TURKEY CLAIMS VICTORY: Over the weekend, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his forces captured the northern Syrian city of Afrin, as the expected tough, urban fighting failed to materialize and Kurdish fighters seemed to melt away. U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that Turkey’s actions are pulling much-needed resources from the U.S.-backed fight against the Islamic State.

HAPPENING TODAY: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has arrived in the U.S., beginning a weeklong tour promoting his social and economic reforms as the oil-rich Gulf nation begins to shift from a petroleum-based economy. The 32-year-old heir to the throne meets with Trump at the White House tomorrow before setting off across America to promote his economic agenda.

In his first interview with an American television network, the prince was questioned on last night’s “60 Minutes” program by CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell about the Saudi-led war in Yemen. The United Nations has declared the Yemen war a humanitarian disaster that has killed more than 10,000 civilians. Salman blamed the Houthi militia, which he said uses “the humanitarian situation to their advantage in order to draw sympathy from the international community. They block humanitarian aid in order to create famine and a humanitarian crisis.” He also blamed Iran, which he says “is playing a harmful role” by protecting al-Qaeda operatives.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is furiously trying to fend off any move in Congress to cut off U.S. military support to the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen. The New York Times reports top Pentagon and State Department officials rushed to Capitol Hill last week to warn senators in a closed, classified briefing that approving a Senate measure could seriously damage relations with the longtime ally.

OMNIBUS WATCH: Congress has until Friday to pass a 2018 omnibus spending bill, including $700 billion for defense. A two-year budget deal last month was supposed to clear away political hurdles that have delayed Pentagon funding for nearly six months. “We’ve got to pass it,” Rep. Mac Thornberry, the House Armed Services chairman, told Fox News on Friday. He said the omnibus will include a “number of things I don’t like,” but will give a needed boost in funding to the military. “We have fallen behind in supporting our men and women adequately,” he said. “The bill that we’re going to vote on next week, for all its flaws, begins to fix those problems and to me that overrides any other concern that anybody has.”

NUKE AND MISSILE DEFENSE HEARINGS: Missile defense and the country’s nuclear weapons are on the menu this week for Congress’ armed services committees. Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, will testify Tuesday morning before House Armed Services about global missile threats and capabilities. The committee has a hearing slated Wednesday on ballistic missile defense with testimony from Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, director of the Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. James Dickinson, head of Army Space and Missile Defense Command, and others. On Thursday, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee about the challenges of maintaining and modernizing the nuclear arsenal.

AIR FORCE UNDER PRESSURE: Trump ratcheted up pressure on the Air Force last week with his surprise support of a “Space Force,” but the new military service is far from a done deal. The Air Force’s next steps could sway the likelihood of it becoming a reality. “They have an opportunity to reassure people that they can handle it and are willing to,” Thornberry said. The committee has tasked the Air Force with carrying out a raft of space reforms as part of the National Defense Authorization Act signed by Trump in December, including consolidating operations under its Space Command and slashing a deputy chief of staff position, a space adviser and a space council.

“We made a lot of changes in last year’s bill when it comes to space and I think what everybody is going to be watching for is how well the Air Force moves out to implement whole-heartedly what we did last year,” Thornberry said. “If they are reluctant for whatever reason to do that, then that will add fuel to the argument that they can’t deal with space, that they are too culturally dominated by air.”

RAND PAUL’S STAND: Sen. Rand Paul still plans to vote against the confirmation of Mike Pompeo as secretary of state, as well as Gina Haspel’s nomination to head the CIA, and do whatever he can as a single senator to block or stall their confirmations. “I will do whatever it takes, and that includes filibuster,” he told CNN yesterday.

On Pompeo: “I, frankly, think that Pompeo’s positions are too much of an advocate for regime change, really everywhere, North Korea, Iran, Russia, you name it. And I think, really, we need to see the world as it is. It doesn’t mean we need to support what happens everywhere in the world.”

On Haspel: “[What] America stands for is not torture. You know, torture is the hallmark of totalitarianism. … It’s just inconsistent with who we are as a people to have someone run our spy agency that has all this enormous power who was intimately involved with torture and, from everything we’re reading, was supportive of the policy.”

A WHISTLEBLOWER’S VIEW: John Kiriakou, a former CIA counterterrorism officer who served 23 months in prison for discussing classified aspects the enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA, writes in an op-ed in the Washington Post that while he believed the techniques were tantamount to torture, “there were plenty of people in the U.S. government who were all too willing to allow the practice to go on. One of them was Gina Haspel.

“But while I went to prison for disclosing the torture program, Haspel is about to get a promotion despite her connection to it. Trump’s move hurts morale among CIA officers who recognize that torture is wrong,” writes Kiriakou, who now co-hosts a program on Sputnik Radio, which is funded by the Russian government.

TROOPS ID’D: The Defense Department identified the seven airmen who died aboard a U.S. military special operations helicopter that crashed in Iraq on Thursday:

• Capt. Mark K. Weber, 29, of Colorado Springs, Colo. He was assigned to the 38th Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Ga.
• Capt. Andreas B. O’Keeffe, 37, of Center Moriches, N.Y., assigned to the 106th Rescue Wing at the Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base, N.Y.
• Capt. Christopher T. Zanetis, 37, of Long Island City, N.Y., assigned to the 106th.
• Master Sgt. Christopher J. Raguso, 39, of Commack, N.Y., assigned to the 106th.
• Staff Sgt. Dashan J. Briggs, 30, of Port Jefferson Station, N.Y., assigned to the 106th.
• Master Sgt. William R. Posch, 36, of Indialantic, Fla., assigned to the 308th Rescue Squadron, Air Force Reserve, at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.
• Staff Sgt. Carl P. Enis, 31, of Tallahassee, Fla., assigned to the 308th.

RUSSIAN SNOOPS: Russian nuclear attack submarines conducted a mission in which they approached U.S. military bases with the intent of staying undetected, a Russian military official told Russian state-owned media.

VLAD’S DENIAL: Russian President Vladimir Putin, fresh off winning re-election on Sunday, dismissed British accusations of the Kremlin’s involvement in an ex-spy’s poisoning as “nonsense.”

THE RUNDOWN

AP: Russian vote problems: Ballot stuffing, coercion, gimmicks

Washington Post: Poisoning of Russian ex-spy puts spotlight on Moscow’s secret military labs

The Hill: Saudi Energy Deal Push Sparks Nuclear Weapon Concerns

New York Times: Army, Struggling to Get Technology in Soldiers’ Hands, Tries the Unconventional

USNI News: U.S. Evolving Middle East Operations Of Carrier Strike Group As ISIS Loses Ground, Iranian Drones Make Daily Appearances

Military.com: Air Force General Downplays Possible Restrictions At Incirlik

Reuters: U.S., South Korea, Japan hold meeting on Korean denuclearization: Blue House

BuzzFeed: CIA Nominee Gina Haspel Ran A Black Site. That’s About All We Know.

CNN: UK diplomat cites proof that Russia stockpiled nerve agent

Navy Times: Lawmakers Criticize Navy’s Plan To Retire One Of Two Hospital Ships

Fox News: Putin dismisses claims Russia was involved in spy’s poisoning as ‘nonsense’

Army Times: First Next-Gen Combat Vehicle and robotic wingman prototypes to emerge in 2020

The Hill: Army posts St. Patrick’s Day-themed video showing exploding clovers