Security
Monday, August 28, 2017 - 07:20
WASHINGTON — A top commander of the U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria has publicly acknowledged that Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces — a loose alliance of Iranian-backed Shiite militias — are “incidentally” benefiting from the extensive support provided to Iraqi security forces under the control of Baghdad.
Maj. Gen. Rupert Jones, deputy commander of the Combined Joint Task Force for Operation Inherent Resolve, noted that throughout the battle for Mosul, Iraq, and up until last week, the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, were not deployed as an integral part of those Iraqi security forces directly supported by coalition operations. But with the Aug. 20 launch of the offensive on Tal Afar, the PMF is operating in the same sector alongside three Iraqi divisions, Iraq’s counterterrorism service, police units and the country’s emergency response division to liberate Tal Afar and the remainder of Nineveh province from ISIS.
Monday, August 14, 2017 - 07:01
This piece discusses the Pentagon’s claims that it’s absolutely opposed to cooperation with terrorist-branded Hezbollah, but Hezbollah’s leader says the facts on the ground speak for themselves.
Thursday, January 19, 2017 - 07:41
The Israeli Air Force declared initial operational capability on Wednesday of the Arrow-3 intercepting system, the nation’s newest, upper-tier layer of a multi-tiered defense network against ballistic missiles.
Friday, November 11, 2016 - 06:55
The White House told Congress Thursday that it needs an additional $11.6 billion to pay for the campaign against Islamic State militants and the war in Afghanistan. The request raises the price tag for both wars to $85.3 billion in 2017.
Monday, October 31, 2016 - 07:37
Thirteen years ago, the United States called the reconstruction of the Kabul-Kandahar highway “the most visible sign” of efforts to rebuild Afghanistan. But today, that stretch of road is no longer a sign of progress. Instead, it is now littered with craters from bombs and insurgent checkpoints and is “beyond repair,” an Afghan official said, and it is a symbol of the failed U.S. intervention here.
Friday, October 14, 2016 - 06:49
New York - The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged Burundi to reverse its decision to break ties with the UN rights office following a report warning of a risk of genocide.
Thursday, October 13, 2016 - 07:13
At least nine people are reported to have died after police opened fire on a procession of Shia Muslims marking the Ashura festival in Nigeria.
Monday, October 3, 2016 - 08:37
“Our [European Reassurance Initiative] ERI funds increase pretty substantially from this year to last,” Fanning told Defense News in a Sept. 27 interview. “The Army is being asked to do a lot of new things in Europe, move some force structure there, rotational, and that will be delayed in the first quarter."
Thursday, September 29, 2016 - 08:18
Amnesty International said on Thursday that Sudanese government forces had laid waste to dozens of villages in the restive region of Darfur, bombing them from the air, burning homes, looting livestock and raping women — while preventing United Nations peacekeepers from going there to protect civilians.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 - 07:39
Without some sort of a Turkish-Kurdish deal, it is only a matter of time before the Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups on the border clash with U.S.-backed Kurdish forces there.