Operation Serval it had lost a few days earlier. French airstrikes appeared to stop the rebel advance to the south which prompted the intervention and destroyed an Ansar Dine command post near Konna. France asked the U.S. to speed up its contribution by sending drones to improve surveillance over the vast area of northern Mali. The Pentagon was reported to have studied the French request. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom announced that his country would lend logistical support to the operation. ECOWAS troops preparing to deploy to Mali also decided to move up their arrival date to January 14
Emory S. Foster Emory S. Foster Emory S. Foster (November 5, 1839 – December 23, 1902) was a major in the 7th Missouri State Militia Cavalry during the American Civil War. Afterwards he was a St. Louis, Missouri newspaper editor who fought a duel with rival editor and former Confederate John N. Edwards. Foster was born in Greene County, Missouri. He was a staunch Unionist whose brother Marshall was murdered by secessionists in early 1861 on his way to vote. During the American Civil War, on Emory formed a Unionist Home Guard company called "Foster's Mounted Rangers" in which he served as captain,