US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed Army Lieutenant General Brett Sylvia, a senior Pentagon official involved in strategy and planning, as the United States and Israel prepare for a potential new round of attacks on Iran.
General Sylvia also served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was not directly involved in day-to-day operations related to the conflict, but his removal comes as military tensions in the region remain high.
The Pentagon is investigating a leak, although officials have not disclosed what information may have been exposed or whether it was connected to General Sylvia’s dismissal.
The move is the latest unexplained removal of a senior US military officer under Mr Hegseth. Several generals and admirals have been dismissed without public reasons, disrupting the Pentagon’s senior operations.
The United States currently has two aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea, while a third, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, is en route. Having three carriers in the Middle East at the same time is unusual; the last such deployment was during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
