Paul McLeary
Friday, September 23, 2016 - 07:20
President Barack Obama’s top military advisor told senators Thursday that the U.S-backed Syrian Democratic Forces are the only rebel group capable of taking the Islamic State bastion of Raqqa. But there’s no solid plan for holding the city once they do.
Friday, August 19, 2016 - 06:23
Washington and Jerusalem are about to ink a groundbreaking arms package, but it hinges on ending sweetheart deals for Israel’s defense firms.
Monday, April 11, 2016 - 06:13
The U.S. military command in Kabul has launched an investigation into an airstrike in southeastern Afghanistan last week that some locals claim killed as many as 17 civilians, SitRep has learned. Military officials insist that the strike targeted al Qaeda fighters and no civilians were killed.
Friday, March 18, 2016 - 06:44
Human rights advocates have denounced the U.S. military’s decision not to file criminal charges against troops responsible for a disastrous airstrike on a Doctor Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan last year, FP’s Dan De Luce and Paul McLeary report.
Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - 06:45
The Taliban released a propaganda video in August that showed more than 100 fighters, clutching AK-47 rifles and sitting astride motorcycles, gathered in broad daylight outside the Afghan city of Kunduz to pledge allegiance to the group’s new leader. The scene would have been impossible two years ago, when any crowd of Taliban fighters would have been decimated from the air by U.S. warplanes.
Thursday, March 10, 2016 - 06:27
The recent killing of an Islamic State leader in Syria and the capture of another by American forces in Iraq mark the first steps forward in a long-discussed shift to defeat the extremist group: the targeting of specific terrorist leaders instead of exclusively striking assets and training local troops.
Thursday, March 3, 2016 - 06:10
The capture of an Islamic State militant by commandos from the U.S. Army’s elite Delta Force didn’t just take a wanted fighter off the battlefield. It also highlighted that the battle to reconquer the pivotal city of Mosul has already begun.
Wednesday, February 17, 2016 - 06:26
Not content to build new military airstrips on a string of artificial islands in the South China Sea, Beijing is branching out even further, having just secured basing rights next door to Washington’s most important drone base in Africa.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 - 06:32
In a nod to the growing threat Islamist militant groups pose in Africa, the Pentagon is planning to spend about $200 million on operations targeting the Islamic State in North Africa — thousands of miles from the group’s strongholds in Iraq and Syria — while also making a new push against al Qaeda-linked forces elsewhere on the continent.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - 06:20
The commander of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria said he is drawing up a variety of proposals for accelerating the fight against the terrorist group — some of which may require more U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq.