US missile seen hitting building near Iranian girls’ school, experts say

(NEW YORK) — The State Department announced on Wednesday that a charter flight for American citizens stuck in the Middle East was en route to the United States — days after the war with Iran left thousands of American travelers stranded as combat operations led to the closure of airspace around the region.

The department said the flight is “part of our ongoing efforts to assist Americans return home” and said additional flights will be departing from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The move comes as hundreds of thousands of Americans stranded across the Middle East are trying to leave the region, faced with canceled flights and other travel disruptions. 

Chris Elliott, a pastor from Lexington, North Carolina, told ABC News that he and his family were stranded while visiting sites in Jerusalem. He said they ended up in a bomb shelter as sirens sounded and incoming missiles were intercepted.

“We want Americans to be on American soil right now,” Elliott said.

Eliott’s daughter, Riley, said it’s been frustrating and frightening to be forced to shelter in place since the joint U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran began on Saturday.

“The scariest for me was trying to go to bed at night and then being woken up by the sounds of sirens,” Riley Elliott told ABC News.

The U.S. State Department issued an advisory on Monday, three days into the military operation, urging Americans to immediately leave 14 countries in the region via commercial flights, but stranded U.S. citizens have said that’s become extremely difficult, given the significant disruptions to air travel.

The Trump administration is facing some criticism for apparently not having a plan in place to get American citizens out of harm’s way ahead of the joint operation.

Responding to a question on Tuesday from ABC News about why so many Americans became stuck in the Middle East absent any advance warning of the attack on Iran, President Donald Trump said, “Well, because it happened all very quickly.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Wednesday press briefing that the U.S. did communicate the danger of traveling to the region.

“There was many signs, put out by the State Department,” Leavitt said. “The secretary of state issued level four travel advisories dating back to January for many of these countries in the region,” adding that they were “advising extreme caution and do not travel alerts to Americans in the region.”

However, a review of travel advisories issued by the State Department indicates that prior to the start of the conflict, of the the 14 countries American travelers were later urged to depart, eight of them were only listed at a Level 1 or Level 2 — meaning to exercise normal precautions or increased caution.

Leavitt also claimed that since the start of the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, over 17,500 Americans “have safely returned home from the Middle East, with over 8,500 American citizens returning home to the United States just yesterday alone.”

Multiple U.S. embassies in the region, including some that have been attacked, have said they are unable to help citizens trying to leave.

“Our embassies and our diplomatic facilities are under direct attack from a terroristic regime,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Tuesday in Washington.

Asked if there were plans in place to evacuate Americans before the attack took place, Rubio said, “That’s the plan we’re trying to carry out.”

“The problem is, or the challenge we are facing, is airspace closures,” Rubio said, adding that some airports were closed after being hit in strikes. “So, that’s a challenge, but rest assured, we are confident that we are going to be able to assist every American.”

Odies Turner, a private chef from South Carolina, told ABC News that he’s been stuck in his hotel in Doha, Qatar, since the military operation began. He said the unexpected experience of being in a war has left him “frustrated, anxious” and feeling helpless.

“How do you expect us to leave a country where the airspace is closed? People are really stranded here,” Turner said in a self-video recorded on Tuesday. “I really don’t know what to do. I’ve reached out to the embassy, consulate and airlines. There’s no information on when I will get back home. It’s a mess.”

American Lisa Butler said the military conflict left her and her family, who were part of a large travel group, stranded in Abu Dhabi before they were evacuated to Dubai.

“We were standing … outside of this beautiful mosque, looking up in the sky and seeing these missiles that have been intercepted,” Butler told ABC News about how she and her family learned while in Abu Dhabi that they were vulnerable to a major military conflict breaking out in the region.

Oliver Sims, an American from Texas, told ABC News that he has been stuck in Qatar.

“I was just a few minutes ago, listening to some explosions that are going off above my head,” Sims said. “And, you know, I know that officials have said use commercial means, but there are really no commercial means here for us to use. So it’s really difficult to try and figure out a way out.”

Asked to describe conditions in Qatar, Sims said that he has been awakened at night by “extremely loud explosions” that shook the windows of his hotel room.

“I looked out my window and I saw a bunch of debris that was raining down outside of my hotel window,” Sims said. “And it’s very jarring, too, because it’s not just how loud it is, just how it actually physically shakes you. The rumbling is really, really just as violent.”

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(SAN DIEGO) — Three men, one of whom was a security guard, were killed in a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday, authorities said, with investigators saying they are currently considering the incident as a hate crime.

Two suspects, aged 17 and 18, were reported dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds, police said.

Authorities are investigating two teenagers, Cain Clark and Caleb Vazquez, as the suspected attackers in the shooting, a number of sources told ABC News.

The shooting was reported shortly before noon Monday, police said.

Police are investigating a potential motive but said the shooting is currently being considered as a hate crime.

“There was definitely hate rhetoric that was involved,” San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said during a Monday press briefing.

Anti-Islamic writings were found in the vehicle with the two teens, sources told ABC News.

About two hours before the shooting at the mosque, San Diego police received a call involving one of the suspects, about a runaway juvenile, according to Wahl. The teen’s mother reported that “several of her weapons” and her vehicle were missing, he said. The mother also found a note, Wahl said, the contents of which the police chief did not share.

The mother told police that her son was with another individual and that they were both “dressed in camo,” Wahl said.

Officers were attempting to track down the vehicle and dispatched police to a mall and to a school with which one of the teens was associated, when the shooting at the mosque was reported, he said.

The Islamic Center of San Diego says it is the largest mosque in San Diego County.

“We have never experienced a tragedy like this before,” Taha Hassan, Imam and Director of Islamic Center of San Diego, said of the center at a news conference.

Hassan said he’s sending “prayers and standing in solidarity with all the families in our community here, and also the other mosques, and all the places of worship in our beautiful city.”

“It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship. Our Islamic center is a place of worship. People come to the Islamic center to pray, to celebrate, to learn, not only Muslims, but we have people from all walks of life,” Hassan added.

“The religious intolerance and the hate, unfortunately, that exists in our nation is unprecedented,” Hassan said.

“We strongly condemn this horrifying act of violence,” Tazheen Nizam, the executive director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this attack. No one should ever fear for their safety while attending prayers or studying at an elementary school.”

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria told ABC News that “we immediately have increased patrols around religious sites, both our Muslim, Jewish and other faith communities across the city. And I imagine we’ll maintain that posture for some time.”

“[I] believe that once the investigation is complete that that security guard will be credited with a tremendous saving of many, many lives, including many children, an absolute hero who sadly lost his life, but for whom we’re all grateful,” Gloria said.

“Hate has no home in San Diego. Islamophobia has no home in San Diego,” the mayor said during a press conference.

ABC News’ Meg Christie, Luke Barr, Mike Levine and Alex Stone contributed to this report.

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(WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich.) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called on people to “lower the temperature” and call out antisemitism following Thursday’s attack on a Detroit-area synagogue that she said on Friday “could have looked a lot more like Sandy Hook” had it not been for security.

And while the governor and other leaders said law enforcement is trying to comb through more evidence about the incident, more information is coming to light about the man who was killed by security guards after he rammed his truck into the temple.

Dearborn Heights Mayor Mo Baydoun said that 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, who lived in his city, had “lost several members of his own family … in an Israeli attack on their home in Lebanon.”

Baydoun joined other leaders in condemning the attack, which took place as children were inside the temple.

“This tragedy comes at a time when communities everywhere are confronting rising hate and senseless violence. No matter where violence occurs, whether in West Bloomfield or anywhere around in the world, harm against innocent people is something we must all stand firmly against,” he said.

“The tensions we see across the world too often find their way into our own neighborhoods, reminding us how deeply connected our shared safety is,” the mayor added.

The suspect was armed with a rifle, and the truck contained fireworks and an unidentified chemical agent that ignited soon after the crash, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

No staff or students inside the synagogue were hurt, and the synagogue noted that all 140 students as well as staff, teachers and security all returned home, Whitmer told reporters Friday morning.

The sheriff’s office said one synagogue security guard was hit by the suspect’s truck in the incident and was “knocked unconscious” but was expected to be okay.

Whitmer said she was angry at the situation and said the Jewish community has been on heightened alert because of the rise in antisemitic attacks, threats and rhetoric since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The Anti-Defamation League found that there were 9,354 antisemitic incidents across the United States in 2024, a 344% increase over the past five years.

“People like the person who attacked this community yesterday get fulminated by rhetoric that they see online and they see on television and hear on the radio. It radicalizes them,” Whitmer said.

Synagogues and other Jewish centers across the country increased their security following the attack in Michigan, according to several police departments including the NYPD.

“Out of an abundance of caution, and given the overall heightened threat environment, we’re continuing to deploy high-visibility patrols to Jewish religious and cultural institutions in the city,” the NYPD said in a statement.

The governor reiterated that there were children under a year old inside the synagogue during the incident.

“My friend Brian said this could have looked a lot more like Sandy Hook. Let’s not lose sight of that,” Whitmer said.

“This is not a political debate, this is targeting babies who are Jewish. This is antisemitism at its absolute worst,” she added.

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