US President Donald Trump signed the defense budget for 2020 worth $ 738 billion to take effect, after Congress approved it last Tuesday.

During the signing ceremony on Friday, Trump said that during his rule, the budgets of the Ministry of Defense witnessed annual increases and reached a record in 2020.

The budget, called the "National Defense Approval Act", allocates $ 635 billion for core expenditures, 71.5 billion for the Potential Operations Fund abroad, 23.1 billion for defense spending, and 8.1 billion for other defense expenditures.

Under the law, the United States will be equipped with 100 F-35 aircraft, 150 military helicopters, four Virginia submarines and a warship, as well as increasing the salaries of military personnel by a larger percentage over the past ten years.

Here are some notable aspects of the new US defense budget:

US Army Space Force
The budget approved the creation of a space force, representing the sixth branch of the US armed forces after the ground forces, the US Air Force, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard. The United States is seeking to counter the growing capabilities of Russia and China in space.

Just as the Marine Corps is under the authority of the US Navy, the space force will be placed under the authority of the Secretary of the Air Force, and it will be led by the Chief of Space Operations.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esber likened the birth of this new force to the creation of the US Air Force, which seceded from the military in 1947.

Trump said that "space is the new front of the war in the world," and last August he established a military space command under the name "Space Com", which became the 11th military command of the Pentagon, meaning that it is equivalent, for example, to the Central Military Command responsible for American military operations in the Middle East, or "Southcom" responsible for Latin America.

US Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said the space force would initially have 16,000 soldiers and civilians already responsible for space-related operations within the US Air Force. The space force will be led by General Jay Raymond, who is now commanding Spacecom.

The force currently has a limited budget of barely $ 40 million for fiscal year 2020 dedicated to the creation of the Space Force. Congress gave the Defense Department 18 months to complete its formation.

Caesar's law to punish the Assad regime
As part of the defense budget law, Trump passed the "Caesar Law to Protect Syrian Civilians," which requires sanctions against the Syrian regime and its supporters for war crimes committed in the country.

The law allows the Syrian regime to be held responsible for war crimes committed during eight years, and also permits the imposition of additional sanctions and financial restrictions on institutions and individuals who deal commercially with the regime.

The law allows for sanctions against foreign mercenaries from Russia and Iran, and high-ranking military and civilian figures of the regime, including its president, Bashar al-Assad.

The law bears the name "Caesar", a symbolic name for a former Syrian military who defected from the Syrian regime and was able to smuggle thousands of pictures of the bodies of victims who were killed under torture.

In a statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Trump had taken an important step by signing the law to hold Assad and his regime responsible for the massacres he committed in Syria.

Turkey and F-35 aircraft
The budget law stipulated that Turkey should not deliver F-35 fighter planes on the pretext of Ankara's continued purchases of the Russian S-400 missile defense system, and that sanctions should be imposed on Turkey within the framework of the "Fighting America's Enemies through Sanctions" law, known simply as "Katsa".

Funding Kurdish units in Syria
The budget law did not disclose the amount the United States allocates annually to support Kurdish units in Syria.

Each year, the United States allocates about $ 500 million in its defense budget to support some groups militarily. The law stressed the need for the US Department of Defense to inform Congress in writing of the details of the type of support required, its type, and the groups that would benefit from it in Syria.

Sanctions on Russia
Trump, by signing the budget law, imposed sanctions targeting companies involved in building the "Nord Stream 2" natural gas pipeline that arrives in Germany. This line aims to double the capacity to carry gas with the Nord Stream 1 line.

With this line, which will pass at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, Russia can bypass Ukraine and Poland to deliver gas to Germany. The US Congress fears the Kremlin project will give influence over Washington's European allies.

Commenting on US sanctions, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow would press ahead with the project "regardless of the sanctions imposed by any party."

The German government also rejected the US measures, which it described as "cross-border sanctions," and also warned Washington against interfering in its affairs.