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United States
In recent weeks, President Obama quietly broadened the US mission in Afghanistan in 2015, authorizing US forces to conduct missions against the Taliban and other groups that threaten Afghanistan, the US, or Coalition forces and to support Afghan troops in combat missions. US troop levels in Afghanistan, to be reduced to about 4,900 by the end of 2015, reportedly will not be affected by the new guidelines. The US has already committed roughly 10,000 troops to the Coalition’s 2015 “Resolute Support” training mission in Afghanistan. The US pledged to give the relief effort in Syria and Turkey an additional $135…
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Iraq
Thousands of Iraq Chemical Weapons Destroyed in Open Air, Watchdog Says
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Afghanistan
In a Shift, Obama Extends US Role in Afghan Combat
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United States
CENTCOM said US and partner nations have carried out seven airstrikes in Syria and 23 in Iraq against the Islamic State since Nov. 19. Vice-President Biden met with Turkey’s prime minister in Ankara about the campaign against the Islamic State.
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Georgia
5 Guantánamo Inmates Are Sent to Eastern Europe
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Australia
Canadian military mum on CF-18 inflicted casualties
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France
French arms shipments set to arrive in Lebanon
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United States
US authorities released three Guantanamo Bay detainees to Georgia, including Abdel Ghaib Ahmad Hakim, a Yemeni; the other two are Salah Mohammed Salih Al-Dhabi and Abdul Khaled Al-Baydani. The US also released two detainees to Slovakia, Hashim Bin Ali Bin Amor Sliti and Husayn Salim Muhammad Al-Mutari Yafai. Seventy-four inmates remain at Guantanamo awaiting resettlement. US officials have confirmed that ex-Gitmo detainee Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost is now recruiting in Pakistan for the Islamic State. Secretary of Defense Hagel said that the Assad regime is benefiting indirectly from the campaign against the Islamic State.
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United States
CIA considers overhaul that could be largest in agency’s history
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United States
CENTCOM said that between Nov. 17 and Nov. 19, US and partner nations carried out 24 airstrikes in Iraq against the Islamic State and six airstrikes against the group in Syria; the US also conducted one airstrike near Haram in northwest Syria against al Qaeda’s “Khorasan Group.” US military records show that the US Air Force has carried out about two-thirds of the 956 airstrikes against the Islamic State between Aug. 8 and Nov. 16. John Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, called the US’ $103-billion dollar nation-building effort in Afghanistan “an abysmal failure.”
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Shabaab
Somali-American who helped Mogadishu govt killed
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United States
President Obama condemned the terrorist attack on worshipers at a Jerusalem synagogue that left three US citizens, a Briton, and an Israeli policeman dead and several others seriously wounded. A spokesman for the National Security Council said Obama has directed relevant departments and agencies to review the government’s policies for addressing the kidnapping of US citizens by terrorist groups; the White House said that the ban on paying ransoms will not be lifted.
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United States
CENTCOM reported that since Nov. 14, US forces have conducted 11 airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria, and US and partner forces have carried out 20 airstrikes in Iraq against the group. A US intelligence official indicated that US targeting in Syria and Iraq is hampered by insufficient intelligence on the ground. The American envoy to the IAEA said the US is “disappointed by Iran’s failure to engage substantively” on the nuclear weapons issue. The Defense Department announced that Turkey has agreed to allow the US to start training and equipping Free Syrian Army fighters in Turkey. Secretary of…
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United Nations
Global Number of Youths Is Highest Ever, UN Reports
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United States
US State Department’s unclassified email system hacked
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Al Nusrah Front
Lebanese support ISIS airstrikes: survey
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United States
Secretary of Defense Hagel announced plans to revitalize the US military’s technological capabilities. Qatar’s foreign minister warned that the US air campaign against the Islamic State in Syria is helping the Assad regime and straining Sunni-Shia relations in the Middle East; he suggested that Arab forces take over territory recaptured from the Islamic State. President Obama reiterated that the US does not plan to carry out military operations against the Assad regime. US military advisers have begun assisting Iraqi troops in Anbar province. The White House confirmed that former US soldier and Syrian aid worker Peter Kassig was beheaded by…
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Al Nusrah Front
Latest Islamic State horror masks a week of defeats
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Iraq
Iraq and US Find Some Potential Sunni Allies Have Already Been Lost
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United States
In his first visit to Iraq since the US air campaign against the Islamic State began in August, Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Martin Dempsey said that the battle against the group in Iraq is “starting to turn,” but cautioned that the effort to eradicate the group will take several years. The Obama administration is thinking of escalating the CIA program that vets and trains “moderate” Syrian rebels, as part of its strategy in Syria against the Islamic State; the program currently turns out 400 fighters a month. Attorney General Eric Holder said the US is sending 70 or more prosecutors…
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US Military
Pentagon says billions needed for neglected US nuclear force
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United States
CENTCOM said the US and its coalition partners have conducted 20 strikes in Syria since Nov. 12, including one strike west of Aleppo against al Qaeda’s “Khorasan” network; 19 of the strikes targeted the Islamic State in three provinces. US and coalition forces have also targeted the Islamic State in Iraq since Nov. 12, carrying out 16 airstrikes.
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Europe
Samantha Power, US Ambassador, Issues Warning on Anti-Semitism in Europe
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Islamic State
Hagel: Taking out Assad ‘won’t put ISIL back in the box’
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United States
Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Dempsey said the US is considering sending a small number of US combat troops to fight alongside Iraqi forces against the Islamic State. Dempsey also said some 15,000 Syrian rebels will be needed to pressure Islamic State forces in northern and eastern Syria. Defense Secretary Hagel claimed that the coalition air campaign has stalled or reversed some of the terror group’s gains in Iraq, and reiterated that US troops will not be involved in a ground combat mission there. Rep. McKeon, head of the House Armed Services Committee, questioned how the US’ declared mission to degrade…
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Canada
Iraq’s Kurds appeal for new US arms to combat Islamic State
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United States
Drone sightings up dramatically in US
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Afghanistan
Marine pullout offers preview of what US leaves behind for Afghan troops
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United States
Since Nov. 10, the US and its coalition partners have carried out 16 airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria and seven airstrikes against the group in Iraq. The US also targeted al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula with a drone strike in Yemen, and a US drone strike yesterday in Pakistan killed several “foreign militants.”
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Islamic State
UAE emerges as quiet, potent US ally
