Newly appointed US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter landed in Kuwait Sunday for an unannounced visit to host a meeting of top regional military, security, intelligence and diplomatic officials to discuss the US-led effort to battle the Islamic State (IS) terror militia. The meetings reportedly involved discussions of the US efforts to train and equip the Iraqi security forces and moderate Syrian rebels, questions about the offensive capacity of the Iraqi national army and other coalition ground forces, the air campaigns in Iraq and Syria and plans to mobilize Iraqi Sunni tribes and other regional actors to get behind the effort. Meanwhile, the Turkish Army launched a raid into Syria over the weekend to rescue a besieged garrison guarding an Ottoman-era tomb there. Read More
