![A US Army armored vehicle flies an American flag as it provides security escort for a convoy of vehicles pulling equipment that is heading to Kuwait from Camp Adder as the Army continues to send it's soldiers and equipment home and the base is prepared to be handed back to the Iraqi government later this month on December 2, 2011, at Camp Adder, near Nasiriyah, Iraq.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-07/GettyImages-134520258%20copy.jpeg?h=a5ae579a&itok=8a1qwB6h)
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Jared Szuba is Al-Monitor’s Pentagon correspondent based in Washington. His work focuses on how the Middle East fits into US national security and geopolitical strategy in the wake of the War on Terror era. Prior to coming to Washington in 2019, Jared lived and worked in the Middle East on and off for more than seven years. He has reported from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, the West Bank and Syria, with on-the-ground experience covering the final months of the US-led campaign against the Islamic State group. He previously reported for The Defense Post and edited for Ahram Online in Cairo. His work has appeared in The Guardian and The National and has been featured on the BBC, Al Jazeera and others. On Twitter: @JM_Szuba and email: jszuba@al-monitor.com
![A US Army armored vehicle flies an American flag as it provides security escort for a convoy of vehicles pulling equipment that is heading to Kuwait from Camp Adder as the Army continues to send it's soldiers and equipment home and the base is prepared to be handed back to the Iraqi government later this month on December 2, 2011, at Camp Adder, near Nasiriyah, Iraq.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-07/GettyImages-134520258%20copy.jpeg?h=a5ae579a&itok=8a1qwB6h)
![White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan arrives at the U.S. Capitol on April 18, 2024, in Washington, DC.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-07/GettyImages-2147907180%20copy.jpeg?h=a5ae579a&itok=bxOqcKwq)
![A composite image of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodgan (L) and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-07/erdoganassad.png?h=3c7c14d6&itok=EyRV22nq)
![Destroyed buildings are pictured in area near the border with the Gaza Strip and southern Israel on July 2, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-07/GettyImages-2159696781.jpg?h=827d3341&itok=eDXVEVIy)
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![An Aviation Boatswains Mate (Bottom) signals to the pilots of an MV-22 Osprey assault support aircraft, assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, as it departs off the flight deck of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), Baltic Sea, June 7, 2022.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/GettyImages-1241202227.jpg?h=f7df99a5&itok=_ArCCJrv)
![Smoke rises from an Israeli strike against a Hezbollah target on June 25, 2024 in Khiam, Lebanon. Hezbollah and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have been trading cross-border fire since the October 7 attacks, with the conflict escalating in May when the group launched a missile-carrying drone against Israel for the first time. The conflict intensified in June when Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israeli military sites following the killing of senior commander Taleb Abdullah. This marked t](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/GettyImages-2159220019.jpg?h=482e58f1&itok=LuzrIPTt)
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![US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stand during an honor cordon at the Pentagon on June 25, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/GettyImages-2158627692.jpg?h=1d34674f&itok=Lzpgi1KP)
![Protesters gather as a man holds up a sign demanding that soldiers from the United States Army leave Niger without negotiation during a demonstration in Niamey, on April 13, 2024.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/GettyImages-2147772075%20%281%29.jpg?h=3c7c14d6&itok=RxWndsZc)
![MEDITERRANEAN SEA - JUNE 14: In this handout provided by the U.S. Navy, an F/A-18C Hornet, assigned to the Rampagers of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 83, lands on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman June 14, 2016 in the Mediterranean Sea. The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations. (Photo by Ethan T. Miller/U.S. Navy via Ge](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/GettyImages-540252878.jpg?h=20ee1d85&itok=CW6B4qAY)
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![A ship transporting international humanitarian aid is moored at the US-built Trident Pier near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on May 21, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas group.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/GettyImages-2153466154%20copy.jpeg?h=a5ae579a&itok=msMhtLLY)
![Lebanese army chief General Joseph Aoun (C-back) arrives at an operational command post in the eastern town of Ras Baalbek, on August 23, 2017.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/GettyImages-837771140.jpg?h=67ca0ccd&itok=JJpMuNO_)