military offensive

8 Stories

It Begins: 'Final Battle' for Biggest ISIS City

More than 35K troops launch push to retake Mosul

(Newser) - Iraq has launched what a military spokesman says is no less than a battle for the country's future: An operation to retake Mosul, once the country's second-largest city, from ISIS, which seized it more than two years ago, has begun. The US-led coalition is supporting Iraqi troops and...

US, Afghan Troops Ring Taliban Stronghold

Battle for Marjah to be the biggest in 9-year war

(Newser) - US and Afghan forces ringed the Taliban stronghold of Marjah yesterday, sealing off escape routes and setting the stage for what is being described as the biggest offensive of the 9-year war. Taliban defenders repeatedly fired rockets and mortars at units poised in foxholes along the edge of the town,...

Marines Launch Large Attack in S. Afghanistan

'Cobra's Anger' aims to disrupt flow of IEDs in Helmand province

(Newser) - US Marines and Afghan troops today launched the first offensive since President Obama announced an American troop surge, striking against Taliban communications and supply lines in a southern insurgent stronghold. In all, about 1,000 Marines as well as Afghan troops were taking part in the operation in Helmand provvince,...

Oct. Deadliest Afghan Month as 8 US Troops Die

'Complex' bombings in south also take 1 Afghan life

(Newser) - Eight American troops have been killed today in multiple bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, making October the deadliest month for American troops there since the war began in 2001. The 8 deaths occurred in "multiple, complex" bomb attacks in the south, according to the US military.

US Drones Back Up Pakistani Offensive

Predators offer intel on militant positions in South Waziristan

(Newser) - The US military is supporting the Pakistani offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan with intelligence and imaging collected by unmanned Predator drones. The support is separate from the CIA program using the drones inside Pakistan to kill terrorist leaders. “We are coordinating with the Pakistanis,” a military...

Taliban Widens Afghan Attacks From Pakistan Base

Forces controlled from Pakistan respond nimbly

(Newser) - The Afghan Taliban leadership operating out of Pakistan has surprised the US military by countering its offensive in southern Afghanistan with a shrewd expansion into the north and west of the country. “They’ve outmaneuvered us time and time again,” an intelligence official tells the New York Times....

Ground Troops Reach Taliban HQ: Pakistan

Refugee crisis mounts as fighting ramps up

(Newser) - Pakistani soldiers descended on a Taliban stronghold in Swat Valley today to “search and destroy,” a military spokesman tells Reuters. Ground troops were also moving toward the remote northwest region as the military ramps up its offensive against insurgents there. Officials say 751 of the vastly outnumbered militants...

Up to 110K Civilians Flee Sri Lankan War Zone

(Newser) - Thousands more civilians flooded out of the final battlefield in Sri Lanka’s civil war today, bringing the total number of displaced to more than 80,000, Reuters reports. The UN said that number could be as high as 110,000, though only 7,500 had reached refugee camps clear...

8 Stories
Most Read on Newser