Jordan is receiving assistance from the United Arab Emirates in its air campaign against ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria. On Feb. 8, the UAE sent six of its F-16 Block 60 fighters to Jordan, along with support personnel and mobility and air refueling assets, to aid in the air strikes, reported WAM, the UAE’s state news agency. The UAE will provide “all forms of operational support,” in addition to strikes against ISIS, said Col. Saeed Hassan, commander of the UAE deployment. Jordanian air force Commander Lt. Gen. Mansour Jbour on Feb. 8 told reporters in Amman that Jordan had carried out some 56 strikes, mostly in and around the Syrian city of Raqqa, on “targets of gravity” since ISIS executed a captured Jordanian air force F-16 pilot, reported the Jordan Times. Jbour revealed that Jordan’s first day of strikes hit 19 targets; on the second day, Jordanian aircraft struck 18 targets, including weapons, fuel, and equipment. Jbour claimed that the anti-ISIS coalition had thus far killed 7,000 ISIS militants and destroyed some 20 percent of the group’s military capabilities, reported Petra, the Jordan News Agency.
President Donald Trump’s nominee for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff touted his highly unusual background for the job as an asset and reaffirmed his commitment to stay apolitical during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 1.