The Pentagon admits not tracking more than $1 billion in weapons sent to Ukraine

The Pentagon's Office of Inspector General announced in a statement that the department failed to track more than $1 billion in weapons sent to Ukraine.

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“The US Department of Defense did not adhere to the end-use control program for weapons supplied to Ukraine,” the office said in a report on the audit of US military aid to Ukraine.

According to published data, about $1 billion worth of weapons sent to Ukraine were lost.

He pointed out that the work of American inspectors is hampered by restrictions on their movement in Ukraine, in addition to the shortage of inspectors on the ground, including in partner countries through which American weapons supplies pass.

He continued: "Now the Office of the Inspector General of the Ministry of Defense has employees in Ukraine, and the Criminal Investigation Service will continue to investigate suspicions of criminal acts related to defense assistance provided to Ukraine."

Reuters: The US military denies bombing a missile launch pad in Iraq

A US military official said that his country's army did not carry out an air strike on a missile launch pad on Monday near the US Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq.

On Thursday, Reuters quoted the official as saying, “The vehicle-mounted rocket launcher, which was reportedly found about seven kilometers east of Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq, was not destroyed as a result of a US air strike.”

The official added, "Any damage to the launch pad may be the result of a malfunction or defect in the launch."

He said that American and coalition forces had been attacked at least 130 times in Iraq and Syria since October 7, noting that as of Thursday, there had been 53 attacks in Iraq and 77 in Syria.

Iraq escalated its official and political stances against the international coalition and American forces in the country, after  the attack on Thursday that targeted the headquarters of the "Al-Nujaba Movement"  in Baghdad, resulting in the killing of the faction's special operations commander, whom Washington accuses of carrying out attacks against military bases in Iraq and Syria.

The demand to end the American military presence in Iraq was strengthened, as the Armed Forces spokesman, Major General Yahya Rasoul, said in a rare description that the attack was  “an attack similar to terrorist acts ,” and held the international coalition responsible for the strike.

Washington deploys 2,500 military personnel in Iraq and about 900 in Syria within the framework of the so-called “International Coalition to Combat ISIS,” the formation of which was announced in 2014. 

Earlier, Iraqi factions, in a statement distributed on their channel on the Telegram application, warned Washington to intensify its targeting of American bases in Syria and Iraq, against the backdrop of the war launched by the Israeli army on the Gaza Strip and the American support that Israel receives.

Two Iraqi army officials told Reuters on Tuesday that a US air strike on a missile launch pad late on Monday thwarted an attack on the Ain al-Asad air base.