DefenceTalkPro-Russian rebels on Wednesday shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets in eastern Ukraine just days after the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a Ukrainian military spokesman told AFP. “Two Sukhoi Ukrainian fighter jets have been shot down. The fate of the pilots is not known,” spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky said, adding the planes were brought […]https://www.defencetalk.com/ukraine-rebels-shoot-down-two-fighter-jets-60241/

DefenceTalkViolence in Iraq could delay the delivery of American F-16 fighter jets to the Baghdad government after contractors had to be evacuated from a key air base, the Pentagon said Monday. Although the United States is moving to expedite the delivery of weapons and ammunition to the Iraqi government as it battles Sunni extremists, volatile […]https://www.defencetalk.com/unrest-in-iraq-could-delay-delivery-of-us-f-16s-60000/

DefenceTalkPresident Barack Obama said Monday he had sent up to 200 US extra troops equipped for combat, with surveillance gear and helicopters, to protect the US Embassy in Baghdad. Together with a 275-strong embassy protection force already sent and another 300 US special forces charged with advising the Iraqi army, the deployment will mean nearly […]https://www.defencetalk.com/obama-to-deploy-200-extra-troops-to-iraq-59994/

DefenceTalkThe top manager in Iraq of the notorious private security firm Blackwater threatened to kill a US State Department investigator for probing the company’s performance, The New York Times reported Monday. The Times, citing an internal State Department memorandum, said the threat came just weeks before Blackwater guards shot and killed 17 civilians on September […]https://www.defencetalk.com/blackwater-threatened-to-kill-us-official-in-iraq-report-59990/

DefenceTalkThe US military has started flying armed drones over Baghdad to defend American troops and diplomats as Iraqi forces took their fight against Sunni insurgents to the strategic militant-held city of Tikrit. Iraq’s top Shiite cleric urged the country’s leaders to unite, after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki conceded political measures are needed to defeat the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-drones-over-baghdad-as-iraq-battles-for-tikrit-59987/

DefenceTalkBarack Obama returned to Washington on Monday after a brief family break in California to find himself confronted once again by the nightmare from which America thought it had escaped: Iraq. Obama ran for the White House as a young leader who opposed the 2003 US invasion, and then won re-election as the steady hand […]https://www.defencetalk.com/break-over-obama-returns-to-iraq-nightmare-59932/

DefenceTalkWashington said Monday it might use a critical fifth round of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers to discuss with Tehran possible cooperation on tackling the crisis raging in Iraq. The United States and Iran, which have been bitter foes for more than 30 years, are both deeply concerned by a major insurgency by […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-iran-may-use-nuclear-talks-to-discuss-iraq-59929/

DefenceTalkCiting the “huge investments and sacrifices” Americans have made in Iraq, President Barack Obama said today that he has asked his national security team to prepare a range of options to help Iraqi security forces stop rapidly advancing Sunni insurgents who have overrun much of the country’s north, control most of Anbar province and are […]https://www.defencetalk.com/obama-weighs-options-for-intervention-in-iraq-59904/

DefenceTalkPakistan on Monday launched fresh air strikes on the northwest tribal region where it has deployed up to 30,000 troops in a long-awaited offensive to eliminate Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants from their border stronghold. The action in North Waziristan was launched a week after a brazen insurgent attack on Pakistan’s main airport in Karachi which […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pakistan-deploys-troops-jets-in-anti-militant-offensive-59894/

DefenceTalkWestern embassies began evacuating staff from Baghdad Monday despite Iraq’s claim it was repelling militants who have captured vast amounts of territory in a lightning offensive that has shaken regional stability. The possibility of direct talks between the US and Iran, foes for decades, has even been broached in a bid to resolve the crisis […]https://www.defencetalk.com/west-evacuates-iraq-staff-as-us-iran-talks-broached-59892/