US President Joe Biden has announced the appointment of Army Lt. Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla to be the commander of the US Central Command ("Centcom"), which oversees US military operations in the Middle East and North Africa, replacing General Kenneth Mackenzie.

In case the Senate approves his appointment, the Paratroopers General will take command of the US Army Central Command "Centcom" and replace the Marine Corps General, "Marines", Kenneth McKenzie, who has been Commander of Central Command since March 2019, and his term ends in the spring of this year. 

According to the U.S. Senate website, Congress approved Kurilla's candidacy and referred it to the Armed Services Committee, while the Pentagon said there was still nothing to announce.

Who are you, General Kurilla?

General Michael Kurilla's biography states that he was born in Alec River, Minnesota, and at age 55 he held prominent positions in the U.S. military, and since 2019 has commanded the Eighteenth Airborne Corps, which also includes the base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where most of United States Ground Intervention Forces are based.

General Kurilla graduated from the West Point Military Academy and fought mainly in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, where he was severely wounded by bullets during an attack in Mosul in 2005.

He was the chief of staff of General Joseph Vottel, who commanded the Central Command during the administrations of former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and before that he commanded the 82nd Paratroopers Brigade, which was famous for participating in landing on the Normandy coast in 1944.

If his appointment is accepted, General Kurilla will oversee U.S. military operations in 21 countries in the Middle East, Northeast Africa and Central and South Asia.

The Central Command is one of eleven United States Department of Defense unified combat units established in 1983, and its responsibilities include overseeing Washington's military presence in the Middle East and North Africa, and is in charge of military operations in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.