controversial development involves President Trump's remarks on the pardons issued by President Biden in his final days of the Presidency. Specifically, Trump has called into question the legality of Biden using an autopen digital signature on pardons, and has openly stated that he thinks the pardons are not legally binding because of this. AC: While entertaining, this autopen debate probably doesn't carry much weight since the use of digital signatures on government documents is a common standard used by government officials everywhere. Central USA: Following a series of severe storms that ripped through the central and southern regions of the nation, recovery efforts are ongoing. So far, 42 fatalities have been reported as a result of these storms. Most of the fatalities have taken place in Missouri, Kansas, and Mississippi, ranging from those being killed by debris, and pre-existing medical conditions, to high winds causing pileups on interstate highways causing multiple fatalities. Substantially high winds also inflamed hundreds of wildfires throughout Oklahoma, which has so far resulted in over 170,000 acres burning due to these storms. USA: Around the nation the Swatting of pro-Trump influencers and social media figures continues. Many of those swatted have provided surveillance footage confirming that such events did take place, however many have not provided the specific details of their swatting incidents for security reasons. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: Of note, several police departments have elaborated that in many of these swatting incidents, the caller making the fake threats will stay on the line with 911 operators for a long time, making statements that attempt to escalate the situation to lethal force. Several cases also have involved the malign actor calling a police department's non-emergency number, which is a common tactic for swatting as non-emergency numbers are standard phone numbers that can be called from anywhere. So far, this does not appear to be a simple prank phone call, then an immediate hang up. The caller(s) know the exact magic phrases that will trigger a higher-level response from police, and they are engaging in a more deliberate effort to create an elaborate story with the end goal of violence. As with the previous swatting incidents, those who have been targeted in such manner may be prioritized for such malign action due to affiliation with the Trump administration. Analyst: S2A1 Research: