This RED FRIDAY edition honors every member of the United States Armed Forces currently serving overseas — from Marines and Sailors at sea to Soldiers, Airmen, Guardians and Coast Guardsmen operating abroad.
We see you — we appreciate you — and we stand unendingly with you and your families. Your courage, sacrifice and steadfast commitment to our nation’s security allow millions to live in freedom. Your families at home also serve; we honor their strength and resilience.
Today we bring three deeply researched reports on U.S. military operations that have taken place in late January 2026 — from the Middle East to the Caribbean and the far North. These are operational accounts involving U.S. military personnel overseas, not opinion.
U.S. Troops Complete Withdrawal from Ain al-Asad Airbase in Iraq
Date: January 17 – 19, 2026
Location: Ain al-Asad Airbase, Anbar Province, Iraq
In a historic transition, U.S. forces have fully withdrawn from Iraq’s Ain al-Asad Airbase, a principal operational hub for American troops in western Iraq, concluding a presence that spanned more than two decades. Iraqi military officials announced that all U.S. personnel and equipment departed the base, and the Iraqi Army assumed full control of the installation as of January 17, 2026.
Ain al-Asad, strategically located in Anbar Province, was central to U.S. operations against ISIS and served as a logistics, command and staging point for multiple coalition missions since the early 2000s. Under an agreement reached in 2024 between Washington and Baghdad, U.S. forces began a phased drawdown of bases in Iraq as the mission shifted from large fixed installations to a more flexible security cooperation framework.
Iraqi Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah oversaw the handover of duties to Iraqi units, emphasizing coordinated national defense and utilization of the base’s assets. A Defense Ministry source confirmed that U.S. forces retained presence in other parts of Iraq and in neighboring Syria for ongoing counter-ISIS efforts, though the handover represented a significant shift in U.S. posture in the country.
This withdrawal represents an important milestone in Iraq’s path toward full operational sovereignty and reflects evolving U.S. defense strategy in the region — prioritizing partnerships over permanent heavy footprints — while ensuring continued cooperation against terrorist threats.
U.S. Naval and Marine Operations Seize Sanctioned Oil Tankers in the Caribbean
Date: January 2026 (operations ongoing)
Theater: Caribbean Sea off Venezuela / international waters
As part of Operation Southern Spear — a U.S. military maritime interdiction campaign focused on enforcing sanctions and disrupting illicit energy trafficking — U.S. forces have conducted multiple boarding and seizure operations against sanctioned oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea. These actions involve U.S. Marines, Sailors, and U.S. Coast Guard teams launching from U.S. Navy platforms such as the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group.
On January 15, 2026, joint military and interagency maritime forces executed a pre-dawn boarding of the Motor/Tanker Veronica, which was operating in contravention of a U.S. quarantine on sanctioned vessels. The boarding was conducted without incident, demonstrating coordinated force projection and precision operations under extremely challenging conditions.
These interdictions represent part of a broader campaign launched in late 2025 to prevent sanctioned oil traffic linked to Venezuela from evading U.S. and allied restrictions. As of mid-January, at least six sanctioned tankers had been seized at sea, underscoring the operational tempo and reach of U.S. maritime forces in this campaign.
U.S. Southern Command has released official statements noting the interdictions involve continuous joint operations with Department of Homeland Security, interagency partners and multinational elements to enforce maritime law and support Western Hemisphere security objectives.
NORAD Deploys Aircraft to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland
Date: January 19 – 20, 2026
Location: Pituffik Space Base / Greenland
In late January, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) confirmed the deployment of U.S. military aircraft to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland. This deployment supports planned defense activities and reinforces air defense cooperation with allied partners under NORAD’s North American mission.
Pituffik (formerly Thule Air Base) is the United States’ northernmost military facility, hosting ballistic missile early-warning systems, space surveillance installations, and acting as a forward Arctic defense outpost. U.S. and allied aircraft scheduled to arrive in Greenland are part of long-planned operations to maintain readiness in the Arctic region, where extreme environmental conditions demand rigorous training and interoperability among U.S., Canadian and Danish forces.
NORAD emphasized that these deployments are coordinated with the Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenlandic authorities have been informed. While broader geopolitical tensions in the Arctic have been highlighted in global media, NORAD has underscored that this movement of forces is consistent with ongoing cooperative defense activities, reflecting normal allied defense commitments rather than unilateral action.
This operation highlights the importance of air and space defense capabilities as strategic deterrence, with U.S. Guardians, Airmen, and allied forces contributing to surveillance and readiness at one of the most critical northern defense nodes.
