The sun sets behind a C-17 Globemaster III at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, as Soldiers wait in line to board Nov. 17, 2008. (Air Force/Tech Sgt. Erik Gudmundson)
Today, an American service member died in a "non-combat incident" in Ninawa Province, Iraq according to a statement by Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State.
Editor's Note: This article by Oriana Pawlyk originally appeared onMilitary.com, a leading source of news for the military and veteran community.
Members of the 74th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron were accustomed to the conflict conditions of Afghanistan, in which airstrikes aren't often carried out in close quarters.
But one A-10 Thunderbolt II unit summoned into the dense, urban environment of Raqqa, Syria, where Islamic State fighters and snipers hid within buildings, found itself testing new ways to support U.S.-backed militia on the ground, contributing to the city's liberation in late 2017.
A Russian court has convicted a former military officer of fighting alongside Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and sentenced him to 19 years in prison.
Denis Khisamov was found guilty and sentenced on April 2 by the North Caucasus District Military Court in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
A fighter of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) holds her weapon as they announce the destruction of Islamic State's control of land in eastern Syria, at al-Omar oil field in Deir Al Zor, Syria March 23, 2019. (Reuters/Rodi Said)
DEIR AL-ZOR PROVINCE, Syria (Reuters) - U.S.-backed forces proclaimed the capture ofIslamic State's last territory in Syria on Saturday, eliminating its rule over a self-proclaimed "caliphate", but the jihadists remain a threat from sleeper cells around the world.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Friday that the Pentagon "made the call" that ISIS had lost all of its former territory in Syria, according to a White House press pool report.
"When we asked if the caliphate was 100 percent eliminated, Sanders repeatedly said, 'Yes,'" the pool report says.
