The Pentagon announced on Tuesday it was halting operational training of all Saudi Arabian military personnel in the United States until further notice after a Saudi Air Force lieutenant shot and killed three people last week at a base in Florida. The decision will have far-reaching impacts on visiting Saudi personnel, including grounding more than 300 Saudi Arabian military aviation students as part of a “safety stand-down,” first reported by Reuters earlier on Monday. The Pentagon later confirmed the Reuters report about aviation students and added the move would also affect infantry personnel and all other Saudi training, other than classroom training. Such coursework, which includes English-language classes, will continue.A senior US defence official, briefing Pentagon reporters on the decision, said the move was intended to allow for a broader review of security procedures that would eventually apply to all of some 5,000 international military students in the United … [Read more...] about US grounds Saudi pilots, halts military training after base shooting
Saudi arabia and yemen
Spotlight: Tightened security measures in Yemen’s Aden to curb spike of assassinations
Video PlayerClose ADEN, Yemen, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Local authorities on Tuesday beefed up security measures across the country's strategic southern port city of Aden in an attempt to curb the spike of assassinations in the city. Supported by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, the local newly-recruited security forces began with a large campaign in many neighborhoods of Aden amid heightened vigilance. During the campaign, Aden's security command took a number of decisions, including banning the use of motorcycles and carrying weapons in the southern city. Aden was plunged into a wave of assassinations and armed attacks conducted by masked gunmen riding motorcycles in the past few days. The motorcycle-riding gunmen used their silenced weapons and killed several security officials in different parts Aden in separate drive-by shooting attacks. On Saturday, two masked gunmen opened fire from their assault rifles and killed Colonel Mohamed Saleh, a senior official of the security department … [Read more...] about Spotlight: Tightened security measures in Yemen’s Aden to curb spike of assassinations
Iran may have killed more than 1,000 in recent protests: US
WASHINGTON: Iranian security forces may have killed more than 1,000 people, the top US diplomat for Iran said on Thursday, since protests over gasoline price hikes began in mid-November, a crackdown US President Donald Trump described as "horrible." Speaking at a press briefing at the US State Department, Brian Hook, US Special Representative for Iran, said among those killed were at least a dozen children and "many thousands of Iranians" were also wounded. "As the truth is trickling out of Iran, it appears the regime could have murdered over a thousand Iranian citizens since the protests began," Hook told reporters. The unrest, which began on November 15 after the Iranian government abruptly raised fuel prices by as much as 300%, spread to more than 100 cities and towns and turned political as young and working-class protesters demanded clerical leaders step down. Tehran has given no official death toll but Amnesty International said on Monday it had documented the deaths of at least … [Read more...] about Iran may have killed more than 1,000 in recent protests: US