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1,100 more US troops in Syria than previously disclosed

Welcome to The Hill's Defense & NatSec Newsletter {beacon} Defense &national security Defense &national security Full text   FAA temporarily bans drone use in multiple New Jersey cities The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday temporarily banned drone operations in cities across New Jersey, citing “special safety reasons” for the restriction. Full text   5 […]

Pentagon says the number of US troops in Syria is double from previous reports

The Pentagon says there are 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, more than double the number Pentagon officials have told reporters for months. “We have regularly reported that approximately 900 U.S. troops are deployed to Syria,” said Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Ryder told reporters at a press conference Thursday. “We recently learned that the number was […]

China Says It Wants to ‘Play Constructive Role’ in Post-Assad Syria

China's special envoy to the United Nations declared on Tuesday that Beijing aims to play a “constructive role” in Syria's future after the fall of China's ally Bashar al-Assad. The Assad family has ruled Syria for more than 50 years and has waged a civil war with various opposition groups since 2011 under President Bashar […]

Biden Administration and Greater West Contact Victorious Syria Jihadis

Western countries, including the United States, have tentatively opened lines of communication with Syria's new rulers. Its rulers are an Islamist coalition led by an al-Qaeda splinter group, whose boss, inconveniently, is a designated terrorist with a $10 million bounty on the table from the United States. head. Ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad has few friends […]

Antony Blinken’s Turkey Trip Fails to Stop Onslaught Against U.S.-Allied Kurds in Syria

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led militia allied with the United States, confirmed on Monday that a brief ceasefire with Turkish Islamist proxies in the country had collapsed due to Turkey's intransigence. The ongoing fighting between the SDF and the Syrian National Army (SNA), an Islamist coalition that evolved from the Free Syrian Army […]

Netanyahu Enters Syria; Visits IDF Troops on Mount Hermon; ‘I Was Here 53 Years Ago’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered Syrian territory on Tuesday and met with Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) forces that have occupied a former Syrian military post on Mount Hermon, the region's highest mountain. update: Prime Minister Netanyahu released a video from the summit in which he recalled the last time he climbed to the top […]

Purported Bashar Assad Message, First Since Fall of Syria, Contradicts Russian Narrative

The official account of the Syrian presidential palace on the encrypted messaging app Telegram on Monday published a statement attributed to deposed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who voluntarily resigned as the country's leader. He insisted that he had not abandoned his soldiers. A person identified as Assad said in a statement: “During these events, I […]