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US Extends Carrier Deployment After Syria Attack

USS George H.W. Bush supercarrier of the United States Navy ( US Army)
USS George H.W. Bush supercarrier of the United States Navy ( US Army)
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US Extends Carrier Deployment After Syria Attack

USS George H.W. Bush supercarrier of the United States Navy ( US Army)
USS George H.W. Bush supercarrier of the United States Navy ( US Army)

The United States has decided to extend the deployment of the George H.W. Bush carrier strike group to provide options to policymakers after last week's deadly attacks in Syria by Iran-backed forces, US military officials said on Friday.

The decision likely means the Bush strike group and its more than 5,000 US forces, which are now in the European Command operational area, will not be returning to home port in the United States on schedule.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesperson Colonel Joe Buccino confirmed the carrier group's extension, Reuters reported.

"The extension of the George HW Bush Carrier Strike Group, inclusive of the USS Leyte Gulf, the USS Delbert D. Black, and the USNS Arctic, allows options to potentially bolster the capabilities of CENTCOM to respond to a range of contingencies in the Middle East," Buccino said in a statement.

Buccino also noted a scheduled, expedited deployment of a squadron of A-10 attack aircraft to the region.

One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Bush strike group was expected to remain in the European Command area of responsibility.

News of the deployment came a day after the Pentagon doubled its tally of the number of American troops wounded in last week's attacks in Syria to 12, following the diagnosis of six US military personnel with traumatic brain injuries.

The attacks also killed an American contractor and injured another.

President Joe Biden warned Iran last week that the United States would act forcefully to protect Americans. The Pentagon has estimated eight militants were killed during retaliatory US airstrikes against two Iran-linked facilities in Syria during the tit-for-tat exchanges triggered by the first March 23 attack against a US base near the Syrian city of Hasakah.

The White House said on Monday that the incidents would not trigger a US pullback from the nearly eight-year-old US deployment to Syria, where American troops and local Kurdish-led partners are battling the remnants of ISIS.

Still, the United States has formally prioritized in its national security policies Russia, Ukraine and the Asia-Pacific above the Middle East after two decades of US intervention in the region during its global war against terrorism.

That has led to an overall decline in US military personnel and assets in the Middle East.

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World

North Korean Leader Kim Watches Cruise Missile Tests with His Daughter

This picture taken on March 10, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on March 11, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae watching a televised test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from the destroyer Choe Hyon, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (KCNA via KNS / AFP) /
This picture taken on March 10, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on March 11, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae watching a televised test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from the destroyer Choe Hyon, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (KCNA via KNS / AFP) /
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North Korean Leader Kim Watches Cruise Missile Tests with His Daughter

This picture taken on March 10, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on March 11, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae watching a televised test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from the destroyer Choe Hyon, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (KCNA via KNS / AFP) /
This picture taken on March 10, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on March 11, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae watching a televised test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from the destroyer Choe Hyon, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (KCNA via KNS / AFP) /

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his teenage daughter observed tests of strategic cruise missiles fired from a warship, state media reported Wednesday, as North Korea threatened responses to US-South Korean military drills.

Images sent by the Korean Central News Agency showed the two in a conference room looking at a screen showing weapons being fired from the Choe Hyon, a year-old naval destroyer.

Kim Jong Un watched the missiles launches via video on Tuesday and underscored the need to maintain “a powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent," KCNA reported in a dispatch that did not mention his daughter.

The girl, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and about 13, has accompanied her father at numerous prominent events including military parades and weapons launches since late 2022. South Korea’s spy agency assessed last month Kim Jong Un was close to designating her as his heir.

KCNA said the missiles hit target islands off North Korea's west coast. It quoted Kim Jong Un as saying the launches were meant to demonstrate the navy's strategic offensive posture and get troops familiarized with weapons firings.

Kim Jong Un observed similar cruise missile launches from the Choe Hyon in person last week, but his daughter was not seen at that appearance.

Tuesday's missile firings came after the start of the springtime US-South Korean military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.

On Tuesday, Kim Jong Un's sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, warned the drills reveal again the US and South Korea's “inveterate repugnancy toward" North Korea. She said North Korea will “convince the enemies of our war deterrence.”

The 11-day Freedom Shield drill that began Monday is largely a computer-simulated command post exercise and will be accompanied by a field training program. North Korea often reacts to the two sets of training with its own weapons tests.

World

6 Killed in Swiss Bus Blaze after Person Reportedly Sets Themselves on Fire

Emergency personnel work at the site of a deadly bus fire in Kerzers, Switzerland, March 10, 2026. STATE OF FREIBURG/Handout via REUTERS
Emergency personnel work at the site of a deadly bus fire in Kerzers, Switzerland, March 10, 2026. STATE OF FREIBURG/Handout via REUTERS
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6 Killed in Swiss Bus Blaze after Person Reportedly Sets Themselves on Fire

Emergency personnel work at the site of a deadly bus fire in Kerzers, Switzerland, March 10, 2026. STATE OF FREIBURG/Handout via REUTERS
Emergency personnel work at the site of a deadly bus fire in Kerzers, Switzerland, March 10, 2026. STATE OF FREIBURG/Handout via REUTERS

At least six people died and three others were injured in a bus fire on Tuesday in a small town in western Switzerland, in what police said may have been a deliberate act following reports that a person on board set fire to themselves.

Police said the bus became engulfed in flames on a road in Kerzers, a town in the canton of Fribourg, about 20 km (12 miles) from the Swiss capital, Bern.

"At this stage, we have ⁠elements suggesting a ⁠deliberate act by a person who was inside the bus," said Frederic Papaux, a spokesperson for Fribourg police.

Investigators were looking into reports that a person had poured fuel on themselves, said Christa Bielmann, another local police spokesperson. It was too early to say whether the incident was terror-related, ⁠she told a press conference.

Three injured people were taken to hospital, Reuters quoted police as saying. Two other people caught up in the blaze also received attention but did not need to be hospitalized.

Passengers were seen escaping from the burning bus, panicked and injured, Papaux said, adding that no other vehicle was involved.

Swiss media outlet 20 Minutes said it had seen a video taken at the scene in which an injured person said: "A man set himself on fire. He poured gasoline ⁠over himself ⁠and then lit himself."

Video after the flames were extinguished showed the charred remains of the vehicle, a yellow so-called Postauto.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin offered his condolences and said the incident was being investigated.

"It shocks and saddens me that once again people have lost their lives in a serious fire in Switzerland," he said in a statement on X, noting investigations were under way. In January, Switzerland was rocked by a fire in a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans Montana that killed 41 people and injured 115.

World

Iran Police Chief Says Anti-Government Protesters Treated as ‘Enemies’

People walk past closed shops at the nearly empty Tajrish traditional bazaar in northern Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP)
People walk past closed shops at the nearly empty Tajrish traditional bazaar in northern Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP)
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Iran Police Chief Says Anti-Government Protesters Treated as ‘Enemies’

People walk past closed shops at the nearly empty Tajrish traditional bazaar in northern Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP)
People walk past closed shops at the nearly empty Tajrish traditional bazaar in northern Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP)

Iranian protesters will be treated as enemies if they support Tehran's foes, the country's top police officer warned, as the Middle East war sparked fears mass anti-government rallies could reignite.

"If anyone comes forward in line with the wishes of the enemy, we will no longer see them as merely a protester, we will see them as an enemy," said national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan in comments aired by state broadcaster IRIB late on Tuesday.

"And we will do to them what we do to an enemy. We will deal with them in the same way we deal with enemies," he added.

"All our forces are also ready, with their hands on the trigger, prepared to defend their revolution."

His warning comes after the government cracked down on anti-government protests in January, sparked a month before over economic grievances in the sanctions-hit country.

The authorities deemed the protests to be "riots" and Radan at one point issued an ultimatum to protesters to hand themselves in or face the full force of the law.

Iranian authorities acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths in the unrest, including members of the security forces and bystanders, but say the violence was caused by "terrorist acts" fueled by Iran's enemies.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), however, has recorded more than 7,000 killings in the crackdown, the vast majority protesters, though the toll may be far higher. More than 50,000 have been arrested, it says.

US President Donald Trump had initially cheered on the protesters, threatening to intervene on their behalf as authorities launched a deadly crackdown, but his threats soon shifted to Iran's nuclear program.

Washington launched strikes with Israel on Iran on February 28, sparking retaliatory strikes by Tehran against Israel and US bases across the Gulf region.