US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has decided to lift the military's ban on women serving in combat, a move that could open thousands of frontline warfighting jobs to female service members, a senior US defence official said.
Panetta and General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, "are expected to announce the lifting of the direct combat exclusion rule for women in the military," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters on Wednesday.
Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane reports from Washington.