US soldiers, civilian interpreter killed during ambush in Syria by apparent ISIS gunman: Officials
ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Two U.S. soldiers and one civilian U.S. interpreter were killed in Syria Saturday after they were ambushed by a likely ISIS gunman, U.S. officials said.
The gunman was killed by “partner forces” during a skirmish, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Three other service members were injured during the incident in Palmyra, Syria, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. Two U.S. officials told ABC News the wounded were American.
“The attack occurred as the soldiers were conducting a key leader engagement. Their mission was in support of on-going counter-ISIS / counter-terrorism operations in the region,” Parnell said in a statement.
This marked the first combat deaths since President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office.
Two U.S. officials told ABC News that Saturday’s attack “took place in an area where the Syrian President does not have control.”
The identities of the soldiers were not immediately revealed due to ongoing next of kin notifications, officials said.
The three American fatalities in today’s attack in Syria are the first combat deaths in that country since 2019 when four Americans were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Manbij, Syria.
Prior to today there had been 10 U.S. military deaths in Syria, including a mix of hostile and non-hostile deaths. The most recent U.S. military death in Syria was a non-hostile death in February 2022.
(LONDON) — French authorities arrested two men in relation to last week’s major jewel heist at Paris’ Louvre Museum, the French National Police confirmed to ABC News, amid a nationwide manhunt for the perpetrators.
One suspect was arrested at 10 p.m. on Saturday at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport while trying to board a plane bound for Algeria, police said.
Police did not offer any information on the timing or circumstances of the second suspect’s arrest.
Both men are suspected of having been part of a team alleged to have robbed the Louvre last week. They are both from Seine Saint Denis, a northeastern suburb of Paris, police said.
No new information has been made public on the whereabouts of the stolen jewels that Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau estimated to be worth $102 million.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez praised investigators for making the arrests in a social media post on Sunday.
“I would like to offer my warmest congratulations to the investigators who worked tirelessly as I asked them to and who always had my full confidence,” Nuñez said in the post. “The investigations must continue in accordance with the secrecy of the investigation under the authority of the specialized interregional court of the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office.”
“We will continue with the same determination! Let’s keep going!” Nuñez added.
Authorities launched a nationwide manhunt for the Louvre suspects after the theft from the museum’s Apollo Gallery on the morning of Oct. 19, shortly after the museum opened to the public.
The stolen items included crowns, necklaces, earrings and brooches, some of which once belonged to Emperor Napoleon and his wife.
The team of thieves drove up to the side of the museum in what police described as a “mobile freight elevator” equipped with a metal ladder on the back that was extended up to a window, according to the Paris police.
“They deployed the freight elevator, securing the surroundings with construction cones, before accessing the second floor, in the Apollo Gallery, by breaking the window with an angle grinder,” according to the police statement.
“Inside, they then smashed two display cases, ‘Napoleon jewels’ and ‘French crown jewels,’ using the angle grinder and stole numerous pieces of high-value jewelry,” police said.
French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that authorities would catch those responsible for what he described as an “attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history.”
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati, who is overseeing the investigation alongside the Justice Ministry, described the heist to ABC News as “a simple, but spectacular operation.”
Soon after the theft, investigators said four suspects left the scene on two motorbikes, winding their way through central Paris and last spotted speeding southeast on Highway A6 out of Paris and in the direction of Lyon.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(LONDON) — No compromise has been reached on the question of territorial control to reach a peace settlement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said following his meeting with European leaders on Monday.
“The Americans think we must look for compromises. There are difficult questions about territories. In this regard, there is no compromise for now,” Zelenskyy told reporters on a plane after the meeting in London, translated from Ukrainian.
Following talks in Geneva, Moscow and Miami over the past couple of weeks, the initial 28-point peace plan is now 20 points, Zelenskyy said. Key issues such as territorial control and future Western security guarantees for Ukraine remain unsettled.
Zelenskyy said the “strongest security guarantee” that Ukraine can get would be from the United States, adding, “They are so far reacting positively to such a move.”
The Coalition of the Willing, made up of mostly European leaders, will also provide security guarantees, but Zelenskyy said he has not received an answer on what they would be ready to do in the event of a “repeated aggression from Russia.”
Ahead of traveling to the U.K.,Zelenskyy on Sunday urged “collective pressure on Russia” amid the latest American peace push in Ukraine, and as Moscow and Kyiv both continued their long-range barrages despite renewed diplomatic maneuvers.
“We are starting a new diplomatic week,” Zelenskyy said in posts to social media, saying Ukrainian representatives would be meeting with European counterparts in the coming days.
Zelenskyy said the most pressing questions included “security issues, support for our resilience and support packages for our defense.” For the latter, “air defense and long-term funding for Ukraine” are Kyiv’s prime concerns, he said.
Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian negotiating team held “substantive discussions” with U.S. envoys in recent days, with Kyiv’s delegation — led by National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov and Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov — now returning to Europe.
“I expect detailed information from them on everything that was said to the American envoys in Moscow, and on the nuances the Americans are prepared to modify in negotiations with us and with the Russians,” Zelenskyy said.
“Ukraine deserves a dignified peace, and whether there will be peace depends entirely on Russia — on our collective pressure on Russia and on the sound negotiating positions of the United States, Europe, and all our other partners,” Zelenskyy wrote.
“Russia must be held accountable for what it is doing — for the daily strikes, for the constant terror against our people, and for the war itself,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump on Sunday appeared to express frustration with the Ukrainian position on the latest U.S.-proposed peace deal, which neither Kyiv nor Moscow have publicly committed to supporting in full.
“We’ve been speaking to President Putin and we’ve been speaking to Ukrainian leaders, including President Zelenskyy,” Trump told reporters. “I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn’t yet read the proposal — that was as of a few hours ago.”
“His people love it, but he has — Russia’s fine with it,” Trump continued. “Russia’s, you know, Russia, Russia, I guess would rather have the whole country, when you think of it. But Russia is, I believe, fine with it. But I’m not sure that Zelenskyy is fine with it. His people love it, but he hasn’t read it.”
The U.S. initially presented Kyiv with a 28-point peace plan that critics dismissed as equivalent to Ukrainian capitulation. The blueprint was widely perceived as pro-Russian for its demand that Ukraine surrender territories in the east of the country and cap the size of its military. Nonetheless, Moscow refrained from offering its full backing, though Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the document could “form the basis for future agreements.”
Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner have since traveled to Moscow to meet with Putin and held meetings with Ukrainian representatives as they sought to firm up a potential framework for a future peace deal.
Long-range Russian drone and missile strikes continued all across Ukraine through the weekend, with Ukrainian officials reporting that the attacks focused on critical energy infrastructure.
On Monday morning, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 149 drones into the country overnight, of which 131 were shot down or suppressed.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said in a post to Telegram that the continued Russian strikes had caused significant power outages for customers in Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy and Chernihiv regions.
Ukraine also continued its own cross-border strike campaign. Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday that its forces downed at least 74 Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over the Moscow region.
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie and Meghan Mistry contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — At least four people were killed and three others were injured as a major fire engulfed a residential apartment complex in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on Wednesday, with photos and video from the scene appearing to show serious damage to several buildings.
“A fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po at 2.51 p.m. today … The fire was upgraded to No. 3 alarm at 3.02 p.m., and to No. 4 alarm at 3.34 p.m.,” according to a statement from the Hong Kong government.
By 6:22 p.m. local time the fire had been upgraded again to a No. 5 alarm, city officials said.
Officials said nine people had been transfered to two local hospitals, including four people who were pronounced dead.
Three people were in critical condition, one was in serious position and another was listed as stable, officials said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
