How many US military bases and how many troops are there in the Middle East region?

In exchange for a 50-year lease of a military base for the Ethiopian navy, Ethiopia will become the first foreign country to officially recognize Somaliland.

The United States has announced that it will take "multi-level and long-term" retaliation in response to the drone attack on the American base on the Syrian-Jordanian border that killed three of its soldiers and injured more than 30 others.

The Telegraph reported that China has been building a secret military base in an inaccessible mountainous area of Tajikistan for nearly a decade. The base, which is believed to repel threats from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, is said to be intended to host Chinese and Tajik troops.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan has rejected reports that Britain has a secret Chinese military base on the territory of the country.

Syrian Defense Minister Murhef Abu Qasra said the country's new government is ready to keep Russian military bases if they serve Syria's interests. He noted that Russia's attitude towards the new government has improved significantly since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. "There are no permanent enemies in politics," the minister said.

The American publication Reuters interviewed Rashad Mansour, a Palestinian who was two years old during the Nakba, the mass expulsion of Palestinians by Israel in 1948.