The D Brief: Hamas leader, killed; N. Koreans in Ukraine; Army simplifying networks; Boosted rocket production; And a bit more.

Israeli forces killed Yahya Sinwar, leader of the terrorist group Hamas, after newly-trained soldiers reportedly stumbled upon him and two other militants during a patrol in southern Gaza Thursday. They didn’t initially know who they’d encountered—which means, as former U.S. special forces soldier David Witty put it, “The events surrounding the death of Hamas leader Sinwar were just an accident. This was not based on intelligence.”

After an extended exchange of fire, Israeli forces attacked the building the militants hid inside, apparently killing Sinwar amid the rubble, Israeli defense officials told the New York Times. Rumors of his death began circulating online early Thursday, along with graphic photos of his corpse, as Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute noted on social media. 

Video: He’d been spotted moments earlier when a small Israeli drone entered the second floor of a destroyed apartment building and found a seated man observing the drone cautiously. The Israeli Defense Forces released edited footage of that short encounter after confirming his death Thursday. 

Israeli reax: “While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a special English-language video Thursday. If the remaining Hamas militants lay down their arms and return the remaining 101 hostages, the war can be over this weekend, Netanyahu said. 

Bibi added: “The axis of terror that was built by Iran is collapsing before our eyes. [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah is gone. His deputy Mohsen is gone. [Hamas political leader Ismail] Haniyeh is gone. [Hamas military leader Mohammed] Deif is gone. Sinwar is gone. The reign of terror that the Iranian regime has imposed on its own people, and on the peoples of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen—this, too, will come to an end,” he vowed. 

Pentagon reax: Sinwar’s death “is a major achievement in counterterrorism,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement Thursday. “Our forces in the Middle East stand ready to defend Israel, deter aggression, and reduce the risk of all-out war in the region,” he added. 

White House reax: “Now is the time to move on — move on, move towards a ceasefire in Gaza,” President Joe Biden said Friday during a visit to Germany to discuss Ukraine and the Middle East. “It’s time for this war to end and bring these hostages home. And so, that’s what we’re ready to do.” He also said he’s tasked his top diplomat Antony Blinken with pursuing those goals during a visit to the region next week.  

“It is time for the day after to begin without Hamas in power,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement Thursday. 

“Sinwar was the main obstacle to getting a ceasefire done,” National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said Friday in a call with reporters from Berlin. “Each and every time, Sinwar found a way to stop it. Now he’s gone, so we’ll see” if a ceasefire can be reached in the coming days and weeks, said Kirby. 

In the interim, “We’re going to continue to support Israel with defensive capabilities,” Kirby said. “Those hostages are still being held in Gaza, likely in tunnels,” so the U.S. is going to try to push to get those hostages home, he said. 

Elsewhere in the region, Iran-backed militants in eastern Syria attacked U.S. forces for the 15th time in six weeks, Charles Lister flagged online Thursday. In that latest known attack, militants targeted the remote Conoco Base in Deir ez Zour using a suicide drone; but coalition forces at the base apparently intercepted it with their C-RAM system.  

According to Lister, “The US isn’t acknowledging these attacks, nor is it admitting to 8+ retaliatory artillery strikes targeting Iran’s proxies in eastern Syria since October 8,” the Middle East Institute fellow wrote separately on Thursday. 

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Welcome to this Friday edition of The D Brief, brought to you by Ben Watson with Bradley Peniston. Share your newsletter tips, reading recommendations, or feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1927, celebrated actor George Campbell Scott was born in Wise, Virginia. He enlisted in the Marine Corps immediately after high school, and served for four years beginning in 1945. Scott was assigned as an honor guard at Arlington National Cemetery, where he later said he “pick[ed] up a solid drinking habit that stayed with me from then on.” He used his GI Bill to study journalism and acting—the latter of which he particularly enjoyed—and would eventually win an Oscar for his role as Army Gen. George S. Patton in the 1970 biopic. But our favorite Scott role is his turn as Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. “Buck” Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 satire “Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.”

Ukraine

Developing: North Korea has allegedly sent around 10,000 special forces soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine, South Korean intelligence officials confirmed on Friday, Seoul’s Yonhap news agency reports. 

Those troops began their journey 10 days ago, beginning with 1,500 or so traveling via “four amphibious landing ships and three escort vessels owned by Russia,” Yonhap reports.  

Update: At least some are reportedly deserting, Newsweek reported Wednesday, citing local outlets inside Ukraine.

Related reading: 

Around the Defense Department

The Army’s dream of vastly simplified networking is starting to come true. Field commanders want even less gear to tend, but two divisions are showing how things are improving, Defense One’s Lauren C. Williams reports off interviews with units that are testing out the nascent Integrated Tactical Network, an effort to combine the service’s existing gear with off-the-shelf products to improve connectivity and mission command. Read on, here.

JSOC wants AI to create deepfake “internet users.” The request appears on a wishlist unearthed by The Intercept. “The document specifies that JSOC wants the ability to create online user profiles that ‘appear to be a unique individual that is recognizable as human but does not exist in the real world,’ with each featuring ‘multiple expressions’ and ‘Government Identification quality photos’.” Read on, here.

Army launches pilot to explore generative AI for acquisition. Under the #CalibrateAI effort, announced on Friday by the service’s deputy assistant secretary for data, engineering and software, acquisition folks will try out AI tools in “an Impact Level 5 secure cloud environment,” aiming to “to simplify repetitive and time-consuming tasks” as they “collate, curate and generate critical information relevant to acquisition activities.” A bit more, here.

Northrop aims to double GMLRS rocket-motor output. The company says it’s working on production upgrades to be able to make some 14,000 rocket motors per year, roughly doubling production as the Pentagon works to replace weapons sent to Ukraine and rebuild stockpiles against future wars.  Defense One’s Audrey Decker reports.

And lastly this week: President Biden is visiting Berlin for the first (and likely final) time as America’s commander-in-chief. The president “did not want his time in office to go by without going to the capital of one of our most important partners and allies,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on the transatlantic flight Thursday. 

Why Germany? “They’ve been a core player in the Allied response to Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine,” Sullivan said. “And the president is looking forward to having the opportunity to talk to the chancellor and other German officials about where we go from here in Ukraine; about developments in the Middle East, in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, Israel; about how we align our respective approaches on the PRC; about how we align our industrial and innovation strategies; about artificial intelligence and the clean energy transition.”

During a ceremony in Berlin, Biden said that Kyiv’s supporters must “ensure that Ukraine prevails and Putin fails and NATO remains strong and more united than ever.”

“We’re headed into a very difficult winter,” the outgoing president warned. “We cannot let up. We cannot,” he said. 

That’s a wrap for us this week. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you again Monday!

Defense One