U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Saturday that it had carried out ten strikes against over 30ISIS targets in Syria, in recent days as part of a joint military effort to “sustain relentless military pressure on remnants from the terrorist network.”
CENTCOM said, from Feb. 3 – 12, its forces “struck ISIS infrastructure and weapons storage targets with precision munitions delivered by fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft.”
Recently,CENTCOM forces conducted five strikes against an ISIS communication site, critical logistics node, and weapons storage facilities in Syria between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2.
Operation Hawkeye Strike targets over 30 ISIS sites following a December ambush that killed US troops. (CENTCOM)
“Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, said in a statement at the time.
“Operating in coordination with coalition and partner forces to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS makes America, the region and the world safer,” he added.
On Jan. 27, President Trump told reporters he had a “great conversation with the highly respected” President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck.(CENTCOM)
“All of the things having to do with Syria in that area are working out very, very well,” said President Trump. “So we are very happy about it.”
The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS “ambush” attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead on Dec. 13, 2025, in Palmyra, Syria.
“More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck with hundreds of precision munitions during two months of targeted operations,” states CENTCOM.
The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS “ambush” attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead.(CENTCOM)
On Thursday, CENTCOM announced it has completed its withdrawal of American forces from al-Tanf Garrison in Syria pointing to a broader shift in U.S. posture in the region.
“Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” said Adm. Brad Cooper.(CENTCOM)
Operation Inherent Resolve was launched in 2014 to combat ISIS with American troops maintaining a limited presence to support partner forces and prevent ISIS from returning after it was territorially defeated in 2019.
The U.S. has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Islamic State in Syria following last month’s ambush that killed two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.The large-scale strikes, conducted by the U.S. alongside partner forces, occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET, according to U.S. Central Command. The strikes hit multiple Islamic State targets across Syria.Video above: U.S. airstrikes target ISIS militants in NigeriaSaturday’s strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly ISIS attack that killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.”Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement Saturday.The administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons.
WASHINGTON —
The U.S. has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Islamic State in Syria following last month’s ambush that killed two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.
The large-scale strikes, conducted by the U.S. alongside partner forces, occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET, according to U.S. Central Command. The strikes hit multiple Islamic State targets across Syria.
Video above: U.S. airstrikes target ISIS militants in Nigeria
Saturday’s strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly ISIS attack that killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.
“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement Saturday.
The administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.
It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons.
A potential New Year’s Eve terror attack inspired by ISIS was thwarted in North Carolina, authorities announced. A suspect is in custody, accused of planning to attack a grocery store and a fast food restaurant in the town of Mint Hill, which is located near Charlotte. Scott MacFarlane has the latest.
Federal authorities in North Carolina announced charges against an 18-year-old, who they say was planning to carry out a New Year’s Eve terror attack in support of ISIS. CBS News homeland security correspondent Nicole Sganga reports.
An 18-year-old from Mint Hill planned to use knives and hammers to kill people in a grocery store and fast-food restaurant in an ISIS-inspired New Year’s Eve attack, U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson said Friday.
FBI agents foiled Christian Sturdivant’s plans and charged him with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, Ferguson said at a news conference after Sturdivant’s first appearance in federal court in Charlotte.
Christian Sturdivant Gaston County jail
“He was targeting Jews, Christians and LGBTQ (persons),” Ferguson said.
Sturdivant considered various Mint Hill grocery stores for his attack and planned to kill people in whichever he found most crowded, said James Barnacle Jr., special agent in charge of the FBI in North Carolina.
Monday night, law enforcement officers conducted a search warrant at Sturdivant’s home and found handwritten documents, one titled “New Years Attack 2026,” according to a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court.
The FBI says suspect Christian Sturdivant titled this handwritten document, “New Years Attack 2026,” according to an arrest warrant affidavit. SCREENSHOT OF PHOTO IN FBI ARREST WARRANT AFFIDAVIT
The document listed items planned for the attack, including a vest, mask, tactical gloves and two knives, and mentioned stabbing as many civilians as possible, up to 20 or 21, the complaint says.
A section of the note labeled “martyrdom Op” mentioned attacking responding police officers so Sturdivant “would die a martyr,” according to the document.
Sturdivant lived with a relative who tried to secure knives and hammers from him, the complaint says, although FBI agents seized two hammers and two butcher knives from under his bed, the complaint says.
Officers also seized a list of targets from his bedroom, the complaint says.
“It was a very well-thought-out plan he had,” Ferguson said.
An initial Charlotte Observer search of N.C. court records found no prior criminal charges for Sturdivant, and a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office said he had no prior federal charges.
FBI’s previous encounter with suspect
But the FBI did investigate him years earlier, when he was 14, officials said Friday.
Agents learned that he’d been in contact on social media at that time with an unidentified ISIS member from a European country, Friday’s complaint says. He received direction from the ISIS member to dress in all black, knock on people’s doors and attack them with a hammer.
Sturdivant also was accused of using his cellphone at the time to communicate with ISIS members online.
In January 2022, according to the complaint, Sturdivant dressed in all black and left his house to kill a neighbor with a hammer and a knife, the FBI agent said in the complaint.
Sturdivant’s grandfather restrained him and returned him to Sturdivant’s house, the complaint says. Sturdivant also is accused of pledging “Bayat,” a loyalty oath, to the terrorist group before he planned the hammer attack, an FBI agent said in the complaint.
A state magistrate judge in Mecklenburg County denied the FBI’s request at the time to involuntarily commit Sturdivant, Ferguson said. That probably was because of his age and because he agreed to, and did, stop using social media, Ferguson said.
‘I will do jihad soon’
Friday’s criminal complaint lays out what the FBI says were Sturdivant’s communications with a person he thought was an ISIS member in the weeks before the planned attack. The person was a New York City undercover officer, officials said Friday.
Sturdivant worked at a Burger King in Mint Hill, the complaint says. He told the undercover officer that he was targeting a grocery store not named in the complaint.
On Dec. 12, Sturdivant began communicating with the person, saying “I will do jihad soon,” the complaint says. He proclaimed himself “a soldier of the state,” meaning ISIS, according to the document.
The FBI’s criminal complaint against 18-year-old Christian Sturdivant of Mint Hill includes a photograph of this social media post the FBI says Sturdivant made in early December 2025. SCREENSHOT OF PHOTO IN FBI CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
Earlier in December, he posted an image of two miniature figurines of Jesus with on-screen text that read, “May Allah curse the cross worshipers,” according to the complaint.
On Dec. 14, Sturdivant sent an online message to the person with an image of two hammers and a knife, the FBI agent said. That was significant, according to the FBI, because an article in the 2016 issue of an ISIS propaganda magazine encouraged using knives in terror attacks in western countries.
Sturdivant is accused of later telling the person he planned to attack a specific grocery store in North Carolina and planned to buy a gun to use with the knives in the attack, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
On Dec. 19, the FBI said, he sent a voice recording of himself to the undercover officer in which he pledged Bayat, the affidavit says.
Sturdivant was in federal custody without bond in the Gaston County jail Friday.
This story was originally published January 2, 2026 at 1:10 PM.
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
An 18-year-old from Mint Hill planned to use knives and hammers to kill people in a grocery store and fast-food restaurant in an ISIS-inspired New Year’s Eve attack, U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson said Friday.
FBI agents foiled Christian Sturdivant’s plans and charged him with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, Ferguson said at a news conference after Sturdivant’s first appearance in federal court in Charlotte.
Christian Sturdivant Gaston County jail
“He was targeting Jews, Christians and LGBTQ (persons),” Ferguson said.
Sturdivant considered various Mint Hill grocery stores for his attack and planned to kill people in whichever he found most crowded, said James Barnacle Jr., special agent in charge of the FBI in North Carolina.
Monday night, law enforcement officers conducted a search warrant at Sturdivant’s home and found handwritten documents, one titled “New Years Attack 2026,” according to a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court.
The FBI says suspect Christian Sturdivant titled this handwritten document, “New Years Attack 2026,” according to an arrest warrant affidavit. SCREENSHOT OF PHOTO IN FBI ARREST WARRANT AFFIDAVIT
The document listed items planned for the attack, including a vest, mask, tactical gloves and two knives, and mentioned stabbing as many civilians as possible, up to 20 or 21, the complaint says.
A section of the note labeled “martyrdom Op” mentioned attacking responding police officers so Sturdivant “would die a martyr,” according to the document.
Sturdivant lived with a relative who tried to secure knives and hammers from him, the complaint says, although FBI agents seized two hammers and two butcher knives from under his bed, the complaint says.
Officers also seized a list of targets from his bedroom, the complaint says.
“It was a very well-thought-out plan he had,” Ferguson said.
An initial Charlotte Observer search of N.C. court records found no prior criminal charges for Sturdivant, and a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office said he had no prior federal charges.
FBI’s previous encounter with suspect
But the FBI did investigate him years earlier, when he was 14, officials said Friday.
Agents learned that he’d been in contact on social media at that time with an unidentified ISIS member from a European country, Friday’s complaint says. He received direction from the ISIS member to dress in all black, knock on people’s doors and attack them with a hammer.
Sturdivant also was accused of using his cellphone at the time to communicate with ISIS members online.
In January 2022, according to the complaint, Sturdivant dressed in all black and left his house to kill a neighbor with a hammer and a knife, the FBI agent said in the complaint.
Sturdivant’s grandfather restrained him and returned him to Sturdivant’s house, the complaint says. Sturdivant also is accused of pledging “Bayat,” a loyalty oath, to the terrorist group before he planned the hammer attack, an FBI agent said in the complaint.
A state magistrate judge in Mecklenburg County denied the FBI’s request at the time to involuntarily commit Sturdivant, Ferguson said. That probably was because of his age and because he agreed to, and did, stop using social media, Ferguson said.
‘I will do jihad soon’
Friday’s criminal complaint lays out what the FBI says were Sturdivant’s communications with a person he thought was an ISIS member in the weeks before the planned attack. The person was a New York City undercover officer, officials said Friday.
Sturdivant worked at a Burger King in Mint Hill, the complaint says. He told the undercover officer that he was targeting a grocery store not named in the complaint.
On Dec. 12, Sturdivant began communicating with the person, saying “I will do jihad soon,” the complaint says. He proclaimed himself “a soldier of the state,” meaning ISIS, according to the document.
The FBI’s criminal complaint against 18-year-old Christian Sturdivant of Mint Hill includes a photograph of this social media post the FBI says Sturdivant made in early December 2025. SCREENSHOT OF PHOTO IN FBI CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
Earlier in December, he posted an image of two miniature figurines of Jesus with on-screen text that read, “May Allah curse the cross worshipers,” according to the complaint.
On Dec. 14, Sturdivant sent an online message to the person with an image of two hammers and a knife, the FBI agent said. That was significant, according to the FBI, because an article in the 2016 issue of an ISIS propaganda magazine encouraged using knives in terror attacks in western countries.
Sturdivant is accused of later telling the person he planned to attack a specific grocery store in North Carolina and planned to buy a gun to use with the knives in the attack, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
On Dec. 19, the FBI said, he sent a voice recording of himself to the undercover officer in which he pledged Bayat, the affidavit says.
Sturdivant was in federal custody without bond in the Gaston County jail Friday.
This story was originally published January 2, 2026 at 12:10 PM.
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
A Midlothian man has been charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization after he brought bomb-making materials to an individual he thought was part of ISIS, authorities said.
According to the complaint, Garza brought bomb-making components to a meeting on Dec. 22.
FBI undercover operation leads to arrest
“In reality, Garza met with an FBI undercover,” according to a news release. “During the meeting, Garza described how to mix components and offered to send an instructional video explaining how to build the bomb.”
Garza was arrested after he left the meeting.
It all began in October, federal officials say, when an undercover New York City police employee noticed a social media account, later determined to be Garza’s, following several pro-ISIS accounts. When the New York employee reached out to Garza, he described himself as a 21-year-old Mexican-American living in Texas.
Online activity reveals ISIS ideology
As the New York undercover officer and Garza continued to chat online, Garza shared that he ascribed to ISIS ideology and even sent small amounts of cryptocurrency, believing he was helping support ISIS causes.
Garza sent the undercover office multiple official ISIS media releases, federal officials said, and paid small amounts of cryptocurrency in November and December 2025, believing that he was supporting ISIS causes, including buying firearms and other materials, the DOJ said.
“This case is a testament to the incredible work of our federal agents, who work tirelessly to save American lives,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “ISIS’s poisonous ideology must be ripped out root and stem — anyone who tries to commit violence on ISIS’s behalf will be found, arrested, and prosecuted. You cannot hide from us.”
Garza’s initial court appearance was Dec. 23. A probable cause and detention hearing has been set for Dec. 30.
Authorities praise investigative efforts
“Today’s announcement underscores the FBI’s commitment to combating terrorism and demonstrates our continuous work to disrupt and thwart terrorist plots against the American public,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Let this serve as a warning to those who plan to conduct attacks against the United States on behalf of terrorist organizations- you will be brought to justice.”
Raybould promised federal authorities would take quick action against anyone suspected of trying to commit acts of terrorism.
“The increasing threats of harm and destruction in our country made by those aligned with violent ideologies must be stopped,” Raybould said. “This operation is but one example highlighting the necessity of vigilant observation and swift action to halt what could have been a devastating outcome.”
New York PD Commissioner Jessica Tisch thanked the work of the undercover investigators in her department.
“Today’s charges illustrate that the threats of terrorism and extremist violence against our nation are still very real,” said Tisch. “The NYPD remains committed to identifying, disrupting, and dismantling these networks at their source – before they can reach their murderous ends. And any person who puts American lives at risk will face justice and be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
Multiple agencies assisted in the investigation, officials said, including the FBI’s Dallas Field Office, the New York City Police Department, with assistance by the FBI’s New York Field Office, the Dallas Police Department, the Midlothian Police Department, and the Euless Police Department.
“The FBI worked alongside our law enforcement partners to quickly arrest an individual who intended to provide bomb making materials to a foreign terrorist organization,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock. “Protecting the homeland is a top priority for the FBI. This arrest demonstrates our commitment to safeguarding our communities from terrorism.”
A Midlothian who is alleged to be “sympathetic” to the Islamic State group and provided bomb components to a person he believed to be a member of the foreign terrorist organization was arrested and faces federal charges, officials said.
Star-Telegram illustration/Ricky Moon photo
A Midlothian who is alleged to be “sympathetic” to the Islamic State group and provided bomb components to a person he believed to be a member of the foreign terrorist organization was arrested and faces federal charges, prosecutors said.
John Michael Garza, Jr., 21, met with an undercover FBI agent who he thought was a ISIS “brother” on Dec. 22 and brought various bomb-making materials, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas said in a news release Monday.
During the meeting, Garza explained how to mix the ingredients and offered to send an instructional video explaining how to build the bomb. Garza was arrested shortly after he left the meeting, the release stated.
Undercover operation started in October
In October an undercover police officer from New York noticed Garza’s social media account where he followed several other “pro-ISIS” accounts and wrote a comment on a “pro-ISIS” post, the release stated.
Garza engaged with the undercover officer on social media throughout November and December and shared that he “ascribed to the ISIS ideology and sent the undercover multiple official ISIS media releases,” according to the federal complaint.
The officer was paid “small sums of cryptocurrency” by Garza who believed he was supporting ISIS to buy firearms and other materials, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges that Garza also shared a video depicting a suicide vehicle bombing. He told the undercover officer that he would buy the ingredients and agreed to meet with a second individual who Garza believed supported ISIS activities, the release stated.
A detention hearing for Garza is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 30.
“This case is a testament to the incredible work of our federal agents, who work tirelessly to save American lives,” U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in the release. “ISIS’s poisonous ideology must be ripped out root and stem — anyone who tries to commit violence on ISIS’s behalf will be found, arrested, and prosecuted.”
“The FBI worked alongside our law enforcement partners to quickly arrest an individual who intended to provide bomb making materials to a foreign terrorist organization,” FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock said in the release. “Protecting the Homeland is a top priority for the FBI. This arrest demonstrates our commitment to safeguarding our communities from terrorism.”
Shambhavi covers crime, law enforcement and other breaking news in Fort Worth and Tarrant County. She graduated from the University of North Texas and previously covered a variety of general assignment topics in West Texas. She grew up in Nepal.
Details emerge about U.S. strikes on ISIS targets in Nigeria – CBS News
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Details are emerging about the Christmas Day military strikes in northern Nigeria. The U.S. launched what President Trump called a “powerful and deadly” strike on ISIS targets in the West African nation. Willie Inman has more.
Zelenskyy to meet with Trump in Florida for peace plan talks – CBS News
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that he will meet with President Trump in Florida this weekend to discuss security guarantees. CBS News’ Leigh Kiniry and Sam Vinograd have the latest.
Melbourne, Australia — A man accused of killing 15 people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach obtained firearms training in New South Wales state outside Sydney with his father, according to Australian police documents released on Monday.
The documents, made public following Naveed Akram’s video court appearance from a Sydney hospital where he has been treated for an abdominal injury, said the two men recorded footage justifying the meticulously planned attack.
Officers wounded Akram at the scene of the Dec. 14 shooting and killed his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram.
The state government confirmed Naveed Akram was transferred Monday from a hospital to a prison. Authorities identified neither facility.
The 24-year-old and his father began their attack by throwing four improvised explosive devices toward a crowd celebrating an annual Jewish event at Bondi Beach, but the devices failed to explode, the documents said.
Police described the devices as three aluminum pipe bombs and a tennis ball bomb containing an explosive, gunpowder and steel ball bearings. None detonated, but police described them as “viable” IEDs.
The pair had rented a room in the Sydney suburb of Campsie for three weeks before they left at 2:16 a.m. on the day of the attack. CCTV recorded them carrying what police allege were two shotguns, a rifle, five IEDs and two homemade ISIS flags wrapped in blankets.
Police also released images of the gunmen shooting from a footbridge, providing them with an elevated vantage point and the protection of waist-high concrete walls.
Australian police
The largest IED was found after the gun battle near the footbridge in the trunk of the son’s car, which had been left draped with the flags.
Authorities had been looking into a month-long trip by the father and son to the Philippines, where there’s been a decades-long Islamist insurgency in the south of the country.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said last week that the attack was inspired by ISIS, and there is an ISIS-affiliated militant group operating in a remote area of the Philippines.
But a receptionist at a hotel in Davao City told CBS News the attackers never left their room for more than a day.
Authorities have charged Akram with 59 offenses, including 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of causing harm with intent to murder in relation to the wounded survivors and one count of committing a terrorist act.
The antisemitic attack at the start of the eight-day Hanukkah celebration was Australia’s worst mass shooting since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state in 1996.
The New South Wales government introduced draft laws to Parliament on Monday that Premier Chris Minns said would become the toughest in Australia.
The new restrictions would include making Australian citizenship a condition of qualifying for a firearms license. That would have excluded Sajid Akram, who was an Indian citizen with a permanent resident visa.
Sajid Akram also legally owned six rifles and shotguns. A new legal limit for recreational shooters would be a maximum of four guns.
Police said a video found on Naveed Akram’s phone shows him with his father expressing “their political and religious views and appear to summarise their justification for the Bondi terrorist attack.”
The men are seen in the video “condemning the acts of Zionists” while they also “adhere to a religiously motivated ideology linked to (ISIS),” police said.
Video shot in October shows them “firing shotguns and moving in a tactical manner” on grassland surrounded by trees, police said.
“There is evidence that the Accused and his father meticulously planned this terrorist attack for many months,” police allege.
An impromptu memorial that grew near the Bondi Pavilion after the massacre, as thousands of mourners brought flowers and heartfelt cards, was removed Monday as the beachfront returned to more normal activity. The Sydney Jewish Museum will preserve part of the memorial.
Victims’ funerals continued Monday with French national Dan Elkayam’s service held in the nearby suburb of Woollahra, at the heart of Sydney’s Jewish life. The 27-year-old moved from Paris to Sydney a year ago.
The health department said 12 people wounded in the attack remained in hospitals Monday.
‘Very serious retaliation’: U.S. strikes ISIS targets in Syria
The Trump administration launched more than 70 strikes against ISIS targets in Syria on Friday, responding to an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter last week.
The Trump administration struck more than 70 ISIS targets in Syria on Friday, according to the Pentagon, in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. and Syrian forces last week.On Friday evening, President Donald Trump told a crowd in North Carolina, “Just 2 hours ago, we hit the ISIS thugs in Syria who were trying to regroup after their decimation by the Trump administration 5 years ago. We hit them hard.”Trump further described the operation as successful and precise. In a social media post ahead of his speech, he called it a “very serious retaliation.” That sentiment was echoed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, also known as the secretary of war, in another post. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said. The strikes were in response to an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter last weekend. The president blamed the attack on a member of the Islamic State, although the group has not claimed responsibility. Trump said the U.S. retaliation was fully supported by Syria’s new leader, who has overseen warming relations with the West since the fall of the Assad regime last year. Following the U.S. strikes, Syria’s foreign ministry reiterated its commitment to fighting ISIS and underscored the need to strengthen international cooperation to combat terrorism.In a recent national security strategy document, the Trump administration argued that the days in which the Middle East dominated American foreign policy are over. The administration has sought to build ties with countries like Syria, including in the counterterrorism space, but contends that the threats can be contained “without decades of fruitless ‘nation-building’ wars.” The Trump administration is instead looking to focus closer to home, shifting military resources away from the Middle East and towards South America, as tensions mount with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Asked if the Trump administration would rule out regime change in Venezuela, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in an interview Friday, “The president has spoken about his concerns when it comes to the illegitimate regime in Venezuela, his concerns about the gangs we have seen come from Venezuela, the concerns about the narcotrafficking that we’ve also seen.”
WASHINGTON —
The Trump administration struck more than 70 ISIS targets in Syria on Friday, according to the Pentagon, in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. and Syrian forces last week.
On Friday evening, President Donald Trump told a crowd in North Carolina, “Just 2 hours ago, we hit the ISIS thugs in Syria who were trying to regroup after their decimation by the Trump administration 5 years ago. We hit them hard.”
Trump further described the operation as successful and precise. In a social media post ahead of his speech, he called it a “very serious retaliation.”
That sentiment was echoed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, also known as the secretary of war, in another post.
“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said.
The strikes were in response to an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter last weekend. The president blamed the attack on a member of the Islamic State, although the group has not claimed responsibility.
Trump said the U.S. retaliation was fully supported by Syria’s new leader, who has overseen warming relations with the West since the fall of the Assad regime last year.
Following the U.S. strikes, Syria’s foreign ministry reiterated its commitment to fighting ISIS and underscored the need to strengthen international cooperation to combat terrorism.
In a recent national security strategy document, the Trump administration argued that the days in which the Middle East dominated American foreign policy are over. The administration has sought to build ties with countries like Syria, including in the counterterrorism space, but contends that the threats can be contained “without decades of fruitless ‘nation-building’ wars.”
The Trump administration is instead looking to focus closer to home, shifting military resources away from the Middle East and towards South America, as tensions mount with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Asked if the Trump administration would rule out regime change in Venezuela, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in an interview Friday, “The president has spoken about his concerns when it comes to the illegitimate regime in Venezuela, his concerns about the gangs we have seen come from Venezuela, the concerns about the narcotrafficking that we’ve also seen.”
The Trump administration launched military strikes Friday in Syria to “eliminate” Islamic State group fighters and weapons sites in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter almost a week ago. A U.S. official described it as “a large-scale” strike that hit 70 targets in areas across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons. Another U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, said more strikes should be expected.“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media.The new military operation in Syria comes even as the Trump administration has said it’s looking to focus closer to home in the Western Hemisphere, building up an armada in the Caribbean Sea as it targets alleged drug-smuggling boats and vowing to keep seizing sanctioned oil tankers as part of a pressure campaign on Venezuela’s leader. The U.S. has shifted significant resources away from the Middle East to further those goals: Its most advanced aircraft carrier arrived in South American waters last month from the Mediterranean Sea.Video below: Trump commented on the strikes during a speech Friday nightTrump vowed retaliationPresident Donald Trump pledged “very serious retaliation” after the shooting in the Syrian desert, for which he blamed IS. Those killed were among hundreds of U.S. troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the militant group.Trump in a social media post said the strikes were targeting IS “strongholds.” He reiterated his backing for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who Trump said was “fully in support” of the U.S. effort.Trump also offered an all-caps threat, warning IS against attacking American personnel again.“All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned — YOU WILL BE HIT HARDER THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN HIT BEFORE IF YOU, IN ANY WAY, ATTACK OR THREATEN THE U.S.A.,” the president added.The attack was conducted using F-15 Eagle jets, A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters, the U.S. officials said. F-16 fighter jets from Jordan and HIMARS rocket artillery also were used, one official added.U.S. Central Command, which oversees the region, said in a social media post that American jets, helicopters and artillery employed more than 100 precision munitions on Syrian targets.How Syria has respondedThe attack was a major test for the warming ties between the United States and Syria since the ouster of autocratic leader Bashar Assad a year ago. Trump has stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops and said al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack,” which came as the U.S. military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces.Syria’s foreign ministry in a statement on X following the launch of U.S. strikes said that last week’s attack “underscores the urgent necessity of strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in all its forms” and that Syria is committed “to fighting ISIS and ensuring that it has no safe havens on Syrian territory and will continue to intensify military operations against it wherever it poses a threat.”Syrian state television reported that the U.S. strikes hit targets in rural areas of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces and in the Jabal al-Amour area near the historic city of Palmyra. It said they targeted “weapons storage sites and headquarters used by ISIS as launching points for its operations in the region.”IS has not said it carried out the attack on the U.S. service members, but the group has claimed responsibility for two attacks on Syrian security forces since, one of which killed four Syrian soldiers in Idlib province. The group in its statements described al-Sharaa’s government and army as “apostates.” While al-Sharaa once led a group affiliated with al-Qaida, he has had a long-running enmity with IS.The Americans who were killedTrump this week met privately with the families of the slain Americans at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before he joined top military officials and other dignitaries on the tarmac for the dignified transfer, a solemn and largely silent ritual honoring U.S. service members killed in action.The guardsmen killed in Syria last Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown. Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter, also was killed.The shooting near Palmyra also wounded three other U.S. troops as well as members of Syria’s security forces, and the gunman was killed. The assailant had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard two months ago and recently was reassigned because of suspicions that he might be affiliated with IS, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba has said.The man stormed a meeting between U.S. and Syrian security officials who were having lunch together and opened fire after clashing with Syrian guards.___Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed.
The Trump administration launched military strikes Friday in Syria to “eliminate” Islamic State group fighters and weapons sites in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter almost a week ago.
A U.S. official described it as “a large-scale” strike that hit 70 targets in areas across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons. Another U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, said more strikes should be expected.
“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media.
The new military operation in Syria comes even as the Trump administration has said it’s looking to focus closer to home in the Western Hemisphere, building up an armada in the Caribbean Sea as it targets alleged drug-smuggling boats and vowing to keep seizing sanctioned oil tankers as part of a pressure campaign on Venezuela’s leader. The U.S. has shifted significant resources away from the Middle East to further those goals: Its most advanced aircraft carrier arrived in South American waters last month from the Mediterranean Sea.
Video below: Trump commented on the strikes during a speech Friday night
Trump vowed retaliation
President Donald Trump pledged “very serious retaliation” after the shooting in the Syrian desert, for which he blamed IS. Those killed were among hundreds of U.S. troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the militant group.
Trump in a social media post said the strikes were targeting IS “strongholds.” He reiterated his backing for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who Trump said was “fully in support” of the U.S. effort.
Trump also offered an all-caps threat, warning IS against attacking American personnel again.
“All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned — YOU WILL BE HIT HARDER THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN HIT BEFORE IF YOU, IN ANY WAY, ATTACK OR THREATEN THE U.S.A.,” the president added.
The attack was conducted using F-15 Eagle jets, A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters, the U.S. officials said. F-16 fighter jets from Jordan and HIMARS rocket artillery also were used, one official added.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees the region, said in a social media post that American jets, helicopters and artillery employed more than 100 precision munitions on Syrian targets.
How Syria has responded
The attack was a major test for the warming ties between the United States and Syria since the ouster of autocratic leader Bashar Assad a year ago. Trump has stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops and said al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack,” which came as the U.S. military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces.
Syria’s foreign ministry in a statement on X following the launch of U.S. strikes said that last week’s attack “underscores the urgent necessity of strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in all its forms” and that Syria is committed “to fighting ISIS and ensuring that it has no safe havens on Syrian territory and will continue to intensify military operations against it wherever it poses a threat.”
Syrian state television reported that the U.S. strikes hit targets in rural areas of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces and in the Jabal al-Amour area near the historic city of Palmyra. It said they targeted “weapons storage sites and headquarters used by ISIS as launching points for its operations in the region.”
IS has not said it carried out the attack on the U.S. service members, but the group has claimed responsibility for two attacks on Syrian security forces since, one of which killed four Syrian soldiers in Idlib province. The group in its statements described al-Sharaa’s government and army as “apostates.” While al-Sharaa once led a group affiliated with al-Qaida, he has had a long-running enmity with IS.
The Americans who were killed
Trump this week met privately with the families of the slain Americans at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before he joined top military officials and other dignitaries on the tarmac for the dignified transfer, a solemn and largely silent ritual honoring U.S. service members killed in action.
The guardsmen killed in Syria last Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown. Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter, also was killed.
The shooting near Palmyra also wounded three other U.S. troops as well as members of Syria’s security forces, and the gunman was killed. The assailant had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard two months ago and recently was reassigned because of suspicions that he might be affiliated with IS, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba has said.
The man stormed a meeting between U.S. and Syrian security officials who were having lunch together and opened fire after clashing with Syrian guards.
___
Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed.
The U.S. is conducting airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria in retaliation for the attack that killed two American soldiers and a U.S. interpreter on Saturday, multiple sources told CBS News.
One of the officials said the U.S. began striking dozens of targets at multiple locations across central Syria using fighter aircraft, attack helicopters and artillery. More than 70 targets were struck, a U.S. official said.
F-15 fighter jets, A-10 Thunderbolts — known as “Warthogs” — and Apache attack helicopters were used to target ISIS positions in Syria Friday, U.S. officials told CBS News. F-16 fighter jets from Jordan were also involved in the operation.
U.S. Central Command described the operation as a “massive strike” and indicated that it was retaliatory in a post on X. In a follow-up post, U.S. Central Command said it used “more than 100 precision munitions targeting known ISIS infrastructure and weapons sites.”
A U.S. fighter jet prepares for a large-scale strike on ISIS targets in Syria. Dec. 19, 2025.
U.S. Central Command
President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth attended the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base earlier this week for the two soldiers killed, Sgt. William Howard and Sgt. Edgar Torres Tovar, both of the Iowa National Guard, and the interpreter, Ayad Mansoor Sakat.
The three individuals were killed when, according to the Pentagon, a lone ISIS gunman ambushed them while they were supporting a key leader in Palmyra, Syria. Three other members of the Iowa National Guard were wounded in the attack.
Mr. Trump vowed “very serious retaliation” in a TruthSocial post after the attack, and Hegseth also vowed to “avenge these fallen Americans with overwhelming force.”
Hegseth announced in a post on X Friday that U.S. forces have begun “Operation Hawkeye Strike” in Syria “to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites in direct response to the attack on U.S. forces.”
“Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies,” Hegseth continued. “Lots of them. And we will continue.”
After the operation began, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement, “President Trump told the world that the United States would retaliate for the killing of our heroes by ISIS in Syria, and he is delivering on that promise.”
U.S. Central Command said Friday that since the attack on the American soldiers last weekend, it has conducted 10 operations in Syria and Iraq that have resulted in the death or detention of “23 terrorist operatives.”
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth salute as carry teams move the transfer cases with the remains of Iowa National Guard soldiers Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, Iowa, and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, Iowa, and civilian interpreter Ayad Mansoor Sakat, who were killed in an attack in Syria, during a casualty return, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025 at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday announced the start of a military operation in Syria to “eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites” following the deaths of three U.S. citizens in an ambush attack almost a week ago.
A U.S. official described it as “a large-scale” strike that targeted multiple locations and concentrated areas across central Syria that had Islamic State group infrastructure and weapons. Another U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, said more strikes should be expected.
The attack was conducted using F-15 Eagle jets, A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters, the officials said. F-16 fighter jets from Jordan and HIMARS rocket artillery also were used, one official said.
“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people,” Hegseth said on social media.
President Donald Trump had pledged “very serious retaliation” after the shooting in the Syrian desert last Saturday that killed two Iowa National Guard members and a U.S. civilian interpreter. He blamed IS for their deaths. The troops were among hundreds of U.S. troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS.
The attack was a major test for the warming ties between the United States and Syria since the ouster of autocratic leader Bashar Assad a year ago. Trump has stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops and said Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack,” which came as the U.S. military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces.
Syrian state television reported that strikes hit targets in rural areas of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces and in the Jabal al-Amour area near Palmyra. It said they targeted “weapons storage sites and headquarters used by ISIS as launching points for its operations in the region.”
White House officials noted that Trump had made clear that retaliation was coming.
“President Trump told the world that the United States would retaliate for the killing of our heroes by ISIS in Syria, and he is delivering on that promise,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement.
Trump this week met privately with the families of the slain Americans at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before he joined top military officials and other dignitaries on the tarmac for the dignified transfer, a solemn and largely silent ritual honoring U.S. service members killed in action.
The guardsmen killed in Syria on Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, according to the U.S. Army. Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter, was also killed.
The shooting nearly a week ago near the historic city of Palmyra also wounded three other U.S. troops as well as members of Syria’s security forces, and the gunman was killed. The assailant had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard two months ago and recently was reassigned because of suspicions that he might be affiliated with IS, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba has said.
The man stormed a meeting between U.S. and Syrian security officials who were having lunch together and opened fire after clashing with Syrian guards.
When asked for further information, the Pentagon referred AP to Hegseth’s social media post.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced the start of an effort to “eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites” in Syria following the deaths of three U.S. citizens.“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people,” he said Friday on social media.Two Iowa National Guard members and a U.S. civilian interpreter were killed Dec. 13 in an attack in the Syrian desert that the Trump administration has blamed on the Islamic State group. The slain National Guard members were among hundreds of U.S. troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS.Soon after word of the deaths, President Donald Trump pledged “very serious retaliation” but stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops. Trump has said Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack” and the shooting attack by a gunman came as the U.S. military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces.Trump this week met privately with the families of the slain Americans at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before he joined top military officials and other dignitaries on the tarmac for the dignified transfer, a solemn and largely silent ritual honoring U.S. service members killed in action.The guardsmen killed in Syria on Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, according to the U.S. Army. Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter, was also killed.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced the start of an effort to “eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites” in Syria following the deaths of three U.S. citizens.
“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people,” he said Friday on social media.
Two Iowa National Guard members and a U.S. civilian interpreter were killed Dec. 13 in an attack in the Syrian desert that the Trump administration has blamed on the Islamic State group. The slain National Guard members were among hundreds of U.S. troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS.
Soon after word of the deaths, President Donald Trump pledged “very serious retaliation” but stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops. Trump has said Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack” and the shooting attack by a gunman came as the U.S. military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces.
Trump this week met privately with the families of the slain Americans at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before he joined top military officials and other dignitaries on the tarmac for the dignified transfer, a solemn and largely silent ritual honoring U.S. service members killed in action.
The guardsmen killed in Syria on Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, according to the U.S. Army. Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter, was also killed.
Sydney — Australia will use a sweeping buyback scheme to “get guns off our streets,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday, showing his government was keen to take quick action less than a week after a terrorist attack left 15 people dead at a Jewish holiday gathering on Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach.
Sajid Akram and his son Naveed are accused of opening fire on the festival, which was organized to mark the first day of Hanukkah on Sunday, in what was one of Australia’s deadliest mass shootings.
“There is no reason someone living in the suburbs of Sydney needed this many guns,” he said.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett are seen on Dec. 19, 2025, in Canberra, Australia, during a news conference in the wake of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack.
Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty
Australia would pay gun owners to surrender “surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms.”
Albanese said Monday that his government was “prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws.” He specifically suggested measures that could limit the number of guns a licensed owner can obtain, and mandating a review process for existing licenses.
The prime minister said the federal government would evenly split the cost of the buyback program with Australia’s state and territorial administrations, with further details to be worked out when lawmakers return to work next week.
Investigation continues as Sydney remains on high alert
Sajid Akram, 50, was killed in a gunfight with police, but his 24-year-old son Naveed survived. The unemployed bricklayer was charged earlier this week with 15 counts of murder, an act of terrorism, and dozens of other serious crimes after waking up from a coma in a Sydney hospital.
Albanese said the attack was inspired by ISIS ideology, and Australian police are still investigating whether the pair may have met with Islamist extremists during a visit to the Philippines just a couple weeks before the shooting.
They spent most of November in the south of the Asian nation, in a hotel in Davao City. A hotel employee told CBS News on Thursday that the father and son extended their stay week by week and paid in cash, and that they would go out during the day but return to the hotel every night, often bringing food back to eat in their room.
He said staff noticed nothing particularly suspicious about the men during their nearly monthlong stay.
A view of the GV Hotel, where Sajid and Naveed Akram, suspects in the Bondi Beach terror attack, stayed in November, as seen on Dec. 18, 2025, in Davao City, in the southern Philippines.
Ezra Acayan/Getty
Sydney, meanwhile, remains on high alert almost a week after the shootings.
Armed police released seven men from custody on Friday, a day after detaining them on a tip they may have been plotting a “violent act,” as they reportedly headed for Bondi Beach.
Police said there was no established link with the alleged Bondi gunmen and “no immediate safety risk to the community.”
A second major Australian gun buyback spurred by a mass shooting
The new buyback, assuming it is approved by lawmakers next week, will be the largest such government-funded program since 1996, when then-Prime Minister John Howard cracked down on firearms in the wake of another mass shooting, in which 35 people were killed in the town of Port Arthur.
Just 12 days after that attack, Australian lawmakers approved legislation banning the sale and importation of all automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns; forcing people to present a legitimate reason, and wait 28 days, to buy any firearm, and initiating the massive, mandatory gun-buyback for banned weapons.
The government confiscated and destroyed nearly 700,000 firearms in the wake of the law’s adoption, reducing the number of gun-owning households by half.
“It is incontestable that gun-related homicides have fallen quite significantly in Australia,” former premier Howard, who defied many in his own conservative party to usher in the 1996 law, told CBS News’ Seth Doane two decades later, in 2016.
A Sept. 8, 1996 file photo shows Norm Legg, a project supervisor with a local security firm, holding an ArmaLite rifle similar to the one used in the Port Arthur mass shooting, which was handed in for scrap in Melbourne as part of a mandatory government gun buyback program after the attack.
WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty
In the 15 years before those laws were passed, there were 13 mass shootings in Australia. In the two decades after, there wasn’t a single one. Gun homicides overall decreased by nearly 60% in the same period.
Asked to respond to critics who said the fall in gun deaths did not necessarily happen because of the legislation, Howard told CBS News: “The number of deaths from mass shootings, gun-related homicide has fallen, gun related suicide has fallen … Isn’t that evidence? Or are we expected to believe that that was all magically going to happen? Come on!”
A study published earlier this year, however, found Australia still has some way to go to fully implement the 2016 legislation, called the National Firearms Agreement. The paper, by the Australia Institute think tank, said some of the measures had yet to be brought into force 29 years later, and others were being inconsistently enforced across different states.
The law “was ambitious, politically brave, and necessary for public safety,” the report concluded, lauding Howard’s will to defy his fellow lawmakers.
But “Australia still allows minors to hold firearm licenses, still lacks a National Firearms Register, and still has inconsistent laws that make enforcement difficult,” the group said, adding that overall gun ownership across the country had actually boomed over the last three decades.
“There are now over four million registered privately owned guns in Australia: 800,000 more than before the (1996) buyback,” the institute said in its May report. “Australians needs gun laws that live up to the Howard Government’s bravery, and right now Australia does not have them.”
Albanese, along with state and territorial leaders, agreed on Monday to look at ways to bolster gun laws, including by accelerating the launch of the national firearms register called for in the 1996 legislation, making gun licenses available only to Australian citizens, and imposing new restrictions the types of weapons that are legal for licensees to own.
A memorial at sea, and a day of reflection planned for Bondi Beach victims
Hundreds of people plunged into the ocean at Bondi Beach on Friday to honor the 15 people killed in the terror attack, forming a massive ring in the sea on surf and paddle boards, as Albanese announced a national day of reflection to be observed on Sunday.
Albanese urged Australians to light candles at 6:47 p.m. on Sunday, “exactly one week since the attack unfolded.”
Surfers and swimmers paddle out into the ocean to hold a tribute for the victims of the terror attack at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 19, 2025.
Steve Markham/AP
On Friday, swimmers and surfers paddled into a circle, bobbing in the gentle morning swell, splashing water and roaring with emotion.
“They slaughtered innocent victims, and today I’m swimming out there and being part of my community again to bring back the light,” security consultant Jason Carr, 53, told AFP. “We’re still burying bodies. But I just felt it was important.”
Carole Schlessinger, a 58-year-old chief executive of a children’s charity, said there was a “beautiful energy” at the ocean gathering. “To be together is such an important way of trying to deal with what’s going on.”
“It was really lovely to be part of it,” she said, adding: “I personally am feeling very numb. I’m feeling super angry. I’m feeling furious.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday that the father and son suspects in the antisemitic terror attack on a Hanukkah gathering on Bondi Beach were inspired by ISIS, as officials in India confirmed that the older man was originally from that nation.
Authorities also revealed that gunmen had recently returned from the Philippines, where they traveled to an area known as a hotbed for terrorist groups.
The mass shooting on the famous beach left 15 innocent people dead, including a 10-year-old girl and an Holocaust survivor. The attack was “motivated by Islamic State ideology,” Albanese said Tuesday as he visited one of the heroes who tried to stop the attackers.
Australia’s federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett also said Tuesday that it was “a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State,” referring to the now disparate group that, for several years, held a huge swathe of territory spanning the Syria-Iraq border.
The suspects, a father and son aged 50 and 24, used guns that were owned legally by the older man, whom officials in New South Wales state have named as Sajid Akram. He was shot dead at the scene, and his son was still being treated in a hospital on Tuesday, where Australian public broadcaster ABC said he had regained consciousness.
Indian police confirm father was from Hyderabad
Police in the southern Indian state of Telangana confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that Sajid Akram was originally from the city of Hyderabad. In a statement, the police said he earned a degree in Hyderabad before migrating to Australia in November 1998, where he married a woman of European origin.
Sajid Akram held an Indian passport, while his son Naveed and a daughter were both born in Australia and are citizens of the country, the police said, confirming previous statements by Australian officials about the son’s nationality. U.S. officials had told CBS News soon after the attack that at least one of the Akrams was believed to be a Pakistani national, but that appears to have been a case of mistaken identity, and a man with the same name as the younger suspect has come forward in Sydney to say he was wrongly identified.
The Telangana police said the elder Akram had “limited contact with his family in Hyderabad over the past 27 years,” visiting six times since he migrated to Australia, “primarily for family-related reasons.”
The police statement said family members in India had “expressed no knowledge of his radical mindset or activities, nor of the circumstances that led to his radicalization, and that the son’s apparent radicalization appeared “to have no connection with India.”
Australian officials have confirmed that homemade ISIS flags were found — along with an improvised explosive device — in the suspects’ vehicle at Bondi Beach on Sunday, and police provided new information on Tuesday about their recent movements.
Suspected gunmen spent most of November in the Philippines
Both men traveled to the Philippines in November, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told reporters on Tuesday, adding that investigators were still looking into the reasons for the trip and where exactly the men went.
The Philippines Bureau of Immigration said both Sajid Akram and his son, identified widely by Australian media as Naveed Akram, spent most of November — from the 1st until the 28th — in the Philippines, and listing the city of Davao as their final destination.
Muslim separatists, including the Islamist Abu Sayyaf group that once publicly backed ISIS, are active in that part of the southern Philippines. ABC, the Australian public broadcaster, said the men had undergone “military-style training” in the Philippines, citing security sources.
That group and others in the region have drawn and trained some foreign militants from across Asia, the Middle East and Europe in the past, according to the Associated Press, though Abu Sayyaf has been weakened in recent years by repeated military offensives.
The AP cited Philippine military and police officials as saying there has been no recent indication of any foreign militants operating in the south of the country.
Did Australian officials fail the Jewish community?
Australian officials confirmed Monday that Naveed Akram was under investigation for about six months during 2019 for suspected links to a Sydney-based terror cell, though the nation’s primary spy agency found he represented no threat, and officials said the probe had focused on associates.
Australia’s ABC network reported that his ties included “longstanding links” to members of a pro-ISIS cell in Australia, including contact with alleged jihadist spiritual leader Wisam Haddad and a man named Youssef Uweinat, who was convicted of recruiting young people in Australia to Islamic extremism.
A lawyer for Haddad has denied that the cleric had “any knowledge of or involvement in the shootings that took place at Bondi Beach,” according to the network.
Many people, from the daughter of one of the victims, to a former Australian leader, have told CBS News the men’s history should have raised serious red flags, if not stopped them before they claimed so many lives.
Israeli officials have harshly criticized Australia’s government for failing to protect Jewish people amid a sharp rise in recent years of antisemitic incidents.
Police set up a cordon at the scene of a mass shooting at Bondi Beach, Dec. 14, 2025 in Sydney, Australia.
George Chan/Getty
“We are now facing here a surge of antisemitism, and Australians of Jewish faith are not feeling secure in their own country, and this is insane,” Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon told CBS News on Tuesday, urging Australian leaders to create opportunities for young people of different faiths to come together, “and not once a year, but on a weekly basis.”
Maimon also said “boundaries should be set” by Australian authorities, referring to pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have been held in the country.
“I believe that it’s very important to make sure that while the principle of freedom of expression should be kept, there should be also a limit to the language that some protesters, and in some protests, we hear,” he said. “I always believe that there is room to do more. Always. I’m asking myself every day, ‘what can I do better? How can I do better?’ And I’m trying to do it. And I do expect the Australian government to do better.”
Former Australian leader says there are no easy answers
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told CBS News on Tuesday that the national government undoubtedly had some very big questions to answer, but he stressed that intelligence gathering — for all nations — is an imperfect science.
“This type of terrorism has been, the elements of that, have been present in Australia for a long time, and our agencies spend a lot of time keeping an eye on them, but it’s hard to track every single person,” said Turnbull, who was Australian prime minister from 2015 to 2018.
“Certainly, it’s a very big question: Why does somebody living in the suburbs of Sydney need six long arms, as he [Sajid Akram] had, even though they were licensed? Second question is, why were they licensed to a man who had a son who had been on an ASIO [Australian Security Intelligence Organization] watchlist because of links to ISIS-related entities? … And that trip to the Philippines raises another question: Why were they there? And so, you know, this gets back to the problem that I think we face all around the world, is databases talking to each other? Are we actually putting all the dots together in time?”
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaks during a news conference in Sydney, Australia, in a July 30, 2017 file photo.
AAP/Sam Mooy/via Reuters
“There are holes in everybody’s intelligence gathering,” Turnbull said. “But as you know, the terrorist only has to be right once. The security agencies have to be right every time.”
Regarding the sharp criticism levelled by many in the Jewish community, in particular, over perceived failings in detecting the threat posed by the suspects, and also in sufficiently protecting the pre-planned Jewish event on Bondi Beach, Turnbull said he wasn’t sure how much more could have been done by his successor Albanese.
“I’ve been prime minister, right? And I’m on the opposite side of politics, so I’m not trying to be partisan about this, but I struggle to see what he could have done that was different. I mean there have been people saying he shouldn’t have allowed pro-Palestine marches. Well, you know, we do have freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in Australia. I mean we have restrictions in Australia on speech, on hate speech, and on guns, in particular.”
“When I ask people, they will say he should have condemned antisemitism more often. Well, I’ve never heard him do anything other than condemn it, but my question really is to say, what would difference would that have made? To those terrorists, you know, they’re not going to listen to a lecture on the evils of antisemitism from you or me or Anthony Albanese.”
“Remember, terrorism is a political act, right? So, you’ve got to try to interrupt people being radicalized, particularly young men, it’s the most vulnerable group, and that involves monitoring what is being said online, what they’re being taught, you know, in schools or in mosques or in other places. And the intelligence agencies are doing that all the time,” he said.
