Two Marines shot during live-fire training exercise –
The U.S. Marine Corps says two Marines were shot during a live-fire training exercise at a Southern California base involving hundreds of troops.
The military says both were airlifted May 6 from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at the Twentynine Palms base east of San Diego to an unnamed California hospital.
Second Lt. Samuel Banks says one Marine was later released and the other remains hospitalized in serious condition.
He says the Marines are stationed at Twentynine Palms. The Marine Corps says in a press release that officials are investigating the circumstances of the accident.
Banks says the military is not releasing any details at this time. AP
U.S., Philippines launch largest military drills under Duterte –
MANILA, Philippines–U.S. and Philippine forces have begun their largest annual military exercises under President Rodrigo Duterte, who had wanted to scale down America’s military presence and involvement in combat drills as he sought closer ties with China and Russia.
The Balikatan exercises opened May 7 and were to involve combat drills in mock urban settings to train special forces in battling terrorists in cities following the Islamic State group-linked siege on southern Marawi city last year.
After rising to power in 2016, Duterte vowed to scale back the presence of U.S. troops involved in counterterrorism training in the country’s south and once threatened to end the annual drills with American forces.
These will be the largest joint drills since Duterte took office, though Filipino officials stress they’re not aimed at China. AP
U.S. prosecutor appointed to investigate Kosovo war crimes –
PRISTINA, Kosovo–The European Union has appointed U.S. prosecutor Jack Smith to head the special prosecutor’s office that investigates former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army for crimes against ethnic Serbs in Kosovo’s war for independence.
A statement on May 7 said Smith succeeds David Schwendiman, who stepped down at the end of March when his term as a U.S. foreign service officer expired.
The special prosecutor is part of the Hague-based Kosovo court which the country’s government agreed to set up in 2015 following U.S. and European pressure to confront allegations that KLA fighters committed war crimes from 1998 to 2000.
Kosovo’s bloody war for independence ended with a 78-day NATO air campaign in June 1999, stopping a Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.
The court has yet to hear any cases. AP
NATO: Russia uses Syrian war to boost Mediterranean presence –
NATO’s southern Europe commander says Russia has taken advantage of its military role in Syria to bolster its naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean, making the region “very crowded.”
U.S. Navy Adm. James Foggo told The Associated Press that Russian President Vladimir Putin had used the desperation of Syrian President Bashar Assad to expand Russian military power beyond Syria’s borders.
Noting some “unsafe or unprofessional” incidents involving Russian aircraft, Foggo said May 7 the eastern Mediterranean was becoming “congested” with Russian vessels but that “it’s something that we have to deal with as professional navies.”
Washington and Moscow say a hotline established in 2015 to prevent incidents between their militaries in Syria has worked well, but recent U.S., British and French missile strikes against Syrian chemical facilities has raised tensions. AP