Two US troops were injured by indirect fire from ISIS over the weekend in Iraq and Syria, but the Pentagon maintains they were not in combat. Defense Department spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said one service member was injured near Erbil, Iraq, and the other was injured north of Raqqa in Syria. Davis would not elaborate on how they were injured, other than to say they were hit by indirect fire and were not on the front line “trigger-pulling” in combat. He also declined to say which service the troops belonged to. Neither of the incidents represents a large-scale offensive on US troops or allied forces, he noted. This is the first time the Pentagon has announced an injury to a US service member in Syria, where small teams of special operations forces are advising and assisting vetted rebel forces.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.