Middle East

Despite scant attention being paid by most politicians and journalists, thousands of U.S. military service members spent the month of May battling terrorists in Iraq and Syria.

A new report issued this week by U.S. Central Command said that 38 missions against ISIS were carried out last month. The sacrifices of brave American and coalition troops resulted in the deaths of eight ISIS terrorists and the capture of 31 others.

“The coalition continues to advise, assist, and enable our partners to keep pressure on ISIS and prevent them from re-establishing any type of network or effective military effort,” U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane said in the CENTCOM release.

“Despite their degraded capability, ISIS remains a significant threat within the region,” added U.S. Army Gen. Michael Kurilla.

Task and Purpose reports that ISIS has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters and supporters left in Iraq and Syria. There are approximately 3,400 combined U.S. military personnel in both countries, with the bulk of those serving in Iraq. As The Stream has been reporting, attacks being planned and supported by Iran also pose a serious ongoing threat to American troops.

No matter how many prominent voices in politics and the national media try to ignore the ongoing fight against terrorism in the Middle East, The Stream will continue updating you on the extraordinary accomplishments of our nation’s valiant men and women in uniform. We thank these warriors for their selfless deeds and pray for their safe return.

Europe

There are more than 100,000 U.S. military personnel serving across Europe amid the Russia-Ukraine war. As The Stream has been reporting, some have been busy training Ukrainian military forces.

Earlier this week, Voice of America correspondent Carla Babb filed a fascinating report about a unit of Florida Army National Guard soldiers that was forced to leave Ukraine just before last year’s invasion by Russia. The soldiers then restarted the training program in Germany, but according to VOA’s report, “the public has not seen video of the training because the Biden administration refused to release any — until now.”

Please take a moment to watch Carla Babb’s moving story, which is embedded above.

Asia

There have been multiple close calls between U.S. and Chinese military ships in recent days, including the troubling Taiwan Strait incident embedded in the below video.

A Chinese warship came within 150 yards of a U.S. destroyer in the Taiwan Strait in "an unsafe manner," U.S. military officials said, as China blamed the United States for "deliberately provoking risk" in the region. https://t.co/ejSUgeAE2b pic.twitter.com/CkqpsMG1wT

— Voice of America (@VOANews) June 5, 2023

Please pray for all of our country’s deployed sailors as they deal with increasingly dangerous provocations from Chinese warships.

Coming Home

The crew of the U.S. Navy fast attack submarine USS San Juan returned home to Connecticut this week after serving a deployment.

A U.S. Navy executive officer aboard the USS San Juan is greeted by his wife and child during a homecoming event at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, on June 6, 2023.

Welcome home, heroes! Thank you for your service to our country.

Tom Sileo is a contributing senior editor of The Stream. He is the author of the recently released Be Bold and co-author of Three Wise Men, Brothers Forever, 8 Seconds of Courage and Fire in My Eyes. Follow Tom on Twitter @TSileo and The Stream at @Streamdotorg.