The United States and Egypt on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to battle Islamic militants in the Middle East as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo at the start of his week-long trip to the region.
As the Islamic State withers in Iraq and Syria, other, more obscure hot spots could emerge in 2018 that will require more U.S. assistance or, possibly, even the presence of more U.S. troops.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis met Saturday with Egyptian officials to discuss cooperation between the two countries, the first stop on a trip that will also take him to Jordan, Pakistan and Kuwait.
President Donald Trump denounced the deadly mosque attack in Egypt and reached out to its president, asserting the world must crush terrorists by military means — and insisting the U.S. needs a southern border wall and the travel ban tied up in courts.
Three Syrian opposition factions have agreed to cease fire in southern Damascus under an agreement brokered by Egypt and Russia that was not signed by the Syrian government, officials said Thursday.
Qatar is home to the massive Al Udeid Air Base, the forward headquarters of Central Command, which oversees the U.S.-led coalition’s bombing campaign against ISIS and manages a direct line to Russia to manage Syria’s crowded skies.
Egypt is failing to protect free speech and its minorities, investigate abuses by its forces or grant U.S. monitors access to the conflict-ridden Sinai Peninsula, according to a damning Trump administration report obtained by The Associated Press.
Egypt reacted angrily Wednesday to the Trump administration’s decision to cut or delay nearly $300 million in military and economic aid over human rights concerns, a surprise move given the increasingly close ties that have bound the two allies since President Donald Trump took office in January.