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  • Mapping the Growing U.S. Military Presence in the Middle East

    The United States maintains a considerable military presence in the Middle East, with forces in more than a dozen countries and on ships throughout the region’s waters. That presence has expanded in 2024 as the United States focuses on deterring and defeating threats from Iran and its network of armed affiliates in the region, including Hamas (Gaza Strip), Hezbollah (Lebanon), the Houthis (Yemen), and several Iraq- and Syria-based militant groups.

  • U.S. military completes temporary pier off Gaza; deliveries to start within days

    The U.S. Army has completed a temporary pier on a Gazan beach; trucks should begin hauling away the first 500 tons of aid for civilians within days, with thousands more tons in the pipeline, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

  • U.S. Shuffles Military Assets in Middle East After Gulf Pushback

    The U.A.E. informed the U.S. in February that it would no longer permit American warplanes and drones based at Al Dhafra air base in Abu Dhabi to carry out strikes in Yemen and Iraq without notifying Emirati officials ahead of time. That has prompted U.S. commanders to send the additional aircraft to Al Udeid air base in Qatar, the small Persian Gulf monarchy that hasn’t imposed similar restrictions, U.S. officials said.

  • U.S. Shuffles Military Assets in Middle East After Gulf Pushback

    The U.A.E. informed the U.S. in February that it would no longer permit American warplanes and drones based at Al Dhafra air base in Abu Dhabi to carry out strikes in Yemen and Iraq without notifying Emirati officials ahead of time. That has prompted U.S. commanders to send the additional aircraft to Al Udeid air base in Qatar, the small Persian Gulf monarchy that hasn’t imposed similar restrictions, U.S. officials said.

  • U.S. military strikes more Syrian facilities

    U.S. military aircraft attacked two facilities in eastern Syria on Sunday, in retaliation for a string of attacks on American personnel in Iraq and Syria in recent months. It’s the second set of airstrikes in less than a week.

    The strikes were “proportionate, precision” attacks designed to destroy the facilities and limit the capabilities of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and related groups, a defense spokesperson told reporters traveling with the defense secretary in the Indo-Pacific region Monday.

  • U.S. proposed conducting joint military planning with Israel on Iran

    Israeli officials have so far treated the proposal with suspicion, fearing it is an attempt to “tie Israel's hands” from taking action against Iran — especially its nuclear facilities — if the U.S. objects.

  • U.S. and Israel launch a massive joint military exercise to send a message to Iran and others

    About 6,400 U.S. personnel have joined 1,100 Israeli personnel for the exercise, which will employ 142 total aircraft. Of them, 100 aircraft are from the U.S. military, including four B-52 bombers, four F-35 fighter jets, 45 F/A-18 Hornet fighters and two MQ-9 Reaper drones. Six U.S. ships, including a carrier strike group, and six Israeli ships will also participate.

  • Abuses by defense contractors at U.S. military bases in Persian Gulf trap migrant workers, employees say

    In the past five years, the Pentagon has responded to 176 reported instances of labor trafficking on military bases in the Persian Gulf and beyond, in most cases by requiring better monitoring of employment practices, according to State Department reports reviewed by NBC News.

  • New U.S. military testing facility coming to Saudi Arabia

    The U.S. military is developing a new testing facility in Saudi Arabia to help stifle an increasing number of threats to the region. First reported by NBC, three U.S. defense officials told the outlet that U.S. Central Command — which has an area of responsibility that includes the Middle East — is in the early planning stages of the new facility, which will be called Red Sands Integrated Experimentation Center.

  • U.S. military is developing plans to open a new testing facility in Saudi Arabia

    While the location has not yet been finalized, the officials said Saudi Arabia makes the most sense because it has large open spaces owned by the government and the ability to test various methods of electronic warfare, like signal-jamming and directed energy, without interfering with nearby population centers. “With the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the center of gravity for many future regional security endeavors, this is an opportunity,” a U.S. defense official said.