U.S. troops frequently under attack in Syria; U.S. forces plan to dig in on Japanese islands, Philippines in case of China invasion of Taiwan; Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire could come ‘within days’.
1. U.S. forces are fighting Iranian-backed proxies in Syria frequently as they come under militant attacks that analysts say have been aided by the Syrian government. Dozens of those rocket, missile and drone attacks have focused on a strategic American base at a gas field in northeastern Syria near the Iraq border, a de facto territorial dividing point between forces backed by Iran and the U.S.-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State group. Mission Support Site Conoco has been attacked about 40 times since October 2023, U.S. Central Command said in a statement this month.
2. U.S. forces plan to dig in on Japan’s southernmost islands and in the Philippines if China invades Taiwan, according to a Japanese news agency. The deployments would happen under a plan being prepared by the United States and Japan, Kyodo News reported Monday, citing anonymous sources familiar with U.S.-Japan relations. Chinese President Xi Jinping has stated his intent to reunite the self-governing and democratic island with mainland China, by force if necessary. A Marine littoral regiment armed with HIMARS — High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — would be sent to Japan’s southwestern Nansei islands, between Okinawa and Taiwan, according to Kyodo’s sources. Japanese forces would provide logistical support to the Marines.
3. The Israeli ambassador to Washington says that a cease-fire deal to end fighting between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah could be reached “within days.” Ambassador Mike Herzog told Israeli Army Radio on Monday that there remained “points to finalize” and that any deal required agreement from the government. But he said “we are close to a deal” and that “it can happen within days.” Among the issues that remain is an Israeli demand to reserve the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations under the emerging deal. The deal seeks to push Hezbollah and Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon.
4. Russia’s military captured a British national fighting with Ukrainian troops who have occupied part of Russia’s Kursk region, according to reports Monday, as Moscow began daylight drone attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine and its ground forces accelerated gains along parts of the front line. The Briton was identified by state news agency Tass and other media as James Scott Rhys Anderson. Tass quoted him as saying that he had served as a signalman in the British army for four years and then joined the International Legion of Ukraine, formed early on in Russia’s nearly 3-year-old war against its neighbor.
The United States is arming the Philippines with advanced sea drones as part of an effort to bolster an ally threatened by China’s territorial claims and growing maritime power. The state-run Philippine News Agency published a photograph Wednesday of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin checking out a T-12 Mantas unmanned surface vessel a day earlier in Puerto Princessa on the country’s western island of Palawan. Manila has been in a standoff with Beijing’s coast guard and maritime militia over disputed South China Sea territory west of Palawan.
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