U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) - Page 2

The U.S. military launched multiple precision airstrikes against targets in Syria after an attack using an Iranian drone killed an American contractor and wounded six others, including five U.S. soldiers.

U.S. Central Command reported a successful joint exercise with the Israeli Defense Force Thursday, calling it the largest exercise between the ally nations in history.

The Israel Defense Forces and U.S. Central Command on Monday announced the launch of a large-scale drill, which a senior U.S. defense official called “the most significant exercise between the United States and Israel to date.”

An armed drone struck a Liberian-flagged oil tanker named Pacific Zircon off the coast of Oman on Tuesday night. 

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Monday that two B-52H Stratofortress nuclear-capable bombers flew across the Middle East on Sunday in a Bomber Task Force (BTF) mission that included fighter escort planes from the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and briefly Israel.

Former Marine Lt. Col. Stu Scheller argued in an exclusive interview that criticism of military generals is needed to help junior service members.

U.S. defense officials announced on Thursday that senior al-Qaeda leader Salim Abu-Ahmad was killed in an airstrike in the Idlib region of Syria on September 20. Observers in Syria had previously noted what appeared to be a drone strike on a vehicle traveling through rural Syria on that date.

Top Taliban leader Anas Haqqani told an Afghan news outlet on Wednesday that it was wrong for the U.S. military to destroy and disable some of the equipment it left behind.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a statement on Sunday indicating that it would investigate reports of civilian deaths that, it said, may have resulted from secondary explosions after an airstrike took out a would-be suicide bomber.

A U.S. over-the-horizon missile strike Sunday destroyed a vehicle carrying Islamic State – Khorasan (ISIS-K) terrorists heading for Kabul airport.

Central Command announced late Friday the U.S. had conducted an “over-the-horizon” counterterrorism strike against an ISIS planner in Afghanistan.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), released a statement on Tuesday that said Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul has been secured and is once again open to civilian air traffic. McKenzie warned the Taliban not to interfere with U.S. evacuation efforts, and threatened to respond to any attack with “overwhelming force.”

Two U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses flew a direct, 36-hour round-trip flight from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to the Persian Gulf on Friday, marking the fourth such show of force in the past 60 days, U.S. Central Command said.

Two unnamed U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday that several American soldiers were injured during an “interaction” with Russian troops in northern Syria this week.

TEL AVIV — Attacking Israel would be a “great mistake” on Hezbollah’s part, a U.S. general touring the region said this week, adding it would not end well for the Iran-backed terror group.

The USS Normandy, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, intercepted a small sailing vessel in the Arabian Sea over the weekend and found it loaded with Iranian weapons bound for the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The weapons included 150 anti-tank missiles and three surface-to-air missiles, plus a supply of components useful for maintaining unmanned aerial vehicles.

A senior Muslim cleric in the Iranian city of Yasoujhas sought to reassure U.S. citizens that when Iranians chant bloodcurdling threats of “Death to America”  it does not mean death to all the American people – just some.

Mattis criticized former Vice President Joe Biden in his new book, “Call Sign Chaos,” for wanting to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq.

The U.S. military on Sunday launched deadly airstrikes against al-Qaeda-linked militants in Syria, marking the first time in two years that American troops have targeted members affiliated with the international terrorist organization, which now controls more territory than any other jihadi group in the war-ravaged country.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) took issue with former Vice President Joe Biden’s categorization of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Iran strategy as a “self-inflicted disaster” Thursday, hours after an Iranian missile shot down an American Navy drone over the Strait of Hormuz.

The Pentagon announced Monday Shanahan has authorized sending another approximately 1,000 troops to the Middle East.

The U.S. military this week revealed that it had conducted eight airstrike operations against the resurgent al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) based in Yemen, which is considered one of the international terrorist group’s wings most intent on attacking the American homeland.

Pakistan is beginning to combat terrorist havens on its soil after years of refusing to do so, a top U.S. commander told lawmakers on Thursday as Islamabad intensified its efforts against banned domestic Islamic extremist groups, seizing 182 religious schools and arresting more than 100 suspected terrorists.

WASHINGTON, DC — China may use its multi-trillion-dollar One Belt, One Road (OBOR) project to “support and mask” its military objectives as it continues to try to “displace” its rival the United States and expand its influence in Afghanistan and the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon, a top American commander warned on Tuesday.

NEW YORK — Amid the flurry of news media coverage surrounding President Donald Trump’s criticism of the U.S. intelligence community, it may be instructive to recall the Obama administration was repeatedly accused of politicizing the country’s intelligence agencies to advance its own foreign policy agenda.

Some factions from the Baghdad-sanctioned umbrella organization for mainly Tehran-allied Shiite militia groups known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) are helping Iran expand its nefarious activities in Iraq, a top U.S. Department of State (DOS) official indicated this week.

WASHINGTON — A retired four-star general is President Donald Trump’s pick to be US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, filling a key diplomatic vacancy at a time when US-Saudi relations are being tested by the slaying of a journalist critical of the Saudi royal family.

American naval forces have reportedly seen a definite change in Iran’s behavior, noting that the Islamic Republic has apparently stopped provoking U.S. Naval ships in the Persian Gulf for nearly a year.

WASHINGTON, DC — The Russian- and Iranian-assisted regime of Bashar al-Assad is winning the civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands in Syria since 2011, suggested the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, stressing that toppling the dictator is not part of the American mission in the conflict-ridden country.

The commander of United States Central Command said Tuesday that the U.S. was authorized to provide military support to Saudi Arabia in its war against Houthi rebels in Yemen under a bilateral agreement governing logistics sales.

China is seeking to enhance its military posture in the Middle East, where Beijing is pursuing deeper cooperation with state sponsor of terror Iran, the chief of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) cautioned lawmakers Tuesday.

Iran’s military has reportedly stopped harassing United States naval vessels with their fast boats in the Persian Gulf for the last five months, leaving American military observers with little explanation for why.

The United States military wants to ramp up its campaign against the Taliban, the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), and other jihadist groups in Afghanistan beyond the fighting season and into the winter months, declared the top American commander in the Middle East and South Asia.

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S.-NATO coalition in Afghanistan has pulverized 25 Taliban labs used to process opium and its deadly heroin derivative, depriving the narco-jihadists of $80 million in illegal drug proceeds in the first three weeks of an unprecedented counternarcotics air campaign.

The Thanksgiving holiday tradition reached U.S. troops deployed to war zones in and around Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan this year, blessing them with a taste of home amid an unrelenting jihadi threat.

President Donald Trump’s administration has ramped up the American air war in Afghanistan, dropping 1,634 bombs on terrorists so far this year, a figure that represents an increase of more than 65 percent from the 545 airstrikes launched during the same period in 2016, military data shows.