Pentagon

US and Bulgarian military personnel began an exercise in the host country of Romania on May 18, according to Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren.

Exercise Platinum Eagle 2015 is a multinational exercise at Babadag Training Area, Romania, designed to demonstrate the capabilities of NATO allies in Eastern Europe, Warren said, as cited by the US Department of Defense.

U.S. special operations forces have carried out a raid inside Syria, killing a man identified as a senior Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) leader who helped direct the group's oil, gas and financial operations, the Pentagon and White House said on May 16.

A senior Iranian commander warned the United States that a "fire might start" over an aid ship bound for Yemen May 13 after the Pentagon called for it to change course.

With cargo ships poised to launch a desperately needed aid operation in embattled Yemen, a five-day humanitarian ceasefire began May 12 night, just hours after Saudi-led coalition warplanes struck against Shiite rebels and their allies.

NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and Commander of U.S. European Command Gen. Phil Breedlove will on May 12 visit the Central Anatolian province of K?r?ehir, where Turkey and the U.S. are due to start a train-equip program for the moderate Syrian opposition.

Breedlove will also attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Antalya on May 13-14. 

The U.S. military?s top-ranking officer says contingency plans have been drawn up for a safe zone in consultation with Turkey, while a senior Pentagon official has told Hürriyet that this is conditional on Turkey?s steps on plans to train Syrian rebels, which remains a source of tension between the two countries.

Iran has released the Maersk Tigris cargo vessel seized by its patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz last week over a business dispute, official media said May 7.

Iraq's largest oil refinery is under growing threat from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists, who have advanced inside the perimeter of the facility, the US military said May 6.

US warships protecting American-flagged ships in the Strait of Hormuz may extend assistance to other countries' vessels, officials said May 1, after reports of Iranian forces harassing shipping.
  

Iraq will at long last be getting the first batch of F-16 fighter jets it ordered four years ago, its air force commander said April 23, a shipment that is expected to boost Iraq's capabilities in battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.