Latest news with #DefensePriorities
The Intercept
14-05-2025
- Politics
- The Intercept
Trump Said Syria Deserves a 'Fresh Start' — But U.S. Troops Aren't Leaving
President Donald Trump announced that his administration intends to lift wide-ranging sanctions on Syria during a speech on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia. 'In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that will hopefully will succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace,' Trump said. 'I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.' Trump said that Syria deserves 'a fresh start.' That new beginning does not, however, include an end to the U.S. occupation of Syrian territory, according to the Pentagon. Around 1,000 U.S. troops are currently stationed in the country. The U.S. military has been operating in Syria for many years as part of its complex and often muddled military efforts in the region. America's bases ostensibly exist to conduct 'counter-ISIS missions,' but experts say they are also as a check against Iran. The outposts have come under frequent attack in recent years and have also been targeted for thefts by militias and criminal gangs. Late last year, the government of Bashar al-Assad was toppled after a rapid offensive by rebel forces led by Syria's current interim president, Ahmed al-Shara. Last month, reports emerged that the U.S. was shuttering three of its eight small outposts in Syria. Experts say that withdrawing U.S. troops from a handful of bases in Syria is now long overdue and necessary to effect a real change in strategy and policy for the region. 'Over 1,000 U.S. troops remain stuck in Syria without a clear mission or timetable to return.' 'Lifting sanctions on Syria is a positive step — but sanctions aren't the only holdover policy from the Assad days that the U.S. should revisit,' said Rosemary Kelanic, the director of the Middle East Program at Defense Priorities, a think tank that advocates for more restrained U.S. foreign policy. 'Over 1,000 U.S. troops remain stuck in Syria without a clear mission or timetable to return. They're a legacy of the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but that would-be 'caliphate' was defeated and lost all its territory over 5 years ago. It's time for those troops to come home.' When asked if the U.S. was planning a withdrawal of forces from Syria, a Pentagon spokesperson referred The Intercept to an April statement that announced 'the U.S. footprint in Syria' would drop 'down to less than a thousand U.S. forces in the coming months,' but would not end entirely. 'The Department of Defense continues to maintain a significant amount of capability in the region and the ability to make dynamic force posture adjustments based on evolving security situations on the ground,' the statement reads. On Wednesday, Trump spoke for about half an hour with al-Shara, whom he called a 'young, attractive guy.' Trump also referred to the Syrian president's 'strong past' and called him a 'fighter.' Al-Shara is designated as a terrorist by the U.S. government for his former affiliation with Al Qaeda. Trump also encouraged al-Shara to 'tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria'; help the U.S. prevent the resurgence of ISIS; and sign on to the Abraham Accords, a 2020 Trump-brokered pact that established formal ties between Israel and four Arab countries, among other recommendations, according to a statement on X by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Fear of an ISIS revival has been the long-standing argument for keeping U.S. troops in Syria. Kelanic pointed to the recent history of Afghanistan as an argument against claims that the U.S. needs to have boots on the ground to counter any ISIS resurgence. 'The big argument against the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was that we would see a resurgence of terrorism from al-Qaeda or ISIS. But the U.S hasn't been targeted by terrorism from Afghanistan,' Kelanic told The Intercept. 'The U.S. has detected plots by ISIS-Khorasan, which operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Iran and Russia and warned those countries ahead of time. We're able to still detect what's going on with extremely sophisticated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities without having boots on the ground.' The White House did not respond for a request for comment concerning the continued U.S. troop presence in Syria. A recent investigation by The Intercept found that U.S. troops in the Middle East have come under attack close to 400 times, at a minimum, since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war, according to figures provided by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Central Command. This amounts to roughly one attack every 1.5 days, on average. 'Having these troops in Syria … It's like we're giving them hostages to take if they see fit.' The strikes, predominantly by Iranian-backed militias and — prior to a ceasefire signed last week — the Houthi government in Yemen, include a mix of one-way attack drones, rockets, mortars, and ballistic missiles fired at fixed bases and U.S. warships across the region. These groups ramped up attacks on U.S. targets in October 2023, in response to the U.S.-supported Israeli war on Gaza. 'About 200' of those attacks have been on U.S. bases, according to Pentagon spokesperson Patricia Kreuzberger. Around 50 percent occurred in Syria. 'Having these troops in Syria puts them at risk of retaliation from Iran and others,' said Kelanic. 'It's like we're giving them hostages to take if they see fit, without there being a particularly compelling reason for these troops to be there.'
Hindustan Times
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Russia's expulsion of Ukrainian forces from Kursk removes hurdle to peace
* Ukraine's Kursk incursion largest into Russia since WWII, counterattack aided by North Korean troops, weapons * Both sides claim tens of thousands of casualties * Putin announces ceasefire, sources say end of Kursk operation removes one hurdle to peace talks MOSCOW, - Russia's ejection of Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region ends the biggest incursion into Russian territory since World War Two but it also removes another barrier to a peace deal Moscow was reluctant to conclude with so many enemy troops on its soil. The day after Moscow announced the completion of the Kursk operation, President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral three-day ceasefire to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two. Two Russian sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity that settling the war while Ukrainian troops were in Kursk was not acceptable to the Kremlin. Just over two years after Russia's 2022 invasion, Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched its boldest attack, smashing through the Russian border into the Kursk region, supported by swarms of drones and heavy Western weaponry. At its height, Ukrainian forces claimed nearly 1,400 square kilometres of Kursk, but the attack proved costly for Kyiv. Russia has since taken around 2,000 square kilometres in Ukraine and now controls a chunk of the country nearly equal to the size of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, according to Ukrainian open source maps. Some analysts say Russia's accelerated advance, mainly in eastern Ukraine, was aided by the diversion of Kyiv's forces to Kursk. "Essentially, Ukraine traded territory it values the most -its own - for territory it didn't value and that it couldn't hold forever," said Christopher McCallion, a fellow at Defense Priorities, a Washington DC think tank advocating for a strong U.S. military with a restrained foreign policy. Ukraine, which has been retreating for weeks but still claims to have some active forces in Kursk, maintains the incursion distracted Russia from making even more gains on parts of the eastern front by forcing Russia to commit troops elsewhere. Kyiv has said its goals also included protecting its Sumy border region and gaining a territory that could be swapped in future peace talks. Those talks, driven by Washington's shuttle diplomacy, are now underway, without Ukraine's hoped-for bargaining chip. Huge differences remain that could scupper U.S. President Donald Trump's peace effort, however. If the talks flounder, Russian forces will simply fight on, one of the sources said. The Kremlin and Ukraine's military general staff did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In recent weeks, Russia has stepped up attacks in Sumy, across the border from Kursk, local officials have said. On April 14, a Russian missile attack killed 35 people in Sumy's capital city. Russia said it had targeted a gathering of Ukrainian soldiers. Despite doubts in Ukraine about whether the Kursk offensive was worth it, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has acknowledged that Kyiv's forces were now active in Russia's Belgorod region, also on the border, describing it as an effort to protect towns on the Ukrainian side. Russia occupies slivers of land across the border from Belgorod in Kharkiv. Under U.S. proposals, Ukraine could regain full control of its territory in Kharkiv as part of a peace deal while Russia would retain control over just under a fifth of Ukraine. THE BATTLE FOR KURSK For the Kremlin, the incursion into Kursk, scene of the largest ever tank battle in history between Soviet forces and Nazi Germany in 1943, was an embarrassment. The announcement of victory over Ukrainian troops comes ahead of 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over the Nazis on May 9. It gives Putin a win to showcase in front of invited dignitaries, including China's Xi Jinping and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Despite prior warnings that an attack could come, Russian forces were surprised by the Ukrainian assault, according to Russian sources. Russian officials at the time spoke of chaos as Russian civilians fled east and Russian border guards and army tried to battle small, highly mobile Ukrainian units speeding along the country roads of Kursk with Western weaponry and vehicles. At least 120,000 people were evacuated and a visibly irritated Putin was shown publicly scolding the then governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, who was arrested in April on charges of embezzling funds intended for defending the border. He denies the charges. When Reuters visited Kursk in March, the size of the Russian military operation was striking: tanks, missile systems and thousands of soldiers were on the move while civilians spoke amid air-attack sirens of the fear of drone and missile strikes. North Korean shells and troops helped Russia fight back in Kursk. Putin has expressed his personal gratitude to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for his soldiers' help. Russia's defence ministry says Ukrainian forces suffered more than 76,000 dead and injured soldiers in Kursk, and lost more than 412 tanks among several thousand lost military vehicles. Ukraine claims Russia suffered more than 62,000 dead and injured during the operations. Neither side has released numbers for their own casualties. Both sides dispute the numbers, which Reuters could not independently verify. OFFENSIVE As Ukrainian forces raced in August to expand their territory in Kursk, Russia scrambled units to the area to slow the advance and prevent Ukrainian forces from reaching the Kurchatov nuclear power station which supplies a chunk of electricity to southern Russia. Within a month, the front had stabilised and Russia was able to counterattack. "There were probably some very embarrassed Russian generals but it was a completely haywire incursion on the part of the Ukrainians - it was just mental frankly," David J. Betz, professor of war in the modern world at King's College London, told Reuters. "Russia has a strong history of successfully defending itself but unlike luckier countries which are able to defend themselves with geography, Russia tends to have to defend itself with human bodies and distance," he said. Russian forces began gradually grinding down the defences of Ukrainian forces while Moscow unfurled thousands of fibre-optic drones, which are much harder to jam than other drones, Russian and Western sources said. In March, Ukraine lost more than 300 square kilometres of territory it had held in Kursk. Valery Gerasimov, Russia's top general who is directing the war, told Putin on Sunday that Russia had cleared Kursk when the last Ukrainian units were pushed out of the village of Gornal beside the border. He said Ukraine had stationed 60,000 troops in Kursk at the height of the operation, undermining its other forces, and praised North Korean troops for fighting "shoulder to shoulder" with their Russian comrades in arms in Kursk. Gerasimov told Putin that in accordance with his orders Russian forces were "continuing" to carve out a buffer zone, and had taken 90 square kilometres of Ukraine's Sumy region. Ukrainian officials have previously said Russian assault groups were present in Sumy.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Analysis-Russia expulsion of Ukrainian forces from Kursk removes hurdle to peace
By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's ejection of Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region ends the biggest incursion into Russian territory since World War Two but it also removes another barrier to a peace deal Moscow was reluctant to conclude with so many enemy troops on its soil. The day after Moscow announced the completion of the Kursk operation, President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral three-day ceasefire to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two. Two Russian sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity that settling the war while Ukrainian troops were in Kursk was not acceptable to the Kremlin. Just over two years after Russia's 2022 invasion, Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched its boldest attack, smashing through the Russian border into the Kursk region, supported by swarms of drones and heavy Western weaponry. At its height, Ukrainian forces claimed nearly 1,400 square kilometres of Kursk, but the attack proved costly for Kyiv. Russia has since taken around 2,000 square kilometres in Ukraine and now controls a chunk of the country nearly equal to the size of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, according to Ukrainian open source maps. Some analysts say Russia's accelerated advance, mainly in eastern Ukraine, was aided by the diversion of Kyiv's forces to Kursk. "Essentially, Ukraine traded territory it values the most -its own - for territory it didn't value and that it couldn't hold forever," said Christopher McCallion, a fellow at Defense Priorities, a Washington DC think tank advocating for a strong U.S. military with a restrained foreign policy. Ukraine, which has been retreating for weeks but still claims to have some active forces in Kursk, maintains the incursion distracted Russia from making even more gains on parts of the eastern front by forcing Russia to commit troops elsewhere. Kyiv has said its goals also included protecting its Sumy border region and gaining a territory that could be swapped in future peace talks. Those talks, driven by Washington's shuttle diplomacy, are now underway, without Ukraine's hoped-for bargaining chip. Huge differences remain that could scupper U.S. President Donald Trump's peace effort, however. If the talks flounder, Russian forces will simply fight on, one of the sources said. The Kremlin and Ukraine's military general staff did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In recent weeks, Russia has stepped up attacks in Sumy, across the border from Kursk, local officials have said. On April 14, a Russian missile attack killed 35 people in Sumy's capital city. Russia said it had targeted a gathering of Ukrainian soldiers. Despite doubts in Ukraine about whether the Kursk offensive was worth it, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has acknowledged that Kyiv's forces were now active in Russia's Belgorod region, also on the border, describing it as an effort to protect towns on the Ukrainian side. Russia occupies slivers of land across the border from Belgorod in Kharkiv. Under U.S. proposals, Ukraine could regain full control of its territory in Kharkiv as part of a peace deal while Russia would retain control over just under a fifth of Ukraine. THE BATTLE FOR KURSK For the Kremlin, the incursion into Kursk, scene of the largest ever tank battle in history between Soviet forces and Nazi Germany in 1943, was an embarrassment. The announcement of victory over Ukrainian troops comes ahead of 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over the Nazis on May 9. It gives Putin a win to showcase in front of invited dignitaries, including China's Xi Jinping and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Despite prior warnings that an attack could come, Russian forces were surprised by the Ukrainian assault, according to Russian sources. Russian officials at the time spoke of chaos as Russian civilians fled east and Russian border guards and army tried to battle small, highly mobile Ukrainian units speeding along the country roads of Kursk with Western weaponry and vehicles. At least 120,000 people were evacuated and a visibly irritated Putin was shown publicly scolding the then governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, who was arrested in April on charges of embezzling funds intended for defending the border. He denies the charges. When Reuters visited Kursk in March, the size of the Russian military operation was striking: tanks, missile systems and thousands of soldiers were on the move while civilians spoke amid air-attack sirens of the fear of drone and missile strikes. North Korean shells and troops helped Russia fight back in Kursk. Putin has expressed his personal gratitude to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for his soldiers' help. Russia's defence ministry says Ukrainian forces suffered more than 76,000 dead and injured soldiers in Kursk, and lost more than 412 tanks among several thousand lost military vehicles. Ukraine claims Russia suffered more than 62,000 dead and injured during the operations. Neither side has released numbers for their own casualties. Both sides dispute the numbers, which Reuters could not independently verify. OFFENSIVE As Ukrainian forces raced in August to expand their territory in Kursk, Russia scrambled units to the area to slow the advance and prevent Ukrainian forces from reaching the Kurchatov nuclear power station which supplies a chunk of electricity to southern Russia. Within a month, the front had stabilised and Russia was able to counterattack. "There were probably some very embarrassed Russian generals but it was a completely haywire incursion on the part of the Ukrainians - it was just mental frankly," David J. Betz, professor of war in the modern world at King's College London, told Reuters. "Russia has a strong history of successfully defending itself but unlike luckier countries which are able to defend themselves with geography, Russia tends to have to defend itself with human bodies and distance," he said. Russian forces began gradually grinding down the defences of Ukrainian forces while Moscow unfurled thousands of fibre-optic drones, which are much harder to jam than other drones, Russian and Western sources said. Within three months, Russia had more than halved the area under Ukrainian control and by February 6, the area held by Ukraine had fallen to 428 square kilometres, according to Ukrainian maps. By the third anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine, as Russian forces attacked, Putin donned military fatigues for a surprise visit to Kursk, ordering the top brass to press their advance and suggesting Russia carve out a buffer zone along the Ukrainian border. In March, Ukraine lost more than 300 square kilometres of territory it had held in Kursk. Valery Gerasimov, Russia's top general who is directing the war, told Putin on Sunday that Russia had cleared Kursk when the last Ukrainian units were pushed out of the village of Gornal beside the border. He said Ukraine had stationed 60,000 troops in Kursk at the height of the operation, undermining its other forces, and praised North Korean troops for fighting "shoulder to shoulder" with their Russian comrades in arms in Kursk. Gerasimov told Putin that in accordance with his orders Russian forces were "continuing" to carve out a buffer zone, and had taken 90 square kilometres of Ukraine's Sumy region. Ukrainian officials have previously said Russian assault groups were present in Sumy.
Reuters
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Russia expulsion of Ukrainian forces from Kursk removes hurdle to peace
MOSCOW, April 28 (Reuters) - Russia's ejection of Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region ends the biggest incursion into Russian territory since World War Two but it also removes another barrier to a peace deal Moscow was reluctant to conclude with so many enemy troops on its soil. The day after Moscow announced the completion of the Kursk operation, President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral three-day ceasefire to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two. Two Russian sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity that settling the war while Ukrainian troops were in Kursk was not acceptable to the Kremlin. Just over two years after Russia's 2022 invasion, Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched its boldest attack, smashing through the Russian border into the Kursk region, supported by swarms of drones and heavy Western weaponry. At its height, Ukrainian forces claimed nearly 1,400 square kilometres of Kursk, but the attack proved costly for Kyiv. Russia has since taken around 2,000 square kilometres in Ukraine and now controls a chunk of the country nearly equal to the size of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, according to Ukrainian open source maps. Some analysts say Russia's accelerated advance, mainly in eastern Ukraine, was aided by the diversion of Kyiv's forces to Kursk. "Essentially, Ukraine traded territory it values the most -its own - for territory it didn't value and that it couldn't hold forever," said Christopher McCallion, a fellow at Defense Priorities, a Washington DC think tank advocating for a strong U.S. military with a restrained foreign policy. Ukraine, which has been retreating for weeks but still claims to have some active forces in Kursk, maintains the incursion distracted Russia from making even more gains on parts of the eastern front by forcing Russia to commit troops elsewhere. Kyiv has said its goals also included protecting its Sumy border region and gaining a territory that could be swapped in future peace talks. Those talks, driven by Washington's shuttle diplomacy, are now underway, without Ukraine's hoped-for bargaining chip. Huge differences remain that could scupper U.S. President Donald Trump's peace effort, however. If the talks flounder, Russian forces will simply fight on, one of the sources said. The Kremlin and Ukraine's military general staff did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In recent weeks, Russia has stepped up attacks in Sumy, across the border from Kursk, local officials have said. On April 14, a Russian missile attack killed 35 people in Sumy's capital city. Russia said it had targeted a gathering of Ukrainian soldiers. Despite doubts in Ukraine about whether the Kursk offensive was worth it, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has acknowledged that Kyiv's forces were now active in Russia's Belgorod region, also on the border, describing it as an effort to protect towns on the Ukrainian side. Russia occupies slivers of land across the border from Belgorod in Kharkiv. Under U.S. proposals, Ukraine could regain full control of its territory in Kharkiv as part of a peace deal while Russia would retain control over just under a fifth of Ukraine. THE BATTLE FOR KURSK For the Kremlin, the incursion into Kursk, scene of the largest ever tank battle in history between Soviet forces and Nazi Germany in 1943, was an embarrassment. The announcement of victory over Ukrainian troops comes ahead of 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over the Nazis on May 9. It gives Putin a win to showcase in front of invited dignitaries, including China's Xi Jinping and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Despite prior warnings that an attack could come, Russian forces were surprised by the Ukrainian assault, according to Russian sources. Russian officials at the time spoke of chaos as Russian civilians fled east and Russian border guards and army tried to battle small, highly mobile Ukrainian units speeding along the country roads of Kursk with Western weaponry and vehicles. At least 120,000 people were evacuated and a visibly irritated Putin was shown publicly scolding the then governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, who was arrested in April on charges of embezzling funds intended for defending the border. He denies the charges. When Reuters visited Kursk in March, the size of the Russian military operation was striking: tanks, missile systems and thousands of soldiers were on the move while civilians spoke amid air-attack sirens of the fear of drone and missile strikes. North Korean shells and troops helped Russia fight back in Kursk. Putin has expressed his personal gratitude to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for his soldiers' help. Russia's defence ministry says Ukrainian forces suffered more than 76,000 dead and injured soldiers in Kursk, and lost more than 412 tanks among several thousand lost military vehicles. Ukraine claims Russia suffered more than 62,000 dead and injured during the operations. Neither side has released numbers for their own casualties. Both sides dispute the numbers, which Reuters could not independently verify. OFFENSIVE As Ukrainian forces raced in August to expand their territory in Kursk, Russia scrambled units to the area to slow the advance and prevent Ukrainian forces from reaching the Kurchatov nuclear power station which supplies a chunk of electricity to southern Russia. Within a month, the front had stabilised and Russia was able to counterattack. "There were probably some very embarrassed Russian generals but it was a completely haywire incursion on the part of the Ukrainians - it was just mental frankly," David J. Betz, professor of war in the modern world at King's College London, told Reuters. "Russia has a strong history of successfully defending itself but unlike luckier countries which are able to defend themselves with geography, Russia tends to have to defend itself with human bodies and distance," he said. Russian forces began gradually grinding down the defences of Ukrainian forces while Moscow unfurled thousands of fibre-optic drones, which are much harder to jam than other drones, Russian and Western sources said. Within three months, Russia had more than halved the area under Ukrainian control and by February 6, the area held by Ukraine had fallen to 428 square kilometres, according to Ukrainian maps. By the third anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine, as Russian forces attacked, Putin donned military fatigues for a surprise visit to Kursk, ordering the top brass to press their advance and suggesting Russia carve out a buffer zone along the Ukrainian border. In March, Ukraine lost more than 300 square kilometres of territory it had held in Kursk. Valery Gerasimov, Russia's top general who is directing the war, told Putin on Sunday that Russia had cleared Kursk when the last Ukrainian units were pushed out of the village of Gornal beside the border. He said Ukraine had stationed 60,000 troops in Kursk at the height of the operation, undermining its other forces, and praised North Korean troops for fighting "shoulder to shoulder" with their Russian comrades in arms in Kursk. Gerasimov told Putin that in accordance with his orders Russian forces were "continuing" to carve out a buffer zone, and had taken 90 square kilometres of Ukraine's Sumy region. Ukrainian officials have previously said Russian assault groups were present in Sumy.
Arab News
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Nominee for White House briefing role pulled over Gaza war stance
LONDON: US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard decided against appointing a critic of Israel's war in Gaza to a top government post over fears that doing so would anger members of President Donald Trump's administration. Daniel Davis, a senior fellow at the Defense Priorities think tank in Washington, was under consideration for the role of deputy director for mission integration, in charge of — among other things — putting together the president's daily intelligence briefings. However, a source within the administration told the New York Times that Gabbard reconsidered the appointment after Davis's recommendation received criticism from several of her colleagues, Republican members of Congress, and other right-wing bodies and figures over his stance on Israel. Davis wrote on social media in January that US support for the Gaza war was a 'stain on our character as a nation, as a culture, that will not soon go away.' On Wednesday, the Anti-Defamation League said his appointment would be 'extremely dangerous.' Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA operations officer, said Davis's stance on the conflict ran contrary to mainstream Republican positions. 'His overt criticism of Israel and total opposition to any military action against Iran seems to run counter to current administration policy,' added Polymeropoulos, a fellow at the Atlantic Council. The NYT reported that 'allies' of Davis said there was 'no hint of antisemitism or opposition to Israel in his work.' Davis is known to be skeptical of US involvement in a number of overseas conflicts, in line with the position of Defense Priorities, which has called for less American involvement in the Middle East and an end to the war in Ukraine. Davis has also been vocal about the suffering of Palestinians, calling plans to remove people from Gaza 'ethnic cleansing.' Gabbard is also a skeptic of US overseas intervention, and while she has said little about Gaza in recent months, Davis has been vocal on social media in supporting similar stances to her on conflicts such as Ukraine and the transition in Syria. However, the Trump administration is known to be split on foreign policy directions the president should pursue, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz known to be more hawkish, especially on US policy toward Iran.
