US and coalition forces could have done more to decrease civilian harm in 2017 battle for Raqqa, Syria, think tank report finds
CNN
US and coalition forces that fought in Syria in 2017 to recapture the city of Raqqa from ISIS could have done more to decrease harm done to civilians living in the city during the months-long battle, a think tank report released on Thursday found.
Strategic choices the US and coalition forces made in the battle, like choosing to encircle the city and focus primarily on an air campaign in order to have fewer troops on the ground and decrease risk to them, ultimately had a greater impact on civilian harm, the report from the RAND Corporation said.
The choice to encircle the city was a "more aggressive approach," that likely made it harder to create "civilian exit corridors" and may have caused ISIS to go further into the "densely-populated heart of the city," the report said.
Americans are skeptical that President Donald Trump’s approach to the war between Russia and Ukraine will bring peace to the region, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.
Passengers evacuate onto wing of American Airlines plane after engine catches fire at Denver airport
Dozens of passengers were forced to stand on the wing of an American Airlines plane at Denver International Airport as they evacuated the aircraft after one of its engines caught fire Thursday evening.
A second federal judge ruled Thursday that thousands of probationary employees laid off en mass by the Trump administration must be temporarily reinstated to their jobs.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday that she plans to mobilize her massive base of followers to oppose what she described as an “acquiesce” by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to accept the House GOP funding bill.
Johns Hopkins University announced Thursday that it will be cutting more than 2,000 jobs after it lost $800 million in funding from the US Agency for International Development amid the Trump administration’s effort to significantly downsize the federal government.
Facing intense pressure over the threat of a shutdown in less than two days, lawmakers are racing to push through a government funding plan by Friday’s midnight deadline.
Arizona Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva has died, according to his congressional office. He was 77.
military options” to ensure unfettered American access to the Panama Canal, one of several new directives outlined in what amounts to a major overhaul of US strategic priorities, according to a new memo that was sent to senior leaders and reviewed by CNN.
The death of a woman who was partially paralyzed in the Columbine High School shooting has been ruled a homicide, raising the death toll of the 1999 attack to 14.
President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court in a series of emergency appeals Thursday to allow him to move forward with plans to end birthright citizenship, elevating a fringe legal theory that several lower courts have resoundingly rejected.
A federal judge has ordered half a dozen federal agencies to “immediately” reinstate probationary employees fired last month as part of the Trump administration’s effort to rapidly shrink the federal workforce.
The Trump administration is expected to invoke a sweeping wartime authority to speed up the president’s mass deportation pledge in the coming days, according to four sources familiar with the discussions.
The man said he was locked in an eight-by-nine-foot room and was fed two sandwiches a day with two cups of water for years, according to a police affidavit in Connecticut.