Despite a massive police canvassing of the area, the Spetsnaz team that carried out the attack was not found. The attack on the VPs motorcade reinforced the threat the various Spetsnaz teams posed and the need for their immediate capture. Unlike the Islamic Republic, the Russians targeted only military and government officials, not the general public.
All is Not Quiet on the Western Front
The war in the Middle East ground to a halt shortly after the New Year. The Islamic Republic had several governing districts secede from the nation, taking Egypt and all of the African provinces and regrouping them to form the North African Confederation. The new country was led by a liberal Muslim leader who wanted nothing to do with the Caliph and his radical brand of Islam. Their leader denounced the actions committed by Caliph Mohammed, and bemoaned that the world had been led to war, that 300 million Muslims had died, and that the Kaaba had been destroyed.
The new North African Confederation immediately sought a separate peace agreement with the United States and Israel, and were granted one. Their new focus was on restoring order and communications throughout the country and reestablishing food supplies to their starving and dying nation. Tens of millions of people had been left homeless and destitute from the nuclear attack America had rained down on them. Fallout was everywhere, and the transportation system was a mess. Most of the region had also suffered from electromagnetic pulse damage as well, further complicating their recovery.
Millions were being relocated to Cairo now that the radiation from the neutron bomb had dissipated, alleviating some of the displacement crisis. Aside from the EMP damage, the infrastructure in Cairo had been largely left intact. Of course, there were over ten million dead and decomposing bodies throughout the city that needed to removed and either buried or burned. The city had been abandoned for nearly a month after the bomb went off; now it was being repopulated as refugees poured in from around the country.
The rest of the IR continued the war, along with the Russians and Chinese. Neither side wanted to commit additional forces to capturing Israel and removing the Americans from the region, nor did they want to admit defeat. The war had settled into static lines, with trenches and fixed positions being developed. Israel had regained its original territory, plus a ten-mile buffer zone inside of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Sinai, along with the Suez Canal. The Chinese reinforced their position and maintained 290,000 troops in the region, while Russia had withdrawn troops and left 310,000 in place while they focused their efforts on Europe.
The US continued to maintain a force of 560,000 troops in Israel and assisted the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in training the hundreds of thousands of volunteers from around the world that had joined the IDF militia forces. As the militia units became more proficient, they were integrated directly into the IDF. The US had also been providing the IDF with thousands of older military vehicles and equipment from the various Army boneyards. The equipment was not modern by any means, but it was free, armored, and still functional enough to shoot and kill with it.
The IR still possessed nearly one million troops in and around Amman; the civilian volunteers that had swelled their ranks to nearly three million a few months prior had been transferred into the regular army and were in various training facilities spread throughout the Republic. The IR was still committed to the war; they just were not actively fighting or looking to advance conflict until they were able to rebuild their army and air defense capability.
Through the help of the militias, the IDF had swelled to over 800,000 soldiers. The Allies’ plan was to restart offensive operations at the end of spring, allowing the Israelis enough time to fully equip and train their forces. This time they would defeat the IR, and finally knock them out of the war entirely.
Europe, on the other hand, was a complete mess. Aside from nearly two months of blizzards, the Russians had captured Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia, Slovenia, half of the Czech Republic and nearly all of Poland. The fight now was centered in Austria, Germany and Croatia. The Americans had finally been able to get enough troops sent to Europe to aid the EU in stopping the Russians, but they lacked the military equipment to push the Russians back and liberate the captured territory. Britain had succeeded in stopping the Russians from capturing Iceland or being able to push their fleet out into the North Atlantic, but were unable to do much to stop the Russians from capturing the Scandinavian countries of Finland and Sweden. They were still fighting the Russians in Norway with the Norwegian military, and had managed to bog the Russians down. The British had also transferred two armored divisions to Europe to help in the defense of the continent.
China had captured all of Southeast Asia and was invading Malaysia and the Philippines. They had left the Koreans alone, according to their agreement, at least for now. Japan remained neutral, despite their insistence they were going to join the war. American human intelligence sources had learned that Japan planned on staying out of the war for at least another six months. They had drafted two million conscripts that needed training; they were also finalizing the completion of a dozen missile cruisers and two additional carriers. President Stein was not convinced, and had ordered the military to do what they could to move as much armor and heavy equipment from Japan to Alaska. The goal was to relocate close to 70 % of US Forces from Japan to shore up the Alaskan defense.
Under the advisement of his national security team, President Stein began to build up the defenses in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. China had successfully captured everything they wanted in the Pacific, with the exception of Australia. It was believed by the intelligence community that they may turn their sights towards Alaska and the Pacific Northwest instead of Australia. The Chinese needed oil, natural gas and mineral resources to fuel their economy. These were all items the US had in abundance in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. The military had moved the newly created American First Army (which would consist of 750,000 troops once they completed their military training) to the Pacific coast of the country. As more soldiers completed their military training, they would form the Second Army, which would consist of 750,000 soldiers and move to cover Alaska and the Pacific Northwest as a deterrent to any potential Chinese aggression.
The United States as a whole was still recovering from the loss of New York City and Baltimore. Most of the residents that needed to be relocated had been moved to new cities around the country or to various temporary lodging established by FEMA to help the victims. The weather, of course, was causing all sorts of logistical and recovery problems. Despite the challenges, the government and the American people were determined to help each other and to recover from this horrific attack.
The economy was one of the few bright spots. The US had reached as close to full employment as possible with the massive rebuilding of the Armed Forces and the thousands of infrastructure and construction projects across the country. With the loss of Manhattan and large chunks of New York listed as a hot zone, a new city needed to be built. Several sites were being considered for ‘New Manhattan,’ but nothing had been settled upon just yet. In addition to the thousands of construction projects, the military was still recruiting heavily and would swell to over eight million personnel, with another three million more to enter service by the end of the following year.