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Roughly 1,800 U.S. service members, as well as several dozen fighter jets and other air defense implements, will be sent to Saudi Arabia to help protect the Kingdom amid heightened tensions with Iran, the Pentagon announced Friday. Officials said the U.S. is set to ship two F-15 squadrons, two Patriot missile batteries, one anti-missile defense system known as THADD and other planes. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said he informed Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman earlier Friday about the additional troops “to ensure and enhance the defense of Saudi Arabia.” "Saudi Arabia is a longstanding security partner in the...

Donald Trump came into office promising to not start any new wars and to get us out of the old ones our feckless elite had dragged us into, and now that he’s doing it in Syria the usual suspects are outraged. How dare he actually deliver on his promise not to have anymore of our precious warriors shipped home in boxes after getting killed on battlefields we can’t even pronounce, while refereeing conflicts that began long before America was a thing, in campaigns without any kind of coherent objective? Conservatives like me still think of ourselves as hawks, but...

Some Republicans, including Trump allies such as Sen Lindsey Graham, have joined Democrats in sharply criticizing the president's decision to withdraw an unannounced number of U.S. troops from northeastern Syria. But Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) strongly supports the president's move, even if the "neocon war caucus of the Senate" -- Paul's words -- does not. "We haven't been able to find peace for 18 years in Afghanistan," Paul told Fox News's Neil Cavuto in a telephone interview on Monday. "So I certainly don't think we're going to find peace in Syria. But I do think a couple of hundred people...

Televangelist Pat Robertson has joined the chorus of conservative critics lambasting President Donald Trump’s decision to pull U.S. forces out of Northern Syria — endangering America’s Kurdish allies. Trump was slammed by many of his usual defenders on Monday after the White House announced the U.S. will allow for a Turkish military operation in the war-torn region. Trump argued in a statement that Turkey will assume responsibility for all ISIS fighters captured in the region, many of whom were detained by Kurdish forces allied with America. The Turkish government views these Kurdish militias as terrorists — despite the U.S. supporting...

Top Republicans in Congress -- including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- criticized President Donald Trump over his decision to remove US troops from northern Syria as Turkey plans a military offensive there. McConnell urged Trump to reverse his move, saying "a precipitous withdrawal of US forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime."

Turkish jets struck a Kurdish base near the Iraq-Syria border late Monday night, the first grim fruits of President Trump’s decision to order US forces out of the way — a decision we fear Trump will come to regret. We’ll grant that the president is delivering on a campaign promise here: Like most Americans, he doesn’t want this nation serving as the world’s policeman; other countries should share more of the burden when it comes to both troops and money. Or, as he tweeted Monday, “it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars.” He has...

Turkey is set to invade Syria, as the country had been threatening in recent months, with the U.S. saying it will remove all of its forces from the "immediate area," according to the White House. The news came late Sunday after President Donald Trump spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone earlier in the day.

Trump knocks 'ridiculous Endless Wars' amid US troop pullout from Syria 10/07/19 08:42 AM EDT Just In... Republicans urges Trump to reverse course on Syria withdrawal 2020 Democrats hit Trump's planned Syria withdrawal President Trump on Monday said it is time to remove the United States from “ridiculous Endless Wars" after he decided to pull back American troops from northern Syria amid an impending Turkish military operation there. “The Kurds fought with us, but were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so. They have been fighting Turkey for decades. I held off this fight for … almost...

Graham said that he and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., plan to introduce “veto-proof” bipartisan sanctions that will call for Turkey’s suspension from NATO if it invades Syria and attacks Kurdish forces. “This decision to abandon our Kurdish allies and turn Syria over to Russia, Iran, & Turkey will put every radical Islamist on steroids,” Graham added. “Shot in the arm to the bad guys. Devastating for the good guys.” Nikki Haley, Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was unequivocal in her criticism. We must always have the backs of our allies, if we expect them to have...

The US decision to withdraw forces from northern Syria in anticipation of Turkish assault is only the most recent betrayal Kurds have faced A popular saying goes that Kurds have "no friends but the mountains". ****snip*** The decision on Monday by US President Donald Trump to withdraw American troops from northern Syria in anticipation of a Turkish invasion is only the latest in a long line of betrayals. *****snip**** In 2016, the Turkish military and allied Syrian forces launched Operation Euphrates Shield and entered northern Syria with the express aim of defeating the so-called Islamic State (IS) group that still...

Iran is prepared to accept changes to the 2015 nuclear agreement and not seek nuclear weapons if the United States agrees to the deal and lifts sanctions, a spokesman for Iran said Wednesday. “If the sanctions are ended and there is a return to the [nuclear] accord, there is room for giving reassurances toward breaking the deadlock and the President has even a proposal for small changes in the accord,” Ali Rabiei said on state TV, according to Reuters. The news service added that Iran’s state-run Press TV said on Wednesday that Tehran would be willing to reenter the deal...

Iran is willing to give reassurances on not seeking nuclear arms and accept changes to its 2015 nuclear accord with world power if the United States returns to the deal and lifts sanctions, a government spokesman said on Wednesday. “If the sanctions are ended and there is a return to the (nuclear) accord, there is room for giving reassurances toward breaking the deadlock and the President (Hassan Rouhani) has even a proposal for small changes in the accord,” the spokesman, Ali Rabiei, said on state TV. SNIP

Russia may be an adversary, but it is not our number one enemy. Neither is China, which may have over a billion people but we’re its best customer and they’ve invested too much in this nation to risk our destruction. Iranian leaders, on the other hand, have made no secret that they hate America and everything we stand for. The leading mullahs are true believers in a caliphate that will conquer the world. The 21st century has seen a broad mainstream embrace of a collective Muslim identity by young Muslims and the appeal of a caliphate as an idealized future...

The statement was given after an impromptu meeting with Liberman ahead of Rivlin-brokered talks with Netanyahu Blue & White leader Benny Gantz may be ready to concede his party's position against joining a government with incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he faces possible indictment in a number of corruption cases. "We'll see what happens," Gantz told i24NEWS when asked if he would form a unity government with incumbent Prime Minister Netanyahu ahead of their meeting with President Reuven Rivlin Tuesday night. The statement was given following an unannounced meeting between Gantz and Yisrael Beitenu's Avigdor Liberman in Jaffa. Meanwhile,...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - After failing to secure a clear election victory twice in six months, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister now seems to be calculating that he can stay in power only by sharing it.Following a deadlocked parliamentary election last week, a weakened Netanyahu reissued an offer on Monday to his centrist rival Benny Gantz for a unity government, saying that neither had enough support from respective allies for a majority of 61 seats in the 120-member parliament. There was no sign Gantz, head of the Blue and White Party, would agree to a coalition with Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud. Gantz cited...

Unless he convinces Israeli lawmakers from outside his party to join him in a national unity government, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 10-and-a-half-year run in office may soon end following inconclusive results inhis country’s parliamentary elections this week that appeared to deprive him of a governing majority in the Knesset. President Donald Trump took a hands-off approach when asked about the elections in America’s foremost ally in the Middle East. “Our relations are with Israel, so we’ll see what happens,” he told reporters while touring California. In Israel, Netanyahu has leveraged his ideological affinity with Trump as a selling point...

A strategy paying dividends Ultimately, Iran’s summer brinkmanship paid off. First, Tehran demonstrated that it poses a highly credible military threat to the Strait of Hormuz. Second, it exposed Trump’s extreme reticence about engulfing the United States in another Middle Eastern war. Third, rather than bring European powers closer to the U.S. sanctions strategy on Iran, Tehran’s threat to commerce in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes sent the Elysee into a diplomatic frenzy, paving the way for Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s surprise visit to the G-7 in Biarritz to discuss a French proposal for a $15 billion...

According to Channel 13, 97.6% of the votes from Tuesday's elections have already been counted, Blue and White stands at 33 seats and Likud at 31 seats, with Blue and White leading by a narrow margin. It is important to note that these are still not the final results. Overnight, the committee was counting the near quarter of a million soldiers' votes cast by Israeli soldiers. The Central Election Committee (CEC) has been updating its website since the close of the polls at 10 p.m. on Tuesday. The last update was at 10:40 a.m. on Thursday: 4,354,991 votes had been...

On his nationally syndicated radio talk show “The Mark Levin Show” on Monday, host Mark Levin warned that if something serious isn’t done, Iran will take this attack as a first step. “I will say this, if something isn’t done, something serious and significant isn’t done respecting Iran, they’re going to take this as a first step,” stated Mark Levin. “I’m just telling you. They’re going to take this as a first step. So, we’ll see what happens.” Mark Levin’s comments came after a Saudi Arabian oil facility was attacked by “cruise missiles and drones,” FOX News reported, that “were...