Tag Archives: Pentagon

U.S. and Israeli defense chiefs are expected on Thursday to discuss possible military exercises that would prepare for a worst-case scenario to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities should diplomacy fail and if their nations’ leaders request it, a senior U.S. official told Reuters. The scheduled U.S. talks with visiting Israeli Defence Minister Benny …

A senior al-Qaida leader was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Syria, the Pentagon said. The strike comes two days after a base in southern Syria, used by the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, was assaulted. “A U.S. airstrike today in northwest Syria killed senior al-Qaida leader Abdul Hamid …

Saudi Arabia welcomed on Wednesday the release of classified documents relating to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Its U.S. embassy said in a statement that “any allegation that Saudi Arabia is complicit in the September 11 attacks is categorically false”. U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday …

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Thursday will seek to reset the tone of U.S.-Israeli relations in their first White House meeting and find common ground on Iran despite differences on how to deal with its nuclear program. In talks overshadowed by the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from …

About a month ago, Afghanistan’s ministry of defense posted on social media photographs of seven brand new helicopters arriving in Kabul delivered by the United States. “They’ll continue to see a steady drumbeat of that kind of support, going forward,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters a few days …

President Joe Biden must let Julian Assange go free if he wants the United States to become a beacon for a free press once again and put the legacy of Donald Trump behind it, the fiancée of the WikiLeaks founder told Reuters. Washington has sought the extradition of Assange over …

Four Saudis who participated in the 2018 killing of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi received paramilitary training in the United States the previous year under a contract approved by the State Department, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. The training was provided by Tier 1 Group, which is …

The United States needs to prepare for a potential future conflict bearing little resemblance to “the old wars” that have long consumed the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday in his first significant policy speech. Austin called for harnessing technological advances and better integrating military operations globally to “understand …

The United States will send two warships to the Black Sea next week, Turkey said on Friday as Russia, which has boosted its military forces near Ukraine, accused NATO powers that do not have a coast line in the region of increasing naval activity. The Pentagon declined to discuss Turkey’s …

The United States on Monday expressed alarm at “genuine security threats” to Saudi Arabia from Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis and elsewhere in the region after attacks on the heart of the Saudi oil industry, and it would look at improving support for Saudi defences. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Embassy …

Syria said U.S. air strikes against Iranian-backed militias in the east of the country on Friday were a cowardly act and urged President Joe Biden not to follow “the law of the jungle”. An Iraqi militia official close to Iran said the strikes killed one fighter and wounded four. U.S. …

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday said there must be an immediate reduction of violence in Afghanistan, but did not offer any hints about whether the United States would withdraw its troops by a May deadline. “I urge all parties to choose the path towards peace. The violence must …

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed bilateral relations in a phone call with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, state news agency SPA reported. They further discussed enhancing the defense cooperation, and developments in the region. The defense secretary also condemned the recent Houthi attacks against Saudi …

NATO defence ministers at a meeting on Thursday made no decision on whether or when to pull out of Afghanistan, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, adding that the allies faced a dilemma as violence increases again. After two decades of Western military intervention and hundreds of billions of dollars in investment, …

Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that recent events in the United States would have global repercussions and prayed that God protect the world until Jan. 20 when President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated. “The nuclear button is in the hands of a crazy fool called Trump,” the …

The Pentagon has approved drawdown plans in Afghanistan that will still keep two larger bases in the country as officials carry out President Donald Trump’s orders to slash troop levels to 2,500 by Jan. 15, the top U.S. general said on Wednesday. Trump’s post-election decision last month to cut nearly …

A day after President Donald Trump accused the U.S. military brass of wanting to fight wars to keep weapons makers happy, the Army’s top general said on Tuesday leaders of the armed forces would recommend sending troops into combat only when it is in American national security interests or as …

U.S. President Donald Trump has approved sending American troops to bolster Saudi Arabia’s air defenses after Saturday’s attacks on the kingdom’s oil facilities, which Washington has blamed on Iran, the Pentagon said on Friday. The Pentagon said the deployment would involve a moderate number of troops and would be primarily …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to become his top military adviser told Congress on Thursday that he would not be “intimidated into making stupid decisions,” saying he would always give his best military advice, regardless of pressure. “I’ll give my best military advice,” said Army Chief of Staff General Mark …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is focused on building international consensus following attacks on oil tankers in the Middle East that the United States has blamed here on Iran, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Friday. Shanahan told Pentagon reporters that he, White House national security adviser John …

As acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan heads to Asia on Tuesday to deliver a major policy speech on the region, increasing tensions with Iran threaten to upend the Pentagon’s strategy to focus on “great power competition” and countering Russia and China, officials and experts say. In January 2018, the …

Military officials are sounding the alarm inside the Trump administration about the sharp drop in admission to the United States of Iraqi refugees who have helped American troops in battle, said two US officials aware of the internal discussions. The Pentagon is concerned that not providing safe haven to more …

Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene told employees Friday that Google would honor its commitment to the Pentagon’s Project Maven program through March 2019, but would not seek a new contract at that time, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Project Maven uses artificial intelligence to enhance drone strikes. …

The Pentagon on Thursday ratcheted up rhetoric about China’s militarization of islands in the South China Sea, even as the Trump administration presses China for cooperation on North Korea. When asked by a reporter about the ability of the US to “blow apart” one of China’s controversial man-made islands, Lt. …

Chinese personnel at the country’s first overseas military base in Djibouti have been using lasers to interfere with US military aircraft at a nearby American base, activity that has resulted in injuries to US pilots and prompted the US to launch a formal diplomatic protest with Beijing, two military officials …

The Pentagon on Saturday identified a U.S. service member who died Friday from injuries he suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol in Syria a day earlier. Master Sgt. Jonathan Dunbar, 36, of Austin, is the second American service member killed in action in Syria since the …

Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionUS-allied SDF fighters control territory east of the River Euphrates Syria has accused the US of carrying out a “brutal massacre” with a bombing attack in Deir al-Zour province. The overnight air and artillery strikes killed an estimated 100 pro-government fighters near the Euphrates river, according to the …

China has urged the US to drop its “Cold War mentality” after Washington said it planned to diversify its nuclear armoury with smaller bombs. “The country that owns the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, should take the initiative to follow the trend instead of going against it,” China’s defence ministry said …

The Pentagon released a new nuclear arms policy Friday that calls for the introduction of two new types of weapons, effectively ending Obama-era efforts to reduce the size and scope of the U.S. arsenal and minimize the role of nuclear weapons in defense planning. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in …

U.S. troops have been in Syria fighting ISIS militants near the border with Iraq. More American diplomats and contractors are headed to Syria to help stabilize areas that have suffered years of war. AILSA CHANG, HOST: How is the U.S. helping shape the future of Syria? American troops and their …

For most of his 18-year career as a U.S. Navy pilot, Cmdr. David Fravor said his mother-in-law used to ask him a question: Had he seen a UFO? For 15 years, the answer was no. But one clear afternoon off the coast of California in 2004, he says, that changed. Fravor, the commanding …

There are about 2,000 U.S. troops deployed in Syria, the Pentagon said Wednesday — a number that is four times more than any official figure that U.S. officials have previously acknowledged, and yet still lower than at the height of operations in Syria. Army Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, …

The Pentagon is likely to announce in the coming days that there are about 2,000 US troops in Syria, rather than the 500 the military has said are in the war-torn country. ‘Facing disaster’: children starve in siege of Syria’s former breadbasket Read more Two US officials detailed the new figure …

US troops have reported more than 20,000 allegations of sexual assault at military installations over the past four years, the Pentagon said in a report Friday. The report, by the Defense Department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, details allegations by service branch for the fiscal years 2013-2016, with the …

efense Secretary James N. Mattis, troubled by a lack of information two weeks after an ambush on a special operations patrol in Niger left four U.S. soldiers dead, is demanding a timeline of what is known about the attack, as a team of investigators sent to West Africa begins its …

He repeated his complaint later in the day when reporters arrived to cover his meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “It is frankly disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write,” Mr. Trump said. President Trump threatened on Wednesday to use the federal government’s power …

DUBAI: US Secretary of defense Jim Mattis and his Qatari counterpart Khalid al-Attiyah signed a letter of agreement for a $12-billion sale of US-manufactured F-15 fighters, the Pentagon said. The sale comes amid a simmering crisis in the Gulf after Qatar‘s neighbours accused it of supporting terrorism and cut diplomatic …

Moscow has for the first time deployed the S-300 (NATO reporting name SA-23 Gladiator) advanced anti-missile and anti-aircraft system to Syria, Fox News reported Tuesday, citing three unnamed US officials. According to the Fox News broadcaster, the anti-missile system arrived at a naval base in Syria’s coastal city of Tartus …

The Levant News — The Pentagon warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his ally Russia on Monday of its readiness to shoot down planes threatening US-led coalition forces in northern Syria, without going so far as to define it as a no-fly zone. This comes after the Assad regime targeted …

The Levant News — Russian aircraft bombing Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL) in Syria do not present a hazard to American drones, Pentagon spokesperson Michelle Baldanza told Russian media. Meanwhile, NORAD’s chief has found a new challenge in Russian cruise missiles. “At no time did the [US-led anti-IS] Coalition [in Syria] feel …

The Levant – First appeared on the Daily Beast – An airstrike in the ISIS stronghold of Mosul killed at least two members of the group, including an aide to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, according to the Iraqi Defense Ministry. Reports that Baghdadi himself had been killed by a …

THE LEVANT – White House and State Department officials who were leading U.S. efforts to rein in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip were caught off guard last month when they learned that the Israeli military had been quietly securing supplies of ammunition from the Pentagon without their approval. Since then …