Threats

General: Trump Pullout Did Not Affect Baghdadi Raid Timing

“We struck because the time was about right,” said CENTCOM’s Gen. Frank McKenzie, of intelligence and other factors.

Threats

Pakistan May Be Stumbling Toward a Two-Front War

Months after India instituted a lockdown on the disputed region of Kashmir, clashes have erupted on Pakistan’s borders with Kashmir and with Afghanistan.

Ideas

Syrian Women Helped Find Baghdadi, Beat ISIS, Will Face ‘Tough Time’ Ahead, Leader Says

'We will continue our resistance and our struggle,' says the head of the all-women’s YPJ, in a rare interview.

Threats

ISIS Leader Baghdadi Killed Himself During US Special Ops Raid, Trump Confirms

Trump claims, against the evidence, that killing Baghdadi was administration's "top national security priority."

Threats

US Troops, Armor Will ‘Secure’ Oil Fields in Syria, Says SecDef in New Reversal

The U.S. might also maintain “one of our two airfields that are there,” said America’s envoy to Syria to lawmakers.

Threats

Trump’s STRATCOM Pick Declines to Endorse Open-Skies Withdrawal

The Trump administration is weighing pulling out of the 1992 surveillance agreement amid complaints that Russia is out of compliance.

Threats

Trump Declares Victory in Syria, Claims Credit for It All

“Let someone else fight over this long-bloodstained sand,” the president says, as Congress fumes.

Threats

Russian Hackers Used Stolen Iranian Malware to Attack 35 Countries, NSA Says

U.S. and British authorities said the Turla group is piggy-backing off the work of Iranian rivals to advance its own agenda.

Threats

We're Still In the Fight, Trump’s Syria Envoy Tells Congress

Amb. Jim Jeffrey denied the U.S. withdrawal has ceded influence to Russia, and declined to reveal his personal opinion of it.

Ideas

The US Has Supported Lebanon’s Corrupt Ruling Class Long Enough

As protestors rage against oligarchs, the United States should end its stability-minded approach and foster political and economic reform.

Threats

Top SDF Commander: Turkey Blocking Kurds’ Retreat; Urges Trump to ‘Stop This War’

“I am asking President Trump right now to fulfill his promise to us and stop this war,” Mazlum Abdi told Defense One by phone.

Threats

US Intel Aircraft to Remain Over Syria As Ground Forces Pull Out

SecDef Esper heads to Mideast, NATO to talk about the future fight against ISIS.