US representatives met with leaders of moderate Syrian opposition forces in Istanbul as part of efforts to implement the congressionally approved mission to train and equip these forces, announced US Central Command on Wednesday. Army Maj. Gen. Michael Nagata, director of the Combined Joint Interagency Task Force-Syria, along with US Special Envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein, led the US delegation for the meetings on Monday and Tuesday. “These meetings provided an important opportunity to introduce and discuss the US train-and-equip program with members of the moderate political and armed opposition and to gain a better understanding of conditions on the ground in Syria,” states CENTCOM’s release. As these meetings were underway, US combat aircraft continued airstrikes in Syria against ISIS forces. US bomber and fighter airplanes destroyed eight fighting positions of ISIS forces, along with one ISIS armored vehicle on those days, announced the Pentagon.
The top Air Force commander on on the Japanese island of Okinawa has clamped down alcohol and issued a curfew for junior enlisted Airmen and Guardians at Kadena Air Base for the next month. The order came roughly two weeks after a U.S. Marine was arrested for allegedly robbing and…