Spirit Airlines plane struck by gunfire while attempting to land in Haiti
Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images
(HAITI) — A Spirit Airlines plane flying from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Haiti was diverted after it was struck by gunfire while attempting to land in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian National Office of Civil Aviation (OFNAC) told ABC News.
The plane was struck by gunfire four times while attempting to land at Touissant Louverture Airport in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, OFNAC said.
The Spirit Airlines plane “diverted and landed safely in Santiago, Dominican Republic,” Spirit Airlines said in a statement Monday, adding that no passengers reported injuries and one flight attendant onboard the plane reported unspecified “minor injuries” and was undergoing medical evaluation.
The plane came within 550 feet of the runway before aborting its landing and diverting to the Dominican Republic, according to data on FlightRadar24.
After the plane arrived in the Dominican Republic, “an inspection revealed evidence of damage to the aircraft consistent with gunfire,” the Spirit Airlines statement said. The plane was taken out of service and a different aircraft was secured to return the passengers and crew to Fort Lauderdale, the statement added.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed in a statement that the Spirit Airlines flight landed safely in the Dominican Republic “after the plane was reportedly damaged by gunfire while trying to land” at the Port-au-Prince airport.
Two other flights headed for Toussaint Louverture Airport were also diverted “as a precaution,” the FAA said in its statement, adding that the airport was now closed.
All airlines have temporarily suspended flights at Touissant Louverture Airport, OFNAC told ABC News.
American Airlines and JetBlue issued statements Monday announcing that they had suspended flights into Haiti until at least Thursday.
The U.S. Embassy in Haiti issued a security alert saying that it was “aware of gang-led efforts to block travel to and from Port-au-Prince which may include armed violence, and disruptions to roads, ports, and airports.”
“The security situation in Haiti is unpredictable and dangerous,” the embassy alert continued, further noting that “The U.S. government cannot guarantee your safety traveling to airports, borders, or during any onward travel. You should consider your personal security situation before traveling anywhere in Haiti.”
(DAMASCUS, SYRIA) — Rebel forces in Syria are building a transitional government after toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad in a lightning-quick advance across the country.
Meanwhile, the ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group. The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza.
Tensions also remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides.
US has unseen evidence of Assad atrocities, State Department says
In response to a question about the suspected mass graves being uncovered in Syria, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday that the U.S. has evidence of other atrocities that occurred under toppled President Bashar Assad’s regime that is not currently available to the public.
“When you look at the evidence that is coming out of Syria in the now 10 days since the Assad regime fell, it continues to shock the conscience,” he said.
“And I’m referring not just to the mass graves that have been uncovered, but information that we have been gathering inside the United States government, including information that’s not yet publicly known,” Miller added.
“We just continue to see more and more evidence pile up of how brutal they were in mistreating their own people, in murdering and torturing their own people,” Miller said.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
US in ‘intense’ talks to prevent escalating conflict in north Syria
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Tuesday that “fairly intense diplomatic discussions” aimed at staving off renewed fighting between Turkey plus its allied militias and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northern Syria were ongoing.
“We continue to engage with Turkey about the situation in northern Syria,” Miller said. “As you know, we worked out a ceasefire for the area around Manbij. That ceasefire has been holding. It had expired. It has been extended until the end of this week, and we continue to engage with the SDF, with Turkey about a path forward,” he said.
Although the U.S. is allied with the SDF, Miller described Turkey’s concern about the terror threat posed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party — a U.S.-designated terror group which Turkey claims is directly linked to the SDF — as “very legitimate.”
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
38 Palestinians killed in Gaza strikes, officials say
At least 38 Palestinians were killed and more than 200 injured in the past 24 hours of Israeli strikes in Gaza, according to Palestinian Civil Defence authorities in the Hamas-run territory.
The Israel Defense Forces also issued a new evacuation order for Palestinians residing in the Bureij area in the center of the strip.
-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz and Joe Simonetti
IDF removes alleged Israeli settlers from south Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces told ABC News on Wednesday it “removed from the area” a group of alleged Israeli settlers that crossed into Lebanese territory.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that the civilians indeed crossed the blue line by a few meters and after being identified by IDF forces, they were removed from the area,” the IDF said in a statemen.
“This is a serious incident that is being investigated,” the IDF added. “Any attempt to approach or cross the border into Lebanese territory without coordination poses a life-threatening risk and interferes with the IDF’s ability to operate in the area and carry out its mission.”
The south of Lebanon remains under IDF evacuation orders following Israel’s recent ground offensive there. Israeli forces have committed to withdrawing from all Lebanese territory within 60 days of a ceasefire that came into force on Nov. 27.
-ABC News’ Anna Burd and Joe Simonetti
64 patients at Kamal Adwan Hospital still facing relentless bombing
The Kamal Adwan Hospital has been facing relentless and continuous bombing injuring more people in the building.
“The third floor was set on fire, and the water tank was destroyed. The intensive care unit was also targeted while the patients were inside. There were terrifying sounds in the hospital courtyard, and we saw a military vehicle advancing towards the hospital. Barrels were placed, and three of them exploded, causing panic and terror in the hospital,” Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, director of the hospital, told ABC News.
“Drones are constantly dropping bombs on the hospital. Anyone moving in the hospital risks being injured or killed. So far, there is no electricity, water or oxygen at all,” the director said.
Israel will occupy Gaza Strip, defense minister says
Israel will have security control over the Gaza Strip, effectively occupying it, Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X Tuesday.
“After we defeat Hamas’ military and governmental power in Gaza, Israel will have security control over Gaza with full freedom of action, just as in Judea and Samaria,” Katz said.
“We will not allow any terrorist organization against Israeli communities and Israeli citizens from Gaza. We will not allow a return to the reality of before October 7th,” Katz said.
Katz’s predecessor, Yoav Gallant, repeatedly insisted that Israel wanted to avoid the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip.
Ceasefire deal ‘possible’ if Israel does not add new conditions, Hamas says
Amid reports that a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel may be edging closer, Hamas said a “prisoner exchange is possible if the occupation stops putting new conditions.”
More than 45,000 people were killed and over 100,000 injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry
Over 90% of Gaza’s 2.1 million people have been displaced, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham head Ahmed al-Sharaa — also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani — told The Times in a new interview that the transitional government in Damascus does “not want any conflict, whether with Israel or anyone else.”
Israel is continuing airstrikes across Syria and has occupied parts of a buffer zone — demilitarized in a 1974 bilateral deal — running between the two nations. Israeli leaders say their military operations are intended to prevent “extremists” from launching attacks into Israel.
But Sharaa said the new administration “will not let Syria be used as a launchpad for attacks.”
“The Syrian people need a break, and the strikes must end and Israel has to pull back to its previous positions,” he added.
Sharaa has asked the international community to pressure Israel to stop its strikes, withdraw from the buffer zone and respect the 1974 agreement.
-ABC News’ Bruno Nota and Joe Simonetti
‘Massive’ Damascus graves could hold 100,000 bodies, NGO says
Mouaz Moustafa, the head of the U.S.-based Syrian advocacy organization, the Syrian Emergency Task Force, told ABC News there are believed to be well over 100,000 bodies in a “massive” burial site discovered 25 miles north of Damascus.
Moustafa told ABC News from the Syrian capital that the site in al-Qutayfah consists of “massive graves” where “lines or trenches were 6 to 7 meters deep, 3 to 4 meters wide and 50 to 150 meters long.”
“In my conversation with the gravediggers, they told me that four tractor trailer trucks each carrying over 150 bodies came twice a week from 2012 until 2018,” Moustafa said.
“The bulldozer excavator driver described how intelligence officers forced workers to use the bulldozer to flatten and compress the bodies to make them fit and easier to bury before digging the next line or trench,” he added.
The mass grave contained men, women, children and the elderly “tortured to death” by former President Bashar Assad’s regime, Moustafa said.
The overthrown president was in power from 2000 to his ousting on Dec. 8. In his first statement since fleeing Syria, Assad on Monday blamed a “terrorist onslaught” for his defeat. His toppling marked the end of a 14-year conflict between Damascus and a collection of rebel groups.
Opposition groups and rescue workers are still uncovering evidence of the regime’s human rights abuses. SETF believes it has identified three other mass graves so far, as well as two “smaller ones,” Moustafa said.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
Israel to have ‘full freedom of action’ in Gaza after war, minister says
Israel “will have security control over Gaza with full freedom of action” after the fighting in the devastated Palestinian territory ends, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post to X on Tuesday.
Katz added that Israeli access to the strip will be comparable to its access to the occupied West Bank, which is nominally controlled by the Palestinian Authority but in coordination with Israel.
“We will not allow any terrorist organization against Israeli communities and Israeli citizens from Gaza,” Katz wrote. “We will not allow a return to the reality of before Oct. 7.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has faced domestic and international criticism for its failure to present a clear vision for post-war Gaza beyond the destruction of Hamas as a ruling force.
President Joe Biden is among the world leaders that have warned Israel against any post-war occupation of Gaza or permanent displacement of Palestinians.
State Department: Search for Tice still possible without team on the ground
The State Department’s lack of boots on the ground in Syria isn’t interfering in its efforts to track down missing American journalist Austin Tice, spokesperson Matthew Miller contended on Monday.
The department has had “more than one communication” with rebel group HTS “over the past week,” he told reporters. It was also in touch with other groups, like the White Helmets, that were helping with the search, he said.
“We feel that right now we are able to get good information,” he said.
Tice, an American freelance journalist and Marine Corps veteran, was kidnapped while reporting in Syria more than a decade ago.
In a recent letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu obtained by ABC News, Tice’s family “urgently” asked the Israelis to pause their strikes in a neighborhood in Damascus where they believe he may be held prisoner and to deploy assets to the area to help search for him.
“I’m going to be looking for help anywhere I can, and what I’ve learned in 12 years and four months is go to the top first,” Tice’s mother, Debra Tice, told reporters on Monday when asked about the outreach.
“I think it would be polite to say the least, that perhaps they’re not bombing as people are trying to clear the prison. That would be my first suggestion,” she added.
ABC News has reached out to the prime minister’s office for comment.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston and Will Gretsky
Israeli defense minister expresses optimism for ceasefire deal
Israeli officials are expressing optimism about the prospects of a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
“We are closer to a deal than in any other point since the previous deal, the matter is top priority,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said while addressing the Knesset on Monday, according to the spokesperson of the foreign affairs and security committee.
The remarks come after Mossad chief David Barnea traveled to Doha, Qatar, last week for ceasefire negotiations.
Assad says he fled Syria after drones attacked Russian air base
Former Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday released his first statement since the collapse of his regime, posting a statement to the presidency’s official Telegram channel.
“My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur in the final hours of the battles,” Assad said. “As terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus, I moved to Latakia in coordination with our Russian allies to oversee combat operations.”
“Upon arrival at the Khmeimim air base that morning, it became clear that our forces had completely withdrawn from all battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen,” the statement continued.
“As the field situation in the area continued to deteriorate, the Russian military base itself came under intensified attack by drone strikes.”
“With no viable means of leaving the base, Moscow requested that the base’s command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia,” Assad wrote.
“This took place a day after the fall of Damascus, following the collapse of the final military positions and the resulting paralysis of all state institutions,” he added.
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian, Ghazi Balkiz and Joe Simonetti
Gaza death toll passes 45,000, officials say
A series of Israeli airstrikes across Gaza over the weekend and into Monday morning pushed the total death toll in the strip since Oct. 7, 2023, to more than 45,000 people, according to data from the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Per ministry figures, more than 2% of Gaza’s total pre-war residents of 2.23 million people have been killed in 14 months of conflict with Israel.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
Israel has ‘no interest’ in Syria conflict, Netanyahu says as strikes continue
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his nation has no interest in conflict with the incoming Syrian government, though indicated that Israeli airstrikes and occupation of Syrian territory will continue.
“We have no interest in a conflict with Syria,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “We will determine Israeli policy regarding Syria according to the reality on the ground.”
“I recall that for decades Syria was an active enemy state toward Israel,” he said. “It has attacked us repeatedly.”
Speaking of former President Bashar Assad’s close ties with Iran and its proxies, Netanyahu continued, “It allowed others to attack us from its territory. It allowed Iran to arm Hezbollah through its territory.”
The prime minister issued the statement after another night of heavy airstrikes across Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday there have been around 473 Israeli airstrikes on the country since Assad’s fall on Dec. 8.
“Over the course of several days, we have destroyed the capabilities that the Assad regime took decades to build,” Netanyahu said. “We have also struck the weapons supply routes through Syria to Hezbollah.”
Netanyahu said he and Defense Minister Israel Katz had instructed the Israel Defense Forces “to thwart the potential threats from Syria and prevent terrorist elements from taking control close to our border,” a reference to Israeli occupation of a buffer zone between the two nations established in a 1974 peace deal.
“We are committed to preventing the rearming of Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said. “This is a prolonged test for Israel, which we must meet, and which we will meet. I unequivocally declare to Hezbollah and to Iran: In order to prevent you from attacking us, we will continue to take action against you as necessary, in every arena and at all times.”
Over the weekend, Netanyahu’s government also approved a plan to double the territory of the Golan Heights, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967 but is still recognized as Syrian territory by the vast majority of the international community.
“We will continue to hold onto it, cause it to blossom and settle in it,” Netanyahu said.
Israel unilaterally annexed the strategic area — which overlooks Damascus from the southwest — in 1981. The U.S. recognized Israeli sovereignty over the region in 2019.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
US embassy tells Americans to leave ‘volatile’ Syria
The U.S. Embassy in Damascus — which suspended operations in 2012 — said in a Monday post to X that the “security situation in Syria continues to be volatile and unpredictable with armed conflict and terrorism throughout the country.”
U.S. citizens, it said, “should depart Syria if possible. U.S. citizens who are unable to depart should prepare contingency plans for emergency situations and be prepared to shelter in place for extended periods.”
U.S. officials have said they are in touch with the most prominent rebel groups now building a transition government after toppling former president Bashar Assad’s regime, but the eventual shape of U.S.-Syrian relations remains unclear.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — the most prominent of the rebel groupings — has roots in al-Qaeda and is still listed as a terrorist organization in the U.S. and European Union. Its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, is still the subject of a $10 million U.S. bounty.
The U.S. government “is unable to provide any routine or emergency consular services to U.S. citizens in Syria,” the embassy said. “U.S. citizens in Syria who are in need of emergency assistance to depart should contact the U.S. Embassy in the country they plan to enter.”
The embassy urged citizens in Syria to be “prepared to shelter in place should the situation deteriorate” and to ensure access to all required travel documents.
Netanyahu says he spoke with Trump on Syria
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night released a video in Hebrew addressing Israel’s actions in Syria. He says he discussed this with President-Elect Trump “last night.” He called it a “very friendly, very warm and very important conversation,” and said they spoke about “the need to complete Israel’s victory,” as well as freeing the hostages in Gaza.
On Syria, Netanyahu said he has instructed the Israel Defense Forces “to thwart potential threats from Syria, and to prevent terrorist elements from taking over near our border.” He also said the IDF’s airstrikes in Syria have destroyed “capabilities that the Assad regime had built over decades,” as well as the “arms supply routes from Syria to Hezbollah.”
Netanyahu said Israel has “no interest in confronting Syria” but also said Israel will continue to act to stop Hezbollah from rearming “as much as necessary, in every arena and at any time.”
-ABC News’ Bruno Nota
US aircraft carrier strike group enters Middle East
The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in the Middle East, according to U.S. Central Command.
On Dec. 14, the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (HSTCSG) consisting of the flagship USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75); Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1 with nine embarked aviation squadrons; Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 28; the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, USS Gettysburg… pic.twitter.com/mtfsiBvCyh
(LONDON) — After dedicating his life to fighting the regime of Assad, Mazen Al-Hamada did not live to see it fall.
A symbol of resilience and courage, the famous Syrian activist was found dead in the “slaughterhouse” prison of Saydnaya in Damascus, as confirmed by the Syrian Emergency Task Force to ABC News.
An unverified photo circulating online shows his disfigured face and suggests he was killed just before the rebels that ousted Assad reached the prison to liberate detainees, according to independent observers.
On Thursday, hundreds gathered in Damascus for Al-Hamada’s funeral, where one of his sisters leading the procession called him “a martyr of revolution and freedom.”
Originally from Deir Ezzor, Al-Hamada was first arrested in 2011 when he organized pro-democracy rallies in the context of the Arab Spring and documented the brutal repression from the Syrian government.
In 2012, he was arrested again for trying to smuggle baby formula into a besieged suburb of Damascus, returning to prison a second time.
He left Syria in 2013 and was granted asylum in the Netherlands a year later.
Once abroad, the world got to know the horrors endured by Al-Hamada, along with thousands of detainees, as he described them to huge crowds of students, policymakers and the press. He did not spare details of the numerous ways in which he had been tortured, reliving his trauma over and over again to raise awareness.
“Mazen poured his heart into every meeting and to anyone he spoke with,” Humanitarian Programs Director at the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF) Natalie Larrison, who was on the road with him and became his close friend, told ABC News. As they traveled the United States, meeting everyone who would listen, from congress members in Washington, D.C., to students in Arkansas, Larrison said he was always “in the backseat singing and clapping and jumping up and down.”
Larrison also said Al-Hamada loved American tacos, especially from Taco Bell, and that he told her he was engaged and kept the ring even after his fiancé had been killed while he was in prison the first time.
With every testimony, Al-Hamada quickly became one of the most prominent advocates for Syrian prisoners held by Assad’s regime, at least 157,000 between 2011 and August 2024, including thousands of women and children, according to a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).
“Mazen was a gentle soul,” Sara Afshar, a friend of Al-Hamada and the director of the 2017 documentary “Syria’s Disappeared” in which he was featured, told ABC News, “A lot of people in his situation would focus on looking after themselves… but everything that motivated him, with an incredible sense of urgency, every second of the day, was how to get the other prisoners out. Because he knew what they were going through.”
Along with thousands of users on social media, Afshar called for justice for Al-Hamada and the other Syrian detainees who are dead or unaccounted for, echoing the words that Al-Hamada himself said in an interview which has been trending on social media since the news of his death.
“I will not rest until I take them to court and get justice,” Al-Hamada said in the interview, his sunken eyes in tears unable to hide the pain behind his words. “Justice for me and my friends who they killed. Even if it costs my life. Bring them to justice, no matter what.”
Al-Hamada returned to Syria four years ago in a shocking move that some people close to him described as the result of his disappointment in the international community. The last time he was active on his WhatsApp was on Feb. 22, 2020, according to the SETF.
“He became discouraged over time because he gave it his all with people promising to help, and nothing changed,” Larrison told ABC News.
Others, including his sister who spoke at his funeral on Thursday, believe the regime promised him safety if he returned to Syria in an attempt to stop his international anti-Assad campaign. She also said they threatened to hurt his family still in Syria.
“The circumstances of Mazen’s death underscore the heavy price borne by those who dared speak out against Assad’s brutal regime,” the Syrian Emergency Task Force said in a statement remembering Al-Hamada.
The Dutch government never commented on his departure, fostering rumors that it failed to support the refugee and his efforts to raise awareness for the Syrian cause.
When asked about Al-Hamada’s legacy, the people who knew him said it would be justice and his contribution to freeing Syria from Assad’s five decadeslong regime.
“Seeing his funeral service today in Damascus is a testimony to what he meant to the Syrian people. His tireless journey has not been for nothing and his legacy will continue to live on in a free Syria, and he will be remembered always for helping his people be free,” Larrison told ABC News.
“We talked about justice and accountability when he recounted the horrors he had experienced. He didn’t want revenge. What he wanted was justice in a court of law,” Afshar told ABC News. “The world failed him and the other disappeared, and now they are dead. But with all the evidence that is being gathered and the work that so many Syrians have done for years, I have hope that there will be justice. That will be Mazen’s legacy.”
(LONDON) Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Israel Foreign Minister Israel Katz said.
The IDF initially said it was “checking the possibility” that the Hamas leader was among three killed in Gaza and were working to confirm identification through dental images and DNA testing.
The 62-year-old has served as Hamas’ leader in Gaza since 2017 and assumed leadership of the group’s Political Bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran this July.
He has been credited as the mastermind behind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that led to the deaths of 1,200 people, the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history.
President Joe Biden had been briefed on Israel’s investigation into whether Israel killed Sinwar, according to a senior administration official.
The Israelis also notified U.S. Department of Defense officials, including Secretary Lloyd Austin, about Sinwar’s potential death, a U.S. defense official said per a pool report.
In 1989, an Israeli court sentenced Sinwar to four life sentences for his role in killing suspected Palestinian informers and plotting to murder two Israeli soldiers.
Sinwar spent the following 22 years in prison before becoming one of more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees released in 2011 in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held hostage by Hamas for five years.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
