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"Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter Friday to Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting information on the alleged transfer of American weapons to al-Qaida and Iran-aligned fighters."

"Though unknown by us or the public during our visit, the ongoing discoveries of these terror tunnels offer valuable glimpses into this looming war."

"Over the past nearly 20 years of fighting in ­low-intensity conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. troops have been afforded some of the comforts of home at larger military installations... That also means the days of Green Beans Coffee and Burger King on your next combat deployment will likely be a thing of the past."

"A new round of peace talks between Taliban and U.S. negotiators is to begin in Doha this week and will include the militant group’s co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, according to Taliban and diplomatic sources in Qatar."

"The continued presence of thousands of civilians, including families of Islamic State fighters, is slowing a push by U.S.-backed forces to oust the extremist group from the last patch of territory it holds in Syria."

"Venezuela’s opposition called for the first time on the international community to consider the use of military force against President Nicolás Maduro, escalating a standoff after a weekend showdown over humanitarian aid ended in violence."

"Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the U.S. is looking for ways to get humanitarian assistance into Venezuela, after troops loyal to President Nicolas Maduro repelled aid trucks in clashes at the borders with Brazil and Colombia."

"As President Donald Trump seeks a nuclear deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week in Vietnam, some in Seoul are wondering if the fate of Washington’s decades-long military alliance with South Korea could be at stake."

"U.S.-led special-operations exercises that got under way in the scorched scrublands of Burkina Faso last week look much like they have for the past 15 years, with some 2,000 commandos from 32 African, Western and allied countries swapping notes on their martial craft."

The final U.S. Institute of Peace Task Force report will be released February 26, 2019. Continue on for a summary and for the interim report.

"Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Saturday after visiting the U.S.-Mexico border that the government needs a broader, more effective approach to border control. He suggested the Pentagon might contribute with its expertise in surveillance and monitoring."

"The Trump administration decision to keep hundreds of U.S. troops based in Syria was driven by allies who said they wouldn’t stay behind to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State extremist group without an American presence, a senior U.S. defense official said Saturday."

"Acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan toured the U.S. border with Mexico on Saturday as the Pentagon prepares to allocate billions of dollars toward the construction of President Trump’s border wall."

"The Pentagon will increase the number of troops along the U.S.-Mexico border to about 6,000 by the start of next month as the Trump administration turns its attention to securing remote areas between official ports of entry, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday."

"It was May 23, 2017, and the general was the same officer I had worked with on my first deployment to the Philippines as a Special Forces officer seven years earlier. When he hung up, he explained that an important mission was occurring at that moment, and he was simply getting updates. The call reminded me of how we used to talk during that first deployment to the country. What I didn’t know was that the mission he was tracking was particularly significant: the first engagement in what would become the Battle of Marawi. That siege would rage in the southern city for five months."

"Three members of the Venezuelan national guard have left their posts ahead of an opposition-led effort to to bring aid into the country, Colombia's migration agency said."

"If one accepts that the American military is the most powerful armed force in human history, why does it have a mixed record when it comes to building up foreign armies in weak states?"

"The U.S. military on Friday began to revamp its strategy in Syria, after President Trump decided to shift course and keep several hundred American troops in the country."

"The fragile security in Nigeria, set to become the world’s third-most populous country by 2050, has been a central theme in the run-up to national elections scheduled for Feb. 23 after a weeklong delay. President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani former military leader who was elected in 2015, has failed to stop the violence in Nigeria’s so-called Middle Belt, a swath of states riven by the long-simmering conflict between farmers and herders."

"Food and medicine for Venezuela’s sick and famished citizens lie just beyond their reach in warehouses across the country’s borders and on islands off its coast, as a showdown approaches for getting the aid into their hands. The United States has promised $20 million in humanitarian relief for Venezuelans."

"Military communities whose local construction projects weren’t scheduled to begin until later this year are among the most likely to be cut to fund the border wall, two U.S. officials who briefed reporters at the Pentagon said Friday."

The six things you should know about this historic controversy...

"As Islamic State’s once-large physical domain shrinks to nothing, its media presence is no longer the mighty propaganda powerhouse that, at its height, flooded social media with nearly 40 statements, videos and other media items a day, according to a 2015 report by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence, a London think tank."

"The dilemma of what to do with citizens of Western countries who threw in their lot with the Islamic State before it was largely ousted from Syria has set off a debate over citizenship and the statelessness that might result from stripping some of them of their nationality."

"Venezuelan soldiers opened fire on a group of civilians attempting to keep open a segment of the southern border with Brazil for deliveries of humanitarian aid, causing multiple injuries and the first fatalities of a massive opposition operation meant to deliver international relief to this devastated South American country, according to eyewitnesses and community leaders."