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On this special, crossover episode of our members-only armed services podcasts, some of our hosts sat down to discuss their experiences with indirect fire and bombardment. With the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, they rehash some of their own personal stories, provide context on today’s threat environment, and share some advice for troops both downrange and at home.Image: Sgt. Albert Juarez via DVIDS
The post Indirect Fire in the Global War on Terror and Today appeared first on War on the Rocks.

On June 30, 2025, as part of the process of normalizing relations with Damascus following the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Trump administration overhauled the sanctions imposed on Syria to facilitate the rebuilding of that war-ravaged country. In the course of revising these sanctions, however, 266 employees of the Scientific Studies and Research Center, the heart of the Assad regime’s chemical weapons complex, were removed without explanation from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals List.

In the first few months of 2026, the Trump administration has embarked on military interventions in Iran and Venezuela and threatened possible annexation of Greenland. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s February trip to Beijing followed on the heels of the first state visit to China by a British leader in eight years. As the United States and China prepare for their much-touted summit in late March, Beijing is weighing its options in the face of recent American actions and the new “Donroe Doctrine.

Reports from multiple sources have indicated that the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has successfully neutralised five Eurofighters at Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait. The strike is reported to have destroyed three Kuwaiti Air Force Eurofighters and severely damaged two Italian Air Force Eurofighters. This follows the confirmed destruction of an Italian Air Force MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance and attack drone at the same facility, and strikes on Italian ground forces at facilities in Iraq by Iranian-aligned Iraqi paramilitary groups.

New details of major Korean People’s Army exercises conducted on March 19 have indicated that major advances in network centric and combined arms warfare capabilities have been made, potentially significantly enhancing the armed forces’ ability to conduct offensives against advanced South Korean and U.S. defences. The exercises were reportedly aimed at familiarising personnel with the coordinated order and combat methods in the tactical sub-units’ offensive action. Operations focused on combined tank and infantry to strike and occupying an adversary’s anti-armour defence lines.

Shortly after President Donald Trump initiated Operation Epic Fury against Iran on Feb. 28, forces under U.S. Northern Command used a new “Flyaway Kit” (FAK) to eliminate a drone threat at an undisclosed strategic military base, according to a top commander.
Gen. Gregory Guillot, the head of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, spotlighted that incident in a written statement he submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee ahead of a posture hearing he testified at Thursday morning.

A senior Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center official is seeing the quantity and sophistication of digital attacks increase, a trend that he suggests may be attributable to the emergence of new AI capabilities that can aid hackers.
Terry Kalka, director of the DOD-Defense Industrial Base Collaborative Information Sharing Environment (DCISE), noted that malicious cyber actors can now use AI to do a lot of their work.
“I don’t think we’ve gotten to a point where we get a report and we go ‘ah, that was an AI attack there.

The UK has spoken publicly about a new air defence system, dubbed Rapid Sentry, designed to shoot down drone threats.

Public domain

This story is developing…
A U.S. F-35 jet made an emergency landing in the Middle East after being hit by suspected Iranian fire during a mission over Iran.
The jet landed safely and the pilot is stable, but the incident is under investigation.
This would mark the first time Iran has successfully hit a U.S. aircraft—specifically a 5th-generation stealth jet—since the war began.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for US Central Command, confirmed the emergency landing.

Troops seeking religious waivers for beards will now have to prove to senior military service officials that they have sincerely held beliefs that require they grow their facial hair. The new military-wide policy imposes new requirements for both submitting and approving requests for such waivers, and adds new steps for a troop’s direct commanders and supervisors to weigh in on the requests.
The new memo also adds a requirement of a sworn statement of religious faith, with a warning that a false claim could result in “disciplinary action” under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.