Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., visited the Middle East this week on a Congressional Delegation trip, speaking with Gulf region leaders and visiting American facilities to assess damage done by the Iran war. Murphy was denied access to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, which had suffered damage from drone strikes during the conflict.

“They are using every tool they can, including withholding information about damages, slow walking the pace of reports about casualties and denying us access to see the damage as part of a campaign of cover-up, so as to mask the true cost of the war,” Murphy told reporters on Thursday.

The “unprecedented” base denial prepared Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Defense Appropriations Committee, in the coming days to draft language that would explicitly require the Department of Defense to grant members of Congress access to military bases overseas under all circumstances if needed.

“I don’t have any illusions that that’s going to pass between now and the end of the year, but I think that’ll be a really important part of the discussion around an appropriations bill next year and the defense authorization bill,” he said during the press call.

Prior to his trip, Murphy requested access to the base through a letter and direct appeal to U.S. Central Command leadership. But he was denied access even as the Department of State supported his trip to the region, with the Defense Department saying it was due to previously imposed travel restrictions.

“Senator Murphy’s office was informed before his trip to the Middle East that he would not receive Department of War support to access Al Udeid Air Base, consistent with the Secretary of War’s directive on travel restrictions in the region ordered on March 3, 2026,” a senior Defense Department official told Military Times on Thursday.

“That decision was communicated in advance by the Office of the Secretary of War for Legislative Affairs,” the official continued. “The Department applies the Secretary’s guidance evenly.”

In early March, the State and Defense departments issued travel guidance, calling on Americans to depart areas in the region and updating its travel advisory to recommend against visiting certain countries, including Qatar.

“It is absolutely ordinary for members of Congress to travel to areas of conflict and get to talk directly to the military leaders and the soldiers that are involved in the conflict and see for ourselves the damage that has been done to our bases and equipment,” Murphy said, highlighting how during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars he was able to visit operating bases.

He argued that since Congress decides funding and authorization for war, it is necessary to see the consequences, but he was unable to visit Al Udeid or have a briefing on the war with American military officials while in the region.

On the same day the travel advisory was issued in March, the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was hit ​by two Iranians drones, resulting in building damage and a fire. Murphy said that the drones impacted multiple floors of the embassy and part of the space is now “uninhabitable” with permanent damage.

The U.S. previously announced in 2023 plans to build a new embassy compound in Riyadh, which Murphy attributes the lack of repairs to.

Even though no injuries or casualties were reported from the strike, Murphy said that if the attack happened during the day it would have killed many Americans.

“[Secretary of Defense Pete] Hegseth is determined to hide the cost and the consequences of this war from the American public, and it is absolutely outrageous that I and Republican senators are being denied the ability to see the damage for ourselves,” he said.

The U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach’s Stock Barracks in Illesheim houses the Illesheim Flight Simulator Complex, or IFSC, providing one-of-a-kind training opportunities ahead of the German Armed Forces preparing to field CH‑47F Block II Chinook helicopters next fall, according to an Army release.

The IFSC, which is operated by U.S. Army Europe and Africa, provides the necessary training needed to prepare German forces to receive 60 of the heavy-lift, tandem-rotor helicopters, the release says.

Two German Air Force pilots who will be part of the first cohort to fly the new aircraft once they arrive in fall 2027 recently trained at the IFSC.

“In the simulator you can train all the scenarios you do not want to experience while flying a real aircraft,” said Lt. Col. L, a visiting pilot whose name was withheld, as is standard in the German Air Force, or Bundeswehr Luftwaffe. “Emergency procedures, challenging landings and extreme weather operations can all be practiced safely.”

“Everything you can do in a real flight, you can also do in a simulator,” the other visiting pilot, Maj. H, said.

The fleet will be stationed at two Bundeswehr installations and is meant to boost Germany’s heavy-lift and transport abilities, per the statement.

The two German pilots also trained in the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Fort Rucker is the Army’s largest helicopter training institution and trains more than 1,300 U.S. soldiers every year. Beginning in 2028, German Air Force aviators will also trek to Fort Rucker annually for initial helicopter training and complete “track training,” including the CH‑47 qualification.

The Army did not say how many German aviators are expected to train at Fort Rucker each year, but the release noted that the German Air Force plans to staff more than 200 trained pilots to operate its future fleet.

Germany has already begun sending helicopter pilots for conversion training to the CH‑47 platform, according to the release.

Since the IFSC simulator software is tailored to U.S. Army aircraft configurations and not the Bundeswehr’s, the German pilots will need additional learning to transition to their Air Force’s aircraft.

Instead of German Air Force pilots needing to travel across the Atlantic for advanced simulator training, the IFSC allows them to drive just three to five hours from their home station.

By using the existing U.S. Army facilities in Europe, NATO partners reduce costs by not needing to build their own simulator complex, the announcement says. Even though the IFSC schedule prioritizes U.S. Army soldiers, the complex routinely supports at least five NATO partners’ pilots.

“For NATO partners requiring up-to-date, quality aircraft simulation training, USAG Ansbach’s Storck Barracks continues to prove its value: a small installation delivering strategic impact through world‑class training,” the release reads.

LCpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force headquartered at Camp Courtney in Okinawa, was arrested early Sunday morning, according to a local police statement to Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK.

Sometime between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. local time on Saturday, Ballard, 20, allegedly killed Anna Yagi, a 39-year-old Naha resident, according to the NHK police statement, at a hotel in the city. Additionally, the police report stated that he stole her wallet, among other belongings.

An investigation of the body found that Yagi died from suffocation. Hotel security footage shows a person with hair and tattoos that resemble those of Ballard entering a hotel room with a woman and leaving with items.

Ballard was arrested early Sunday morning, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in a social media post, calling the event “extremely brutal and heinous.”

Takaichi said it caused Japan’s government to lodge a “strong” protest against the U.S. while demanding cooperation with the investigation conducted by Okinawa Prefectural Police and measures implemented to ensure it doesn’t occur again.

The III MEF said it is cooperating with Japanese authorities in response to the Marine’s allegations.

“The Marine Corps takes these allegations very seriously and expects every Marine to adhere to the highest standards of behavior,” a social media post reads. “The Marine is in custody of local authorities while the investigation proceeds. There is no further information to release at this time.”

Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan’s defense minister, announced that the Marine involved is a lance corporal, while also asserting the necessity of preventive measures going forward.

“In any case, incidents and accidents involving U.S. military personnel cause significant anxiety to the local community and must never occur,” he said. “The Ministry of Defense intends to continue demanding thorough prevention of incidents and accidents from the U.S. side on various occasions going forward. In the future, we will coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to address this matter.

Japan has a large American military presence, with around 60,000 service members across the joint force. Okinawa specifically houses over 18,000 Marines, sailors and their families.

Following the murder and arrest, concerns rekindled among residents over the large number of American service members stationed on the island and their ties to criminal activity.

Recently, two American service members were charged with sexual assault in separate cases in 2024, causing the Japanese government to protest and the Marine Corps to begin issuing sobriety checks. The incidents reignited tensions from the high-profile 1995 case of three U.S. service members raping a local 12-year-old girl, which led to mass protests and a 1996 agreement between the two nations to close a key U.S. air station.

The operation, expected to be launched in the coming weeks, will be led by Yemeni forces on the ground, which are overseen by Riyadh, and supported by Saudi air strikes, according to six people with knowledge of the preparations.

While the US is already providing intelligence to support Riyadh’s operations in Yemen, and some regional and European nations are providing mainly defensive military aid to the kingdom, the Saudi allies aren’t expected to play a direct role in combat operations, said the people who requested anonymity to discuss security matters.

Saudi Arabia entered neighboring Yemen’s civil war in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition in support of the internationally recognized government, which the Houthis had driven out of the capital Sanaa. A truce agreed between the warring parties in 2022 largely held until this year, when the Houthis launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi shipping and oil infrastructure in a spillover from the Iran war.

A key objective of the planned Saudi offensive, which hasn’t been previously reported, is aimed at reversing the rapid gains made by the Houthis last month when they advanced down the coast and seized control of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, according to people with knowledge of the plans who include Gulf and Yemeni officials and Western diplomats.

The Saudis are considering two options for the assault, the Gulf and Yemeni officials said: either a narrowly focused attack around Bab el-Mandeb or a broader offensive that also includes synchronized attacks on multiple fronts around Yemen, in the governorates of Al-Bayda, Marib, Taiz and Al-Jawf.

More than 100,000 Yemeni troops could be mobilized in the offensive, depending on the scale, the officials all said.

Spokespeople for the Saudi and Yemeni governments, the Houthi group and the US military didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment about the Saudi plans.

Bab el-Mandeb is the southern exit passage of the Red Sea, a key shipping route between the Mediterranean and Asia that’s assumed even more importance this year as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed by the Iran conflict.

Riyadh has concluded it cannot enter new Yemeni peace negotiations with the Houthis while the militants remain in control of Bab el-Mandeb, giving them significant global leverage, the Western diplomats and Gulf official said.

The six people with knowledge of the Saudi preparations couldn’t give a precise timing for the launch of the offensive, with their estimates ranging from within a week to after the US midterm elections in early November.

Michael Ratney, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said he expected an offensive to be narrowly focused and certainly more modest in scope than the Saudi-led operation in 2015 that sought to rout the militants.

“As much [as] they want to vanquish the Houthis completely, they also need to get back to status quo ante before Houthis controlled territory along Bab el-Mandeb,” he added. “Ideally, it would be a fairly limited operation to retake coastal areas and get back to normal maritime traffic.”

The Houthis have become Iran’s most formidable ally in the Middle East since Israel’s degradation of Hezbollah in Lebanon over the past three years.

A Saudi-directed offensive against the group would mark a new flashpoint in a region engulfed by conflict since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel of Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent US-Israeli war on Iran.

TRUMP, TURKEY AND PAKISTAN

Washington, Saudi Arabia’s most powerful ally, is providing military advisers and intelligence, including targeting information, to support Saudi air operations in Yemen, according to one of the Western diplomats.

However, the extent of support may be limited. Reuters has previously reported that US President Donald Trump rebuffed requests by the de facto Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman for direct military support such as air strikes.

Turkey and Pakistan, with whom Saudi Arabia signed a joint defense agreement last month, have provided military equipment that the kingdom is using in Yemen, Pakistani and regional officials said.

Last month, Pakistan sent four cargo planes with equipment including air defense systems, light artillery, drones and anti-drone systems to Aden, the seat of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, a Pakistani government official said.

Pakistani military advisers are also on the ground with Saudi counterparts to support Yemeni forces, according to a second Pakistani official, the Gulf official and a Western diplomat. Turkish drones, bought by Saudi Arabia before the current war, have also been deployed over Yemen, they added.

One of the kingdom’s key concerns in launching a new offensive in Yemen is how to protect its oil facilities and other infrastructure from Houthi drone and missile attacks, according to regional officials who said Riyadh has asked several allies for help with defensive systems.

Pakistan has deployed between 30,000 and 40,000 troops to Saudi Arabia to help defend the kingdom’s land borders and help with drone and missile interceptions, according to the second Pakistani official, who said the troops arrived in waves beginning last year but also after the recent escalation. Islamabad hasn’t made any decision to send troops into Yemen in a fighting capacity, the official said.

The Pakistani and Turkish defense ministries didn’t respond to requests for comment on their military support for Riyadh.

France, meanwhile, has announced it will send defensive systems and troops to Saudi Arabia to help protect the Red Sea port ‌city of Yanbu.

FRACTURED YEMENI FORCES

Any ground operation inside Yemen will rely on the disparate coalition of Yemeni fighting factions that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates armed and trained at earlier stages of the civil war when the conflict ground to a bloody stalemate.

“Many anti-Houthi forces are still not organized or prepared for the kind of sustained offensive required to push back a disciplined Houthi military force. And they are being tested right now, as the Houthis apply pressure across several fronts at once,” said Yemen analyst Mohammed Albasha.

Yemeni forces were further fractured last winter when southern fighters backed by the UAE tried to take territory in the east and announce secession plans, leading to their defeat by Saudi-backed fighters after a series of clashes.

Ali Shihabi, a Saudi political analyst close to government thinking, cautioned that the outcome of any offensive by the Saudis against the Houthis would depend on how ground forces perform.

“The priority so far has been to defend the positions on the ground and stabilize the front, but certainly they will be going on the offensive,” he said. “Success greatly depends on the quality of the performance of the local forces.”

U.S. officials disputed that claim.

“All of our Saildrones are accounted for and fully operational,” an official told Military Times.

The video comes on the heels of another incident in which an Anduril Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicle — designed for long-range surveillance and other undersea missions — was captured on Sept. 8.

U.S. Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins of U.S. Central Command told Reuters that the “defective drone was an older model that neither collected sensitive data nor carried any classified sonar or radar equipment.”

“Of course Iran will take every opportunity as a propaganda win,” Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the outlet. “It can help the (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) make better versions of their own designs.”

The Navy recently awarded Saildrone Voyager a $16.3 million task order to extend operations of the Voyager fleet in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, according to an August release.

Since 2023, Saildrone’s USVs have worked in coordination with the U.S. Navy, supporting the Joint Interagency Task Force South, or JIATF-S, and U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. Navy Fourth Fleet, per the release.

The 33-foot-long Voyager is designed for persistent surface and subsurface surveillance and can also conduct nearshore mapping missions and seafloor characterization.

Able to remain “on mission and on station” for months at a time, the USVs are “both a deterrent and an alarm” along the U.S.’s expansive southern maritime border, according to the company.

The U.S. military, the highest-funded in the world, suffered material damage even before Iran’s strikes on Tuesday. This includes the destruction of more than two dozen drones, Iran striking fighter jets, and aircraft being lost to accidents.

According to a May report from the Congressional Research Service, 42 U.S. military aircraft had already been lost or damaged in the conflict.

Since the Iran war started in February, 18 U.S. service members have been killed and over 800 injured.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Iran’s attack hit one A-10 Thunderbolt II, known as the Warthog, leaving it with a missing wing, while roughly eight F-15s sustained light damage and were returned to service.

Iran’s strike on the U.S. base in Jordan came after U.S. forces said they destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers. The U.S. said its strikes were in response to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic ​missiles twice over the previous two days.

The Iranian attack required U.S. forces to fire roughly 30 Patriot interceptors to counter the missiles, the U.S. official said, amid increasing concern about the inventory of U.S. air defense interceptors and other missiles.

While specific inventory numbers are classified, the Center for Strategic ​and International Studies has estimated that about 65% of U.S. Patriot interceptors were expended between February and July, with fewer than 850 left on hand, down from 2,330 before the Iran war began.

Speaking at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Yevhenii Khmara also said that the majority of the missiles would only be shipped in the coming years, and called for more urgent aid.

In comments posted later by the Defence Ministry, Khmara said Ukraine was asking its Western partners to provide more air defense missiles from their stocks in exchange for improvements in missile performance under contracts signed with Kyiv.

He said Ukraine was being hindered by a shortfall of $27 billion in financing for drone supplies.

The ministry’s summary of the meeting said Khmara had presented a plan for Ukraine’s conduct of the war that was already being implemented along with a list of what Kyiv considered to be the biggest threats posed by Moscow.

Khmara said Russia was making no strategic gains along the 1,200-km (750-mile) front line, but Moscow was making up for its battlefield failures with “terror against Ukrainians.”

Russia resumed its near-constant drone and missile attacks on Kyiv on Tuesday after a brief halt for the visit of U.S. peace negotiators. Officials said five people were killed in the capital along with others in various regions.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told the meeting that Ukraine’s allies had no choice but to boost their support to enable Kyiv “to seize the opportunities it is creating now across all fronts and to defend itself in the skies.”

In July, Trump unexpectedly left the NATO summit in Turkey on a different plane, citing a potential threat as the conflict with Iran escalated. He switched to a smaller military aircraft in secret, using a catering truck for deception.

The swap raised further questions about the modified Qatari jet’s security as a presidential aircraft. That same month, Trump announced that the jet would be soon sent to be “maxed out” for security upgrades.

Trump said the alterations would begin in roughly a month, but no official statement has been made about the schedule.

“We don’t comment on specific upgrades or modifications to Air Force One,” a senior administration official told Military Times. “We maintain a consistent posture that ensures a safe, secure, and reliable capability for the President of the United States and routinely evolve the capability as required to maintain that posture.”

Trump will be in Ireland on Sept. 12 and 13, attending the Irish Open at his golf course in Doonbeg. The BBC reported that he is scheduled to meet Irish President Catherine Connolly and Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin during his two-day trip.

Ahead of the midterm elections, Trump is also scheduled to headline the Republican midterm convention next week in Texas, and he has promised to campaign for Republican candidates across dozens of battleground states.

Libby Klinner, the wife of Alex Klinner, turned to social media to share the story of her husband’s passing and the struggles her family was facing in receiving certain additional benefits since the federal government did not officially declare war on Iran.

U.S. Air Force Maj. John “Alex” Klinner, 33, of Auburn, Alabama, was among the six killed on March 12 when a KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed over western Iraq during combat operations against Iran. Klinner was the chief of Squadron Standardizations and Evaluations within the 99th Air Refueling Squadron, located in Birmingham, Alabama.

He entered the Air Force in 2017 and deployed in 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2026 for a range of missions — flying 362 combat hours and 181 combat support hours in theater. His achievements include the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster, Aerial Achievement Medal and Air and Space Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster.

Recently, Libby posted on Instagram that her casualty assistance officer told her that additional combat-related benefits, such as Hostile Fire Pay or Imminent Danger Pay and Combat Zone Tax Exclusions, could not be given to her family because the U.S. has not officially declared war against the Middle East country.

“The Air Force recently told me that because we haven’t officially declared war, my kids and I aren’t eligible for some benefits,” Libby wrote. “So not only was my husband killed in a war he never wanted to participate in, but now the benefits we’re left with are being dictated by semantics and public perceptions.”

In a later post, Libby said that the director of mortuary affairs reached out to her to audit the benefits.

On Thursday, Vance said the administration would reach out to Libby directly to ensure she receives “what she is entitled to.”

“We will certainly work that on the back end,” Vance told reporters in a White House briefing.

Libby did not return a request for comment from Military Times.

Libby has since taken down her personal Instagram with the original posts, but a statement of hers circulated social media on Thursday, saying “classification issues” caused the combat-related benefits to not be available for her family.

“That was the information I shared publicly at the time,” Libby wrote. “As the story spread, however, it created the impression that our family’s military benefits had been broadly denied or withheld, which was not the case.”

She said that the Department of Defense has since completed its review and confirmed her family’s benefits. Libby wrote that the experience highlights how challenging it can be to navigate classifications, terminology and government processes during a time of grief.

“No Gold Star family should have to become an expert in government language to understand what they are entitled to,” she said.

“Getting this right for the families left behind isn’t a footnote—it’s part of how we honor the service and sacrifice of those we lost,” she concluded.

Department of the Air Force officials spoke with Libby on Monday to address her questions and ensure she is receiving all eligible benefits her and her family are entitled to, an Air Force spokesperson told Military Times on Friday.

The spokesperson said that officials confirmed that all eligible combat theater benefits were included in the areas of pay she already received, including Imminent Danger Pay or Hostile Fire Pay and Combat Zone Tax Exclusion benefits.

Alongside other benefits spouses retain, Hostile Fire Pay, at the rate of $225 per month, is given when a service member is killed, injured or wounded by hostile fire, explosion of a mine or other hostile actions. Imminent Danger Pay, $7.50 for each day on official duty in a designated area up to $225 a month, is given when an airman is ordered to fly in an airspace designated as an imminent danger for a mission.

Service members can receive one pay or the other but not both. When a service member is entitled to one form of pay, they may also be eligible for Combat Zone Tax Exclusion, which excludes certain pay from their taxable income.

The Air Force spokesperson did not say which pay the Klinner family is entitled to.

The Department of Defense also provides a one-time, tax-free sum of $100,000 as a Death Gratuity to survivors of members of the armed forces who died while on active duty or in certain statuses.

Wilsbach met with Israel Defense Forces Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and the Commander of the Israeli Air Force Maj. Gen. Omar Tishler on Aug. 23, the IDF announced in a Wednesday social media post, with a photo of Wilsbach and Zamir shaking hands.

Wilsbach confirmed the meeting in Israel on his own social media, saying the three discussed “shared priorities for regional security” and “opportunities to deepen cooperation.”

The IDF said the groups advanced “learning from the joint campaign” as the Iran war surpassed six months.

The war, which began on Feb. 28, has consisted of dual airstrikes from both U.S. and Israeli forces, with the U.S. Air Force performing a variety of missions, including long-range bomber strikes and aerial refueling.

U.S. aircraft used in the attacks comprise a variety of bombers, strikers and refueling jets, such as the B-1B Lancer, B-52 Stratofortress, F-15E Strike Eagle, KC-135 Stratotanker, F-35A Lightning II and A-10 Thunderbolt II.

Wilsbach’s recent visit to Israel is the first publicly announced meeting, even though the chief of staff previously visited seven U.S. bases across the Middle East and Europe within the U.S. Central Command and U.S. European Command’s area of responsibility in December 2025.

Since the war began, 18 U.S. service members have died. The Pentagon has since altered the way it classifies casualties suffered, moving four to another casualty summary and thus lowering the number to 14.