Author: Susannah George
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Trump says US to send 1,500 more troops to Middle East
WASHINGTON — The U.S. will bolster its military presence in the Middle East with an additional 1,500 troops, President Donald Trump said Friday amid heightened tensions with Iran. Trump said the troops would have a “mostly protective” role. He spoke to reporters on the White House lawn as he headed out on a trip to…
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Trump officials to Congress: Goal is deterring Iran, not war
WASHINGTON • Tamping down talk of war, top Trump administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that recent actions by the U.S. deterred attacks on American forces. But some lawmakers remained skeptical of the White House approach in the Middle East. After a day of closed-door briefings on Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and…
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Members of Congress honor Saudi writer killed in Turkey
WASHINGTON • Members of Congress called for the protection of press freedom around the world Thursday as they honored a U.S.-based Saudi columnist who was killed inside his country’s consulate in Turkey in October. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Adam Schiff of California and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia were among those attending an event…
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Trump campaign Russia contacts alarm intelligence experts
WASHINGTON • From suggestions of “political synergy” and offers of business deals to contact with more than a dozen people in then-candidate Donald Trump’s orbit, Russian outreach to the Trump campaign has a familiar and alarming pattern to experts in the intelligence field. The attempts by Russians to establish contact, which were laid out in…
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Trump faces complaints that new Iran sanctions are too weak
WASHINGTON • A battle is brewing between the Trump administration and some of the president’s biggest supporters in Congress who are concerned that sanctions to be reimposed on Iran early next month won’t be tough enough. As President Donald Trump prepares to reimpose a second batch of Iran sanctions that had been eased under the…
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U.S. lacks leverage in Syrian assault
WASHINGTON • Despite dire U.S. warnings and fears of a humanitarian disaster, the Trump administration has little leverage to stop Russia, Iran and Syria pressing ahead with a massive military assault against Syria’s northwest Idlib province. Washington has threatened military action in case of a chemical weapons attack but its mixed messaging on retaining a…
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Iraqi declares ‘total victory’ over Islamic State in Mosul
MOSUL, Iraq — Iraq on Monday declared “total victory” over the Islamic State in Mosul, retaking full control of the country’s second-largest city three years after it was seized by extremists bent on building a global caliphate. “This great feast day crowned the victories of the fighters and the Iraqis for the past three years,”…
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Deadliest attack in a year kills 115 in central Baghdad
BAGHDAD — A devastating truck bombing on a bustling commercial street in downtown Baghdad killed 115 people early Sunday, brutally underscoring the Islamic State group’s ability to strike the capital despite a string of battlefield losses elsewhere in the country. It was the deadliest terror attack in Iraq in a year and one of the…
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Islamic State fire kills American in combat in Iraq
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save BAGHDAD — A U.S Navy SEAL was killed Tuesday by fire from the Islamic State group outside the IS-held city of Mosul, and Defense Secretary Ash Carter acknowledged it as a “combat death” as the…