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US military air accidents highlight defense needs

Air Force Pave Hawk helicopter crashed while on a routine mission in Western Iraq killing all 7 Americans on board; national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports from the Pentagon on a tough week for U.S. military aviation.

All seven military personnel aboard a U.S. Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter were killed Thursday in a crash in western Iraq near the Syrian border, U.S. defense officials told Fox News.

It's the first deadly aviation crash for the U.S. military in the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria since American involvement began in 2014. But U.S. Central Command said in a statement the crash "does not appear to be a result of enemy activity."

"This incident is under investigation," the statement said.

The Pave Hawk is a modified version of the Black Hawk helicopter.

"This tragedy reminds us of the risks our men and women face every day in service of our nations," said Brig. Gen. Jonathan P. Braga, director of operations, Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve. "We are thinking of the loved ones of these service members today."

An accompanying U.S. helicopter immediately reported the crash and a quick reaction force comprised of Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition members secured the scene.

"We are grateful to the Iraqi Security Forces for their immediate assistance in response to this tragic incident," Braga said. "Iraqi Security Forces continue to demonstrate their professionalism, capabilities and flexibility as we continue the fight towards a lasting defeat of [ISIS]."

Names of the fallen will be released by the U.S. Department of Defense after next of kin have been notified.

President Trump tweeted his condolences Friday to the seven people killed in the crash.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the brave troops lost in the helicopter crash on the Iraq-Syria border yesterday. Their sacrifice in service to our country will never be forgotten," Trump wrote.

The incident marked the second aircraft crash for the military in two days.

A U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet jet crashed off the coast of Key West, Florida, on Wednesday, killing both a pilot and a weapons systems officer.

Fox News' Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.

Nicole Darrah covers breaking and trending news for FoxNews.com. Follow her on Twitter @nicoledarrah.

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7 dead in US military helicopter crash near Iraq border ...

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Iraq : NPR

Iraq NPR's ongoing coverage of the Iraq War's effects abroad and on the home front. Stories of soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, veterans and their families. Iraq's effects on politics, society, and diplomacy. Photos, audio and commentary. Subscribe to the Iraq RSS feed.

This particular Mosul orphanage holds 18 children under the age of 6, some of them the abandoned children of Yazidi women kidnapped by Islamic State fighters. Jane Arraf/NPR hide caption

On Saturday a federal judge ruled an American detainee, held for three months in Iraq by the U.S. military without charge, has the right to counsel. In this 2008 photo, detainees are seen through the door of their cell at the U.S. detention facility at Camp Cropper in Baghdad, Iraq. Maya Alleruzzo/ASSOCIATED PRESS hide caption

Civil defense workers carrying the body of a civilian retrieved from the rubble of a house destroyed in airstrike. They've collected almost 1,500 bodies so far in west Mosul many of them women and children and are still finding casualties. Jane Arraf/NPR hide caption

Thousands of Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad take part in a training exercise in 2015. On Saturday, the Iraqi prime minister announced its war on the Islamic State group was over, after more than three years of fighting. ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Kawkab walks with a social worker in the Dabaga camp for displaced Iraqis. Kawkab says she was seven or eight when she saw ISIS militants shoot her mother dead. "They shot her with an assault rifle," she says. "They shot her and she died and they threw her off the bridge. I asked them, 'Why did you kill her? She's my mother. She didn't do anything.'" Jane Arraf/NPR hide caption

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Iraqi security forces advancing Thursday towards the town of Faysh Khabur, which is located on the Turkish and Syrian borders in the Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region. Ahmad al-Rubaye /AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Iraq : NPR

Over the centuries, numerous empires dominated Mesopotamia, the fertile land we now call Iraq. Located between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, its capital city of Baghdad was at one time the most significant commercial and cultural center in the entire Muslim world.

Dozens of invasions and wars followed, and in 1638, the Ottoman Turks conquered it.The Ottomans controlled Iraq until the onset of World War I, at which point they were pushed out of the country by the United Kingdom after having sided with Germany and the Central Powers.

Post-war, the League of Nations granted the United Kingdom authority over Mesopotamia and Palestine, and on November 11, 1920 the Mesopotamian region became known as the Sate of Iraq.

During the British occupation of Iraq, widespread tension erupted between the Shi'ites and Kurds as the two fought for independence. In an attempt to improve conditions, Britain replaced the civil commissioner in Baghdad with Sir Percy Cox who managed to subdue the uprising.

In 1932, a decade after Turkey's defeat in World War I, Iraq became an independent kingdom.

The Iraqi regime was briefly eradicated during World War II by the Golden Square officers, led by Rashid Al, before being destroyed by the Allied forces and becoming a base for allied attacks.

Following World War II, Iraq became a founding member of the Arab League and joined the United Nations.

An uprising broke out in 1948, and protests were widespread and violent throughout Baghdad. However, the disorder quickly subdued at the onset of the Arab-Israeli War between the State of Israel and their Arab neighbors.

Iraq claimed jurisdiction over Kuwait in 1961 after the country gained independence from Britain, and instability was quick to follow.

Kurdish nationalist leader, Mustafa Barzani began asserting control in the northern reaches of Iraq, sparking the First Kurdish Iraqi War.

A peace plan was announced in 1970 following the aftermath of the Kurdish Iraqi War permitting an extended level of autonomy for the Kurdish. Unfortunately this moment of peace was short-lived, and by 1974 the Second Kurdish Iraqi War broke out lasting until 1975.

Shortly after the Arab-Israeli war concluded in 1979, the Baath Party took control of the country, and after overthrowing Ahmed Hasan Al-Bakr (his close friend and leader of his party), Saddam Hussein gained control as Iraq's newest President.

In the 1980s, Iraq declared war on its neighbor Iran, and the conflict lasted eight years.

Tens of thousands died, many were victims of the chemical weapons introduced by Iraq. The economic loss to Iraq was estimated at more than $100 billion.

When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, provoked by the long standing territorial dispute between the two countries, the Gulf War began, and their forces were quickly defeated by a military coalition.

Today, after the U. S.-led invasion in March of 2003, the Hussein power base is gone, and Iraq is in transition. Unfortunately, the country's future is uncertain. There is continued political and religious tension, constant terrorist attacks and the Iraquis struggle to eke out an existence.

Iraq is currently considered to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Due to these conditions, travel to Iraq at this time is dangerous and unpredictable.

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