Troops

Senator releases letters from armed forces after reports of location data being used to track US troops in Middle EastUS military officials say they have disabled advertising trackers on a range of phones and computers, according to letters released on Friday by the US senator Ron Wyden and ⁠statements given to Reuters.The development follows reports ​that commercially available location data had been used to target American forces in the Middle East. Continue reading...

• Iran has claimed responsibility for new attacks targeting military bases used by U.S. troops in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, ignoring previous warnings from Donald Trump. • Simultaneously, the Pentagon is investigating reports that a separate U.S. military strike may have accidentally hit a wedding party. • Recent casualty data from the Pentagon lists four service members killed in Jordan and Iraq during July, alongside 14 others killed during the ongoing conflict with Iran.

Letter from chair of joint chiefs of staff addresses concerns over Trump officials using military to interfere with voteThe highest‑ranking US military officer says there are no plans to deploy troops to polling places during the November midterm elections – responding to Senator Elissa Slotkin’s request for information amid concerns about whether the Trump administration might send service members to election sites.In a letter obtained by the Guardian, first reported by the Associated Press, Gen Dan Caine, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, told Slotkin “the Joint Force has no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places during the 2026 elections”. He added that there are also “no plans to use such personnel to seize ballots, voting machines, or other election‑related material”. Continue reading...

Moscow recruits an estimated 1,000 people a day, but officials say it cannot keep up with its level of casualtiesRussia is losing about 6,000 more troops in Ukraine each month than it can recruit, western officials have said.While Russia is still acquiring new battlefield recruits at speed, with an estimated rate of 1,000 a day, in the last two months even this has not been sufficient to replace those killed or injured. Continue reading...

Former PM of Israel calls events ‘concerted and meticulous attempt at ethnic cleansing’ against PalestiniansIsraeli troops forced two Palestinian families to leave their besieged West Bank homes on Thursday, the day after a top Israeli commander personally promised he would end a violent settler campaign to drive them out.Israeli soldiers also took over eight other homes in Qusra early on Thursday, telling the village’s mayor, Abdul Azim, that the buildings were needed for a days-long operation to remove the settlers. They later relinquished six. Settlers still roam the village. Continue reading...

• Yemen's Houthi rebels have launched a new wave of deadly attacks targeting Saudi-backed government troops, according to Yemeni state media. • Amidst the escalation, political figures including Cruz have argued that the Trump administration should pursue a strategy aimed at "regime collapse." • Separately, the U.S. Army announced on Friday that it is opening test ranges to private companies developing drones and missiles.

• Iran-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for deadly strikes targeting government military camps across two eastern provinces in Yemen. • The attacks signal an escalation in hostilities following a tenuous 2022 truce between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition. • This surge in violence is driven by persistent factional rivalries and Houthi efforts to breach a Saudi-led blockade that has worsened the regional humanitarian crisis.

An AP investigation found dozens of active-duty troops’ parents and spouses detained despite protectionsThe Trump administration has detained dozens of parents and spouses of active-duty US troops as it rolls back immigration protections for military families in the pursuit of its mass deportation agenda.More than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained since Donald Trump returned to office, and at least six have been deported, an Associated Press investigation found. It is the first accounting of such detentions, which the government does not track. Continue reading...

Lawmakers question delays in medical care, casualty figures and Pentagon’s handling of drone attack in KuwaitUS politics live – latest updatesThe Trump administration is facing growing demands to explain why wounded US soldiers went more than a week without adequate hospital care after a March drone strike in Kuwait, just days into the US-Israel war on Iran.In a letter to the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, congressional Democrats urged the Pentagon to answer their questions – which include why the Pentagon’s public casualty count for the war with Iran briefly changed – by 12 August. Continue reading...

Angel Rampersad, Michael Swinton, Isabella Gonzales and Tyler Feehan were among 18 US troops killed in the warA 30-year-old husband and father of two. A 25-year-old officer just weeks away from earning his MBA. A 19-year-old recent high school graduate. And a 28-year-old from Queens, New York, with a “radiant smile”.The Pentagon this week identified three American service members who were killed, and a fourth believed to have been killed, in the Middle East over the past week amid an escalation in attacks between the United States and Iranian forces. Continue reading...

• Iran has launched a series of attacks targeting Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, marking a significant escalation in regional conflict. • The offensive has resulted in the deaths of at least 3 U.S. service members and left dozens of others wounded. • In a potential diplomatic shift, Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni traveled to Pakistan on Monday to engage in talks with the country acting as a key mediator.

Iran has attacked a tanker in the strait of Hormuz, forcing its crew to abandon the ship, after the US launched a tenth consecutive night of strikesMiddle East crisis live: follow latest updatesNearly 100 US service members have been injured over the last two weeks of escalating strikes on Iran, the Pentagon has said, as Tehran launched a wave of reprisals to the tenth consecutive night of attacks.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they had targeted US military sites including air defence systems and a radar installation in Bahrain and Kuwait, while a tanker in the strait of Hormuz reported being ⁠struck by an unknown projectile, forcing its crew to abandon the vessel and board a lifeboat. Continue reading...

Fresh attack comes after Iran’s supreme leader warned Washington would pay for ‘seeking to escalate’ the conflictTwo US troops killed and one missing in Jordan after Iranian attacksThe US military said it launched new airstrikes against Iran to “swiftly punish” the country’s Revolutionary Guard for an attack in Jordan that killed two American service members, left one missing and four requiring hospitalisation.Speaking to the New York Post, the US president, Donald Trump, described the deaths as a “shame”. “They did it because they don’t want to see Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said of the troops. “And it just shows you how bad (the Iranians) are,” he added.The two US troop deaths on Friday were its first from direct Iranian fire since the opening days of the war. US defence secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X: “Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”Iran appeared to target Saudi Arabia as ​well as other US Gulf allies and Jordan on Saturday after US attacks on Iranian bridges, power facilities ‌and other infrastructure.Mojtaba Khamenei said US actions had shown that Trump’s signature was “utterly worthless and devoid of credibility”, warning of “even heavier costs and further humiliation” for ‌the US, in a statement carried by the ‌official social media accounts of Iran’s supreme leader and state media.The American deaths brought the number of US service members killed since the war began to 16, while more than 430 have been injured. Iran’s health ministry said on ‌Saturday that 50 people had been killed ​and more than 500 injured in US strikes ​on the country over the past three weeks.In Iraq, a base near Irbil of the Kurdistan Freedom party, an Iranian Kurdish dissident group, was struck by a drone early on Sunday, wounding eight of its members, according to a military official with the group.The most significant damage from Iranian strikes on Saturday occurred in Kuwait, where a water desalination plant and an oil facility were hit, according to the Kuwait authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. It was the second attack against a desalination plant in two days in the tiny nation that depends on desalination for 90% of its drinking water. Continue reading...

• Former President Donald Trump considered reducing U.S. troop levels in Europe by one-third to pressure NATO allies. • The idea emerged during a White House meeting this spring after Trump expressed frustration that alliance members refused to join a military operation in Iran. • While Trump appeared surprised by a Pentagon decision to halt a troop rotation in Poland, he maintained a plan to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany.

• Former President Donald Trump considered reducing U.S. troop levels in Europe by one-third to pressure NATO allies. • This contemplation followed a White House meeting this spring where Trump expressed frustration that alliance members refused to join a military operation in Iran. • While Trump appeared surprised by a Pentagon decision to halt a troop rotation in Poland, he maintained a separate order to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany.

Authorities claim Tyrin Johnson, 20, pulled gun on officers controversially deployed at instigation of TrumpNational guard soldiers on patrol in Memphis shot and killed a man that authorities in the Tennessee city said turned and pulled a gun on the troops during a chase.The shooting took place at about 4am on Sunday as the soldiers responded to a report of gunfire. Continue reading...

• Herve Renard has been appointed as the new head coach of Tunisia, replacing Sabri Lamouchi following a crushing 5-1 defeat to Sweden. • Tunisia made history as the first nation to sack a manager after just one World Cup game, prompting Renard to rally his players with a "spirit of revenge" ahead of their match against Japan. • Renard aims to inspire his squad by citing recent tournament upsets, such as Cape Verde's draw with Spain, to prove that underdogs can compete.

The seven-month-old, Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, was in his mother’s arms when he was hit in the incident in HebronIsraeli troops killed a seven-month-old Palestinian baby in the occupied West Bank and injured one of the child’s parents on Friday after opening fire on the family’s car, despite it having complied with an order to stop.Soldiers opened fire on a car carrying the infant and his parents in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron. The seven-month-old, Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, was critically injured, evacuated in critical condition to a local hospital, where he later died. His parents were also injured. Continue reading...

Violence flares before protests on Thursday over president’s decision to remain in office after his term expiredGovernment troops and militias allied with the opposition have exchanged fire in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, damaging property and forcing some civilians to flee.The violence flared up ahead of planned protests on Thursday over president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s decision to remain in office after his term expired in May. In March, parliament backed constitutional changes that could allow Mohamud to extend his term by a year and push back an election. Continue reading...

Split decision deals blow to Trump administration’s anti-diversity agenda, calling the ban ‘arbitrary, and based on animus’Transgender troops can remain in the US military, but the armed services can continue to block their enlistment, an appeals court ruled Monday in a split decision with potentially significant consequences for the Trump administration’s anti-diversity agenda.The divided, majority opinion by a three-judge panel of the US court of appeals for Washington DC is expected to be challenged by the government. And the case is ultimately likely to reach the US supreme court. Continue reading...

Newly released evidence from inquiry into 80 deaths shows Afghan partner forces no longer willing to work alongside British by 2011Concerns about the number of Afghan civilians being killed by British special forces in the early part of the last decade prompted the country’s then president to make a “muscular” complaint to Nato commanders fighting the Taliban.Newly released evidence from a public inquiry into the deaths of up to 80 people during an SAS deployment also showed that Afghan partner military forces were no longer willing to work alongside the British by the spring of 2011. Continue reading...

• President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the United States will deploy an additional 5,000 troops to Poland. • The decision marks a sudden reversal of recent administration efforts aimed at reducing the overall number of U.S. military personnel stationed in Europe. • This move has created significant confusion regarding the U.S. government's strategic military goals and deployment patterns across the continent.

• The United States is deploying 5,000 troops to Poland as it simultaneously reduces its military presence in Germany. • The move follows the suspension of a planned training exercise, which had previously caused alarm among Polish officials and sparked anger in the U.S. Congress. • The deployment occurs amid domestic political tension in Poland, where President Nawrocki, elected in June 2025, aligns with the Trump administration and clashes with pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

• President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the United States will deploy an additional 5,000 troops to Poland. • The move marks a sudden reversal in strategy, as the administration had previously taken steps to reduce the overall number of US military personnel stationed in Europe. • This deployment deepens confusion regarding the US military's long-term commitment and strategic posture within the European theater.

IDF says two soldiers will spend weeks in military prison over incident it said was viewed with great severityTwo Israeli soldiers will spend weeks in military prison for the desecration of a Christian object after one stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon and the other photographed it.The photo of the soldier, a cigarette dangling from his own mouth, went viral and sparked widespread outrage. It was the latest act by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon to be denounced as anti-Christian. Continue reading...

US announced withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers last week after German chancellor said US was being ‘humiliated’ by IranDonald Trump has threatened to withdraw more US troops from Germany after stunning European leaders and some senior members of his own party by last week announcing the withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers from Germany.The move left 30,000 US troops still in the country, according to CNN. But Trump threatened on Saturday that more cuts were coming. “We are going to cut way down, and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000,” he told reporters on Saturday. Continue reading...

• The Trump administration announced plans to withdraw 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany over the next 6 to 12 months, impacting the approximately 35,000 American service members currently stationed there. • Defense Secretary Hegseth is pulling the troops amid ongoing tensions between Trump and the German Chancellor over defense spending and NATO contributions. • The reduction marks a significant shift in U.S. military presence in Europe and signals potential strains in the transatlantic alliance during this period.

• The Trump administration announced plans to withdraw approximately 5,000 US troops from Germany over the next 6-12 months. • The troop withdrawal fulfills an earlier Trump threat and reflects tensions over Germany's stance on the Iran conflict. • The move signals a broader shift in US military posture in Europe and could weaken NATO presence in a key strategic location.