Shawn Snow
Early Bird Editor
Shawn Snow is the senior reporter for Marine Corps Times and a Marine Corps veteran.
All Stories By Shawn
Tensions with Iran and its proxies led to accelerated transfer of bases housing coalition troops to Iraqi forces
"This base transfer occurred amid force protection concerns sparked by escalating tensions between the United States and Iran and its proxy militias, which CJTF-OIR said led to an acceleration of the long-term transfer plan."
Esper says Taliban not honoring deal as US warplanes bail out Afghan forces
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that the Taliban were honoring the agreement in terms of “not attacking U.S. and coalition forces, but not in terms of sustaining a reduction of violence."
US resumes airstrikes against Taliban to halt attack on Afghan forces
The U.S. carried out an airstrike against Taliban forces preparing to attack an Afghan checkpoint today, a U.S. military spokesman announced.
Trump calls Taliban, discusses peace talks
“We had a good conversation. We’ve agreed there is no violence. We don’t want violence. But we’ll see what happens. They are dealing with Afghanistan. We had a very good talk with the leader of the Taliban,” Trump said on the South Lawn of the White House.
Esper gives go-ahead to begin drawdown of American forces in Afghanistan
That deal is “conditions based,” Esper explained.
US loses drone over Niger
AFRICOM confirmed it lost a drone in Niger, after pictures of the alleged U.S. drone crash were making the rounds on social media Monday.
Senator calls for US to establish no-fly zone over Syria after 33 Turkish troops killed in airstrike
Turkish air and artillery assets have since retaliated against the Syrian army by pounding the regimes armored and truck-mobile rocket artillery systems.
CENTCOM suspends leave and liberty for troops over coronavirus fears
Over the last week the U.S. military and several geographic combatant commands have had to make a number of difficult decisions from DoD school closures to the suspension of an exercise over the rapidly spreading virus.
ISIS loses more than half its fighters from US airstrikes and Taliban ground operations
Col. Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for U.S. Forces Afghanistan, tweeted early Thursday morning that airstrikes on Wednesday killed three ISIS fighters in Kunar Province and forced 34 ISIS militants to surrender to Afghan forces in Tswokey district.
Sinai mission, crisis response forces and numerous outdated tasks potentially on chopping block
Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs chairman, told lawmakers Monday at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the defense budget that the Pentagon needs to look at whether the Sinai mission “is still a valid mission” for U.S. forces and whether the peacekeeping operation “still makes sense” to address rising near-peers.
