U.S. Central Command

As the Turkish, U.S. and French defense ministers were meeting in Brussels on Oct. 26 for an assessment on the situation in Mosul and Iraq in general, Ankara was focused on helping the Free Syria Army (FSA) take control in towns that are key for its border security.

The U.S. military deployed to the east of Iraq's Mosul has started shelling Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets as part of an operation to retake the city, a Peshmerga commander said on Oct. 15, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Preparations to retake Iraq's Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is continuing, according to a top U.S. official assigned to the coalition.

A revised effort to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels for the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) will not repeat the same mistakes that doomed a similar program last year, according to the prospective next U.S. commander for the Middle East, Army Gen. Joseph Votel.

U.S. special forces and experts are setting up an airbase in northeast Syria as part of the battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Syrian military and security sources said on Jan. 23.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards launched rockets near the U.S. aircraft-carrier Harry S. Truman and other warships as they were entering the Gulf on Dec. 26 , giving only brief notice in a "highly provocative" act, a U.S. military spokesman said on Dec. 29.

U.S. and Russian military officials signed a memorandum of understanding on Octç 20 that includes steps their pilots should take to avoid an inadvertent clash over Syria as they carry out separate air strikes against militant groups, the Pentagon said.

When two global superpowers decide to end a war, it happens. It looks like this will be the outcome in Syria after Russia?s latest overture. It may seem like a brutal blow to Ankara?s ?Death to Assad? policies but in the long run, Russia and the United States have agreed on keeping Turkey in one piece. And that means more than words.

The U.S. Central Command has strictly denied that U.S. troops are working on the ground with Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) forces in Syria, clarifying a recent statement from General Lloyd Austin, the head of Centcom. 

American aircraft will remain at Turkey?s ?ncirlik airbase as long as required in the struggle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the top U.S. diplomat in Ankara has said.