Military

The chairman of the parliamentary group of GERB Tsvetan Tsvetanov expects the USA to continue to be a strong factor in NATO. "I am convinced that he will not change drastically the course of the USA and they will remain an extremely strong factor in NATO."

The Bulgarian government has given the green light to a deployment of 10 troops to a mission of NATO in Kosovo.

Sofia will contribute to the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance battalion of the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR), which nowadays involves several thousand troops assigned with maintaining safety, security and freedom of movement.

Turkey's doors are open to any country willing to cooperate with the country technically in producing air defense systems for the use of the Turkish Armed Forces, the head of the defense industry body has said, without ruling out the direct procurement of the systems until they can develop a national model. 

A U.S.-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance pushed closer to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria on Nov. 8, a spokesperson said. 

Russia will not succeed in destabilizing the Balkans, former NATO Secretary General Andres Fogh Rasmussen has told Radio Free Europe (RFE).

The KKE-affiliated PAME trade union has announced that it will hold a rally in central Omonia Square to protest the visit to Athens by US President Barack Obama on November 15.

Thousands of people have applied to be recruited by Turkey's Special Forces Command, which will recruit personnel from outside the military for the first time ever amid ongoing suspensions and dismissals carried out in the army since the failed coup attempt of July 15. 

According to initial data, a total of 7,929 people have applied to the command in only four days.

U.S.-backed rebels said on Nov. 6 they were launching an operation to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

At least 13 militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have been killed by coalition airstrikes and clashes with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in northern Syria, the Turkish Armed Forces said on Nov. 5.
       

The USA will deploy nearly 6,000 troops in Europe this winter, announced the US Department of Defense.

The additional anti-tank brigade that will be sent to Europe numbers 4,000 troops. The USA will deploy an additional 1,750 troops with the 10th mountain division.

Earlier, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter stated that the additional anti-tank brigade will arrive in February.