WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is tapping an Air Force fighter pilot with extensive experience as a senior commander in the Middle East to be the next head of U.S. European Command.
Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, currently the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would also take over as the supreme allied commander, Europe, if his nomination is confirmed by the Senate. NATO's North Atlantic Council in a statement Thursday said it approved Grynkewich's nomination as SACEUR.
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FILE - Joint Staff Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, speaks to the media in the Pentagon Press Briefing Room, Monday, March 17, 2025, at the Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - Joint Staff Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, speaks to the media in the Pentagon Press Briefing Room, Monday, March 17, 2025, at the Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
FILE - The then Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the head of U.S. Air Force Central, speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Sept. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell, File)
The U.S. military's presence in Europe is under scrutiny, as the Trump administration eyes cuts in the force even as the region continues to grapple with Russia's war on Ukraine and the wider effects of the Israel-Hamas war.
U.S. warships have been persistently patrolling the Mediterranean Sea to be poised to support operations in support of Israel and the broader effort to secure the Red Sea corridor, where Houthi rebels have attacked commercial and military vessels.
There have been ongoing discussions in the Pentagon about slashing the number of U.S. troops across Europe. The Biden administration poured an additional 20,000 U.S. forces into the region — bringing the total to about 100,000 — to help calm escalating fears among NATO allies that they could be Russia's next target.
Defense leaders have said there have been no final decisions. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have both made it clear they want NATO to do more to defend its own region and that the U.S. is turning to focus more on China and America’s own southern border.
In his current job, Grynkewich helps to develop guidance for the combatant commands and serves as a key aide to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on military operations around the world.
Most recently Grynkewich served as commander of Air Forces in the Middle East, including air operations in support of the conflict in Israel, from 2022 to 2023. And prior to that he was director of operations for U.S. Central Command.
He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1993, has served as an instructor pilot and was a test pilot for the development of the F-16 and F-22 fighter jets. He has more then 2,300 flight hours.
FILE - Joint Staff Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, speaks to the media in the Pentagon Press Briefing Room, Monday, March 17, 2025, at the Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - Joint Staff Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, speaks to the media in the Pentagon Press Briefing Room, Monday, March 17, 2025, at the Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
FILE - The then Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the head of U.S. Air Force Central, speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Sept. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell, File)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
