In brief: Peace Corps halts program in Jordan

AMMAN, Jordan – The U.S. Peace Corps said it is temporarily suspending its program in Jordan because of the “regional environment,” highlighting growing security concerns among some foreigners after Jordan raised its profile in the battle against Islamic State militants.

The Peace Corps announcement came after the U.S. Embassy in Jordan warned last month of a potential threat of attacks against “high-end malls” in the capital Amman.

Mustafa Hamarneh, a member of Jordan’s parliament, said there is a sense among Jordanians that U.S. officials are exaggerating the possible risk of attacks on foreigners in Jordan. “Malls are full, markets are full,” he said. “There is no general sense in this country that we are in danger.”

Some Iraqi troops ill-prepared to train

ABOARD THE CHARLES DE GAULLE – Some Iraqi army units in line for U.S.-led training to fight the Islamic State group are showing up ill-prepared, the top American general said Sunday.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, speaking to reporters aboard this French aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, said he sees no reason to send more U.S. military trainers or advisers at this time. More broadly, he defended the pace of the overall military campaign in Iraq.

“Right now we don’t need more advisers on the ground,” said Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“We’ve got trainers and advisers that are waiting for some of the Iraqi units to show up, and when they’ve shown up – a handful of them – they’ve shown up understrength and sometimes without the proper equipment. The Iraqi government can actually fix that themselves.”

Coalition bombs al-Qaida in Syria

BEIRUT – U.S.-led coalition warplanes targeted the local headquarters of al-Qaida-linked militants in northwestern Syria about a mile from the Turkish border on Sunday, killing at least nine people, activists said.

The Local Coordination Committees activist collective and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes hit a compound belonging to al-Qaida’s Syria branch, known as the Nusra Front, close to the village of Atmeh in Idlib province.

The Observatory said at least nine Nusra Front militants were killed in the strikes.