An under-the-radar Army missile defense mission in southern Turkey got a boost this month when a new operational headquarters that was seven years in the making finally came to fruition.

The so-called Ready Building, where soldiers are responsible for surveillance and early warning of tactical ballistic missile threats, also [services forces] operating at one of the Army’s more austere and secretive locations.

In the aftermath of the first round of elections in Turkiye, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a speech on 23 May where he vowed that the opposition will be “erased from politics,” in what was seen as a threat to his main rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

“We will attack the polls on May 28 … opposition leaders will be erased from politics,” Erdogan said at a rally of his supporters in Malatya ahead of the runoff election scheduled for this coming Sunday.

On the morning of May 24, the Armed Forces of Ukraine attempted to attack Russian reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs of the Black Sea Fleet. The ship was ensuring the safety of the Turkish Stream and Blue Stream gas pipelines in the economic zone of Turkey.

Three unmanned boats targeted the ship at about 5.30 am local time. The incident took place 140 kilometers northeast of the Bosphorus.

As a result of response fire, the attack failed. All Ukrainian boats were destroyed by fire from the standard armament of the Russian ship:

Turkish intelligence (MIT) says it has uncovered a spy network linked to the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, according to Turkish media reports on Tuesday. The network allegedly operated within Turkey and consisted of 15 individuals.

The investigation led to the arrest of 11 members, who reportedly were trained in Israel and sent to Turkey with the aim of establishing a company involved in trading with Iran.

Turkey criticised the US for dispatching a warship to the divided island of Cyprus on Wednesday, accusing Washington of disrupting the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The USS Arleigh Burke, a guided-missile destroyer, arrived in Limassol, Cyprus, for a scheduled visit on Tuesday.

Turkey's main opposition presidential candidate has promised to expel all refugees from the country in a bid to attract nationalist voters ahead of the second round of elections on 28 May.

In his first public address since the elections last Sunday, in which he came in almost five points behind President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kemal Kilicdaroglu criticised the longterm ruler's immigration policies.