Unidentified drones seen over 3 British air bases used by US forces
Royal Air Force Lakenheath; David Goddard/Getty Images
(LONDON) — Unidentified drones have been spotted again over three British air bases used by the U.S. Air Force, officials confirmed Tuesday.
They were first seen last week over Royal Air Force Lakenheath, Royal Air Force Mildenhall and Royal Air Force Feltwell, the U.S. Air Forces in Europe said in a statement.
The “small unmanned aerial systems” varied in number, size and configuration, it added.
The three bases are all located within the same area of eastern England between Cambridge and Norwich, about two hours north of London.
“To safeguard operational security, we do not discuss specific force protection measures, however we retain the right to protect our installations,” the U.S. Air Force said.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Air Force confirmed the situation was “still ongoing.”
“I can confirm the situation is still ongoing and our units continue to monitor the airspace and are working with host-nation authorities and mission partners to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities, and assets,” the spokesperson said.
Car drives into crowd at Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. Via ABC News
(LONDON) — At least five people, including a 9-year-old, are now known to have been killed in the vehicle-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday, German officials said Saturday. The four other victims killed in the attack were adults, according to police.
At least 200 more people were injured when a car plowed into festive market-goers in the eastern German city, around 75 miles west of the capital Berlin, according to Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt Reiner Haseloff.
The Magdeburg Christmas market will be closed for the remainder of the season, police told reporters Saturday.
At least 41 of those injured in the attack are in serious condition, according to police. Their lives are still thought to be in danger, according to Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
A suspect — a doctor from Saudi Arabia aged around 50 — was arrested, Haselhoff said. The man has lived in Germany since 2006. A rental car was used in the attack, the minister said.
He will be charged with 5 counts of murder and grievous bodily harm, according to police.
The first emergency call came in at 7:02 p.m. local time and the driver was stopped within three minutes of the attack, according to a police official. Police believe the suspect entered via the space left open for emergency vehicles to access the area.
Police believe the suspect acted alone.
The prosecutor said they are still clarifying the motive behind the attack, but said that it’s possibly linked to “dissatisfaction with the treatment of refugees from Saudi Arabia and how they’ve been treated in Germany,” but they will “need more time” to determine this.
Police said the suspect has undergone physical and psychological exams but police do not yet have the results.
At Magdeburg Cathedral, a huge crowd gathered on Saturday inside and outside for a memorial service to the victims. Attendees included the mayor, Sholz and first responders.
Elsewhere in the city, a smaller crowd held an anti-immigrant protest with a sign that said “Remigration” and waved German flags, as well as flags of Imperial Germany and ones reading “Homeland.”
U.S. law enforcement sources told ABC News that German authorities are treating the attack as a terrorist incident.
“We send our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and injured and to all those affected by this terrible incident,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
“We stand in solidarity with the people of Germany in grieving the loss of life. The United States is ready to provide assistance as recovery efforts continue and authorities investigate this horrible incident,” Miller’s statement continued.
Scholz offered his condolences to those affected. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Scholz said in a statement. “We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”
Friday’s ramming incident came almost exactly eight years after a similar terror attack at a Christmas market in the German capital. On Dec. 19, 2016, a man drove a truck into a crowd at a market in Berlin, killing 13 and injuring dozens.
U.S. law enforcement officials have warned of similar vehicle-ramming attacks on American soil, particularly over the festive season.
A joint threat assessment about New Year’s Eve in New York City’s Times Square, for example, noted the use of vehicle-ramming alone or in conjunction with other tactics “has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors in the West.”
The NYPD, out of an abundance of caution, will surge resources to similar areas around the city, including Christmas markets, according to NYPD deputy commissioner for counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner.
“We know this is a very festive time, it is a busy time in the city, and we are going to make sure that all of our holiday markets, all of our holiday activities are protected by our counter weapons teams, by officers on patrol, all our counter-terrorism officers, our critical response command,” Weiner told ABC New York station WABC.
(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.
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
(NEW YORK) — DeepSeek, the explosive new artificial intelligence, tool that took the world by storm, has code hidden in its programming which has the built-in capability to send user data directly to the Chinese government, experts told ABC News.
DeepSeek caught Wall Street off guard last week when it announced it had developed its AI model for far less money than its American competitors, like OpenAI, which have invested billions. But the potential risk DeepSeek poses to national security may be more acute than previously feared because of a potential open door between DeepSeek and the Chinese government, according to cybersecurity experts.
Of late, Americans have been concerned about Byte Dance, the China-based company behind TikTok, which is required under Chinese law to share the data it collects with the Chinese government.
With DeepSeek, there’s actually the possibility of a direct path to the PRC hidden in its code, Ivan Tsarynny, CEO of Feroot Security, an Ontario-based cybersecurity firm focused on customer data protection, told ABC News.
“We see direct links to servers and to companies in China that are under control of the Chinese government. And this is something that we have never seen in the past,” Tsarynny said.
Users who register or log in to DeepSeek may unknowingly be creating accounts in China, making their identities, search queries, and online behavior visible to Chinese state systems.
Tsarynny says he used AI software to decrypt portions of DeepSeek’s code and found what appeared to be intentionally hidden programming that has the capability to send user data to one website: CMPassport.com, the online registry for China Mobile, a telecommunications company owned and operated by the Chinese government.
China Mobile was banned from operating in the U.S. by the FCC in 2019 due to concerns that “unauthorized access to customer…data could create irreparable damage to U.S. national security.” It was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2021 and added to the FCC’s list of national security threats in 2022.
John Cohen, an ABC News contributor and former acting Undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis for the Department of Homeland Security, said DeepSeek is a most blatant example of suspected surveillance by the Chinese government.
“China Mobile is part of a growing list of Chinese-based technology companies that have been determined to pose a risk to U.S. national security,” Cohen said .
“National security officials always suspect that technology sold by a Chinese-based company has a backdoor making that data accessible to the Chinese government. In this case, the back door’s been discovered, it’s been opened, and that’s alarming.”
“It’s alarming to say the least,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC News.
“I think we should ban DeepSeek from all government devices immediately. No one should be allowed to download it onto their device. And I think we have to inform the public,” Gottheimer said.
DeepSeek’s terms of service specify that they “shall be governed by the laws of the People’s Republic of China.”
DeepSeek’s privacy policy discloses that they collect all kinds of data including chat and search query history, keystroke patterns, IP addresses, and activity from other apps.
However, experts say it’s impossible to know what of this data DeepSeek is potentially sending to China Mobile.
Tsarynny’s analysis found that DeepSeek’s web tool creates a digital “fingerprint” for each unique user, which has the capability to track users’ activity not only while they use DeepSeek’s website, but all web activity going forward.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, said the possibility of covert collection of DeepSeek user data by the Chinese government is “very disturbing.”
“I think there’s absolutely the intention by the CCP to collect data of Americans and user data worldwide,” Krishnamoorthi told ABC News. “This pattern of data collection is really familiar to people who study the use of CCP controlled-company apps and you use those apps at your own risk.”
DeepSeek, its hedge fund founder High-Flyer, and China Mobile did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
