As if the current 662 U.S.military bases around the world from which air strikes can be launched aren’t enough.
How many Americans are aware that the U.S. is currently engaged in five wars — in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen, and that our forces are involved in lesser conflicts in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia? The answer is, probably very few. These wars are largely out of the news, and since there are seldom any American casualties, they are virtually invisible.
Combat operations primarily involve drones operated from thousands of miles away, and bombs dropped from thousands of feet in the air. According to the Pentagon, there are currently 662 U.S.military bases around the world from which air strikes can be launched using a variety of aircraft. Also stationed on these bases are Special Operations forces that carry out hit-and-run raids and sinations in various parts of the world.
WNU Editor: And are we safer with such a presence?
The Taliban weren't supposed to able to get to American forces like this. But somehow, a suicide bomber, riding a motorcycle, just took out a half-dozen U.S. troops.
Six U.S. troops were killed while on patrol in Afghanistan. It marked the deadliest day for American forces in nearly 18 months, and signaled that a resurgent Taliban was on the move in what was supposed to be the waning year of the war.
Another three Afghan troops who were on patrol with their American counterparts were injured.
The Taliban reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, which left U.S. military officials scrambling to figure out how the Taliban could’ve taken out so many troops at once.
WNU Editor: The Pentagon has more than just 6 soldiers being killed to worry about .... the Taliban are on the verge of seizing half of the country ....
.... In October, the Long War Journal concluded the Taliban 20 has control of percent of the country and has influence in half of it. On Monday, the same publication said the group has control over nearly all of the south, an area the U.S. and allied partners spend more than a decade wrestling out of Taliban hands.
It would be difficult to overstate just how deadly and destabilizing a year it was in the Middle East. From the civil wars raging in Syria and Yemen, to the ongoing military campaign against the Islamic State group and its self-styled caliphate across Iraq and Syria, 2015 undoubtedly marked a year of violence, displacement, and heartbreak for much of the region.
We try to avoid making predictions here at the Mideast Memo, preferring instead to leave that to the analysts and experts who study and report on the region each and every day. It's with that in mind that we humbly offer these five Mideast news stories as ones to watch in the rapidly approaching new year:
Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- December 21, 2015
* Commander and his men are trapped inside police HQ by Taliban fighters * He said: 'If we don't get support in an hour, our fighters will be captured' * Deputy governor took to Facebook to warn Helmand province could fall * The official said 'unless the government acts now we will lose the province'
An Afghan police chief has made a desperate plea for help fighting the Taliban, saying he is trapped inside his headquarters and surrounded by dead bodies.
Commander Mohammad Dawood said he and his men were running out of ammunition and feared they would soon be overrun as fighting raged in Sangin in Helmand Province.
His warning came hours after the province's deputy governor, resorted to Facebook to warn the president the Taliban could soon take over the area where British troops died.
Hmeymim airbase, Latakia, Syria (CNN)Russians are renowned for their endless patience -- and I sometimes feel they like to test us foreigners whenever they can.
Certainly our journey into Syria with the Russian defense ministry was testing: Seven hours on a bus to a military airport outside Moscow, three hours going through security, then six hours on a Soviet-era Tupolev passenger jet to Syria.
It was 4 a.m. when we finally touched down, bleary-eyed, at the Hmeymin Air Base in Latakia on northwest Syria's Mediterranean coast, the staging ground for Russia's air war against Islamist terror groups fighting for control of Syria.
Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- December 21, 2015
A Canadian pilot has been named responsible for the accidental deaths of nine Iraqi soldiers near the city of Fallujah, a military source told Iraqi television channel Al-Sumar.
Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi on Friday confirmed the death of nine Iraqi soldiers after an unintentional air strike during an offensive on rebel positions near the city of Fallujah in Anbar province.
“The plane of the international coalition forces that fired at the Iraqi army near Fallujah three days ago, was Canadian, the pilot was Canadian,” the source said.
WNU Editor: Talk about timing. Canada's defence minister is in Iraq today .... Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan visits Iraq(CBC). No one else has verified this claim that a Canadian pilot was involved in this friendly fire incident.
Fighters alleging to be the “Soldiers of the Caliphate in the Philippines” have released a short video showing a training camp somewhere in the Southeast Asian country. It is unclear which group the fighters belong to, but several Philippines-based jihadist groups have pledged allegiance or support to the Islamic State.
The video begins with a masked figure speaking to the camera about making “hajj [pilgrimage] to the Caliphate” before switching to showing the rudimentary training camp. Fighters are then shown participating in running obstacles and partaking in other physical training. Additionally, the jihadists are then shown undergoing basic weapons training with what appears to be a US-made assault rifle. Many of the fighters seen in the video appear to be young, but almost all have their faces covered.
WNU Editor: It was only a question of time before they started showing up in this part of Asia.
