The Trump administration is withholding military assistance to Lebanon following the resignation of the country’s prime minister amid weeks of protests.
Two U.S. officials told Reuters that the State Department had informed Congress of the decision, though no explanation was given for the holdup, according to one official.
The State Department did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.
View the complete October 31 article by John Bowden on The HIll website here.
President Trump’s abrupt decision to pull forces from northern Syria forced the Pentagon to press ahead with a risky night operation that killed the ISIS leader, military officials said.WASHINGTON — President Trump knew the Central Intelligence Agency and Special Operations commandos were zeroing in on the location for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State leader, when he ordered American troops to withdraw from northern Syria earlier this month, intelligence, military and counterterrorism officials said on Sunday.
For months, intelligence officials had kept Mr. Trump apprised of what he had set as a top priority, the hunt for Mr. al-Baghdadi, the world’s most wanted terrorist.
But Mr. Trump’s abrupt withdrawal order three weeks ago disrupted the meticulous planning underway and forced Pentagon officials to speed up the plan for the risky night raid before their ability to control troops, spies and reconnaissance aircraft disappeared with the pullout, the officials said.
Iraqi President Barham Salih — long known as a pro-American leader — says he is no longer sure he can rely on the U.S. as an ally and may be ready to “recalibrate” Iraq’s relationship with other countries, including Iran and Russia.
Why it matters: In an extraordinarily candid interview with “Axios on HBO,” Salih said he still values his country’s alliance with the U.S. 16 years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He wants to keep that alliance — but made clear that the Trump administration’s policies are making that difficult.
View the complete October 27 article by Jonathan Swan on the Axios website here.
The additional forces will help “prevent the oil fields from falling back into the hands of ISIS or other destabilizing actors,” one U.S. defense official said.
View the complete October 26 article by Dan Lamonthe on The Washington Post website here.
President Donald Trump bemoaned a US-led coalition mission to provide aid to Afghanistan and derailed a meeting with top military officials last year, according to an upcoming book by an aide to former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
During the Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting at the Pentagon in January 2018, Trump was briefed by Mattis on the Defense Department’s strategies and internal assessments, Guy Snodgrass, a retired US Navy commander and Mattis’ former speechwriter, said in his book, “Holding the Line: Inside Trump’s Pentagon with Secretary Mattis,” out next Tuesday.
Snodgrass, who was assisting Mattis with PowerPoint slides for the president, said he prepared his presentation “of paramount importance” by taking into account Trump’s tendency to dislike slides with “too much information.” Instead of adding statistics and explanations, Snodgrass opted for the “more straightforward approach: just pictures.”
View the complete October 23 article by David Choi on The Business Insider website here.
Critical weapons, training held hostage by monthslong freeze on fundsOn June 6, Russian-allied forces in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region fired a volley of artillery shells on Ukrainian soldiers based in a rural area, even though Moscow had signed a ceasefire agreement the day before.
Two young Ukrainian soldiers — 28-year-old Dmytro Pryhlo and 23-year-old Maksym Oleksiuk — were killed in their dugout by that shelling in the settlement of Novoluhanske, Ukrainian commanders said at the time. Eight other Ukrainian soldiers suffered concussions and other injuries.
Pryhlo and Oleksiuk were just two men. But the day before, the Russians had killed another Ukrainian soldier. The day before that, they had killed two others. And in the nearly five-plus years before that, thousands more had fallen.
View the complete October 24 article by John M. Donnelly on The Roll Call website here.
President Trump announced Wednesday that the United States will lift sanctions on Turkey, saying that the Turkish government has informed the White House that it will abide by what he characterized as a “permanent” cease-fire along the border with Syria.
At a hastily organized event in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Trump also used the occasion to justify his “America First” foreign policy agenda, pushing back against critics by arguing that he is removing U.S. troops from a region where they should not be involved.
“Let someone else fight over this long-bloodstained sand,” Trump said.
He brokered a White House meeting for Hungary’s prime minister. He spends $320,000 on parties and takes positions at odds with American policy. He says he knows what President Trump wants.BUDAPEST — The annual Independence Day celebration at the United States Embassy in Budapest is usually a modest garden party, a chance for the ambassador to celebrate American freedom, democracy and the rule of law.
This year, the ambassador, David B. Cornstein, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a blowout gala for 800 guests. He flew in the singer Paul Anka from California. The guest of honor was Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, who has curtailed the very freedoms the event was meant to highlight.
Standing at a lectern, Mr. Cornstein declared Mr. Orban “the perfect partner” and “a very, very strong and good leader.” Mr. Anka serenaded the Hungarian leader with a personalized rendition of “My Way.”
Trump continues to claim credit for single-handedly defeating ISIS, but his reckless and chaotic decision to withdraw from Syria was a big win for ISIS and greatly improved its prospects. After inheriting a successful anti-ISIS campaign, Trump is risking the reversal of hard-fought gains by the U.S. and our allies.
TRUMP, TUESDAY: “ISIS was all over the place … It was me…who captured them. I’m the one who did the capturing. I’m the one who knows more about it than you people or the fake pundits.”
TRUMP, ALSO TUESDAY: “When I took over ISIS was all over the place. You know that better than anybody, two and a half years ago. I went in and when I started I got rid of that whole thing. All those prisoners, all that — those are my — they were captured under Trump.” Continue reading “Trump Just Gave ISIS ‘Its Biggest Win In More Than Four Years”
Vice President Mike Pence announced from Ankara on Thursday that Turkey has agreed to cease its military operation in northern Syria for 120 hours so that Kurdish forces can withdraw from the area.
The big picture: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously said that he would “never” agree to a ceasefire, after the U.S. withdrawal from northern Syria paved the way for Turkey to begin a military assault on U.S-allied Kurdish forces that they view as terrorists.
View the complete October 17 article by Zachary Basu on the Axios website here.
