• Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Alexander Lukashenko apologized in a call for helping Russia invade Ukraine.
• "I am not in charge," Zelenskyy quoted the Belarusian leader as saying in early 2022.
• Lukashenko's spokesperson denied that an apology took place but confirmed that a call happened.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Belarus' leader, Alexander Lukashenko, apologized over the phone in early 2022 for his country's role in allowing Russia to invade Ukraine.

In a wide-ranging interview with the podcaster Lex Fridman published on Sunday, Zelenskyy recalled the war's first moments, saying that he and his wife were woken up by missile strikes at 4 a.m. local time.

"My children were asleep, but my wife was awake. There were strikes. Missile strikes, we heard them," Zelenskyy said, according to a translation provided by Fridman.

"And later, by the way, a few days after, after the first days of the war, I spoke with Lukashenko on the phone," Zelenskyy added.

Zelenskyy recounted the conversation, in his words, proceeding in this fashion:

And he apologized. And he said that: "It was not me. Missiles were launched from my territory, and Putin was the one launching them."

These are his words. I have witnesses.

"And I apologize," he said. "But believe me. Volodya, this is not me. I am not in charge. I am not in charge," he told me. "These are just missiles. This is Putin. I told him don't do that. This was done without me."

I told him that I believed him. I told him, "You are a murderer too, I'm just saying."

And he told me, "You must understand, you can't fight the Russians."

I told him that we never fought them. I said: "It's war, the missiles came from your land, from Belarus. How did you allow this?"

Zelenskyy also said Lukashenko suggested in his apology that Ukraine should strike an oil refinery in Belarus in retaliation.

"Hit the refinery, you know how much I care about it," Zelenskyy quoted Lukashenko as saying.

Lukashenko's spokesperson denied on Monday that the Belarusian leader apologized to Zelenskyy.

"The President of Belarus did not apologize to Zelensky for the simple reason that we have nothing to apologize for," Natalia Eismont, Lukashenko's press secretary, told the pro-Kremlin Russian outlet RBC News.

Eismont confirmed that a phone call between Zelenskyy and Lukashenko took place days after the war began. She added, however, that the Belarusian leader had instead admonished Zelenskyy and blamed the latter's policies for the conflict during the call.

Eismont said Lukashenko's youngest son connected the two leaders for the call because he'd saved Zelenskyy's personal contact information on his mobile phone.

Belarus has maintained close ties to Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and Lukashenko, its leader since 1994, has long been a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Lukashenko hosted some 30,000 Russian troops, as well as weapons and armored vehicles, in early 2022. The Russian forces massed on Belarus' border with Ukraine and eventually invaded the Kyiv region from the north.

Belarus, a transit country for Russian energy to European countries, is heavily reliant on trade with Moscow, especially after Western sanctions in 2022 stifled about 70% of Minsk's exports to the European Union.

Lukashenko's government has said Russia contributes to more than half of Belarus' trade, while German researchers estimated in the first year of the Ukraine war that the Russian share of Belarusian trade had surpassed 60%.

Lukashenko's press service didn't respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

• Ukraine's new attack in Kursk is featuring some impressive drone jamming, Russian military bloggers said.
• The bloggers reported that Ukrainian forces were able to break through because of "powerful electronic warfare."
• it's made it difficult for Russian drone operators to work in the area, they wrote.

Ukraine launched a renewed offensive in Russia's Kursk region on Sunday, where Russian pro-war bloggers say Kyiv's drone jammers have been working exceptionally well.

The "Operation Z" channel, a collection of dispatches from Russian war correspondents, wrote that the attack had focused on the Bolshesoldatsky district, to the northeast of the Ukrainian-held pocket in Kursk.

"In order to break through, the Ukrainian Armed Forces covered the area with powerful electronic warfare systems, making it difficult for our UAVs to operate," wrote the Telegram channel, which has over 1.6 million subscribers.

Razvedos Advanced Gear & Equipment, a Russian military news Telegram channel with over 152,000 subscribers, echoed those comments in a post on Sunday.

"It cannot be said that they were not expected in this direction, but they managed to VERY effectively use electronic warfare," it wrote of the fighting in Bolshesoldatsky.

Roman Alekhine, a military blogger with about 218,000 subscribers, wrote on his channel: "The enemy has covered the attack area with electronic warfare, so many drones are useless."

Alekhine later posted that some Russian drone operators were still able to switch to unjammed frequencies.

Sergei Kolyasnikov, another military blogger with about 498,000 subscribers, reported that about 10 Ukrainian tanks and armored vehicles had entered the Bolshesoldatsky region.

"The area is covered with some powerful electronic warfare, nothing is flying at all," he wrote.

The specifics of Ukraine's new push this week into Russian territory are still unclear. Kyiv initially launched a surprise counteroffensive into Kursk in August, where it took an estimated 480 square miles of Russian land but has been slowly pushed back since.

Ukraine has stayed mostly silent on the matter. But Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation run by Ukraine's national security and defense council, alluded to an assault on Sunday by posting that Russian troops in Kursk "were attacked from several directions and it came as a surprise to them."

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff for Ukraine's president, also hinted at an attack by writing on his Telegram channel that Russia was "getting what it deserves" in Kursk.

Meanwhile, Russia has outright declared that Ukraine had attacked again.

"On January 5, at about 09:00 Moscow time, in order to stop the advance of Russian troops in the Kursk direction, the enemy launched a counterattack with an assault group consisting of two tanks, a barrier vehicle, and 12 combat armored vehicles with troops in the direction of the Berdin farm," its defense ministry told state media.

As reports of Ukraine's jamming efforts emerged, the defense ministry published a video of a Russian drone operator coordinating a tank strike on an unknown target in a forested area, saying he was working in Kursk.

The Ukrainian and Russian Defense Ministries did not respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

Electronic warfare has increasingly been key on the battlefield as both Russia and Ukraine turn to cheap drones for reconnaissance, loitering munitions, and close-range bombing runs.

One development has seen both sides deploy wired drones. These use long fiber optic cables unfurled from a spool as the aerial system takes flight, allowing it to bypass jamming systems.

Should they become mainstream, they may pose yet another challenge for militaries that are already spending big on preparing against drone threats. The US, for example, is paying some $250 million to Anduril, Palmer Luckey's defense startup, for 500 drones and an electronic warfare system called Pulsar.

• A top analyst said Ukraine's decision to create new brigades instead of bolstering existing ones isn't working.
• Many of the new units are now being divided up and sent to existing brigades that need replenishment.
• It's turning out to be "one of the more puzzling force management choices" Kyiv has made, the analyst said.

Ukraine's 2024 strategy for solving a shortage of soldiers — its biggest challenge thus far — by forming new brigades instead of reinforcing old ones is performing poorly, said a top analyst on the war.

Michael Kofman, a senior fellow for the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in a social media thread on Saturday that Kyiv's decision was "one of the more puzzling force management choices" it has made.

"Expanding the force with new brigades, when men are desperately needed to replace losses among experienced formations deployed on the front lines, had visible tradeoffs," Kofman wrote.

With little experience, the new units have been "generally combat ineffective," he added.

'"As was seen in 2023, new formations perform poorly in offensive and defensive roles. Requiring considerable time to gain experience, cohesion, confidence, etc.," Kofman wrote.

The result is that the strategy has at least partially disintegrated, with battalions from the new brigades eventually sent to shore up losses in units that were already fighting, Kofman wrote.

Ukrainian leadership said in May that it aimed to create 10 new brigades, each of which typically consists of several thousand men. In doing so, its leaders hoped to provide fresh units that could rotate into combat or fill gaps on the front line.

"There is simply no other effective way to counteract the overwhelming enemy," a spokesperson for Ukraine's armed forces said in November. "After all, today we have a 1,300 km-long front with active combat clashes."

Some elements of these brigades were aided by training from Western forces, such as the 155th Mechanized Brigade. About half of its recruits drilled in France.

But the 155th's debut late last year created a crisis for Ukraine as reports emerged that it suffered from high rates of desertion and was being picked apart to siphon resources to other brigades.

Local journalist Yuriy Butusov reported just before the New Year that the new brigade, often finding itself whittled down, had to juggle specialists such as drone jamming operators into infantry roles. The backlash to the news was severe, with Ukrainian figures voicing questions about the new strategy as a whole.

"Perhaps it's sheer idiocy to create new brigades and equip them with new technology while existing ones are undermanned," wrote Lt. Col. Bohdan Krotevych, who serves as chief of staff in the Azov Brigade. The 155th is supplied with dozens of French-made armored vehicles, howitzers, and personnel carriers.

Kofman wrote that the 155th's scandal was "just the most egregious case" of Ukraine's force management problems.

Divvying up new units has led to a "steady fragmentation of the defensive effort and loss of cohesion," he said.

"This patchwork groupings of forces must hold the front," he added.

Ukraine has, over the last year, faced a slow but persistent Russian assault in the eastern regions of the Donbas, where Moscow has been throwing a steady supply of men and equipment at Kyiv's outnumbered and exhausted defensive lines. Russia's gains have been incremental and its reported losses are staggering, but it is advancing nonetheless.

Another pain point has been a lack of Western military aid to go around. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in September that Kyiv had sought to arm 14 of its brigades with Western weapons, but that arms packages in 2024 couldn't even supply four of them.

It's turned to domestic production to fill some of its needs, and Zelenskyy said on New Year's Eve that 30% of the weapons Ukraine used in 2024 were created locally.

Amid the manpower and equipment shortages, Ukrainian units have also been developing new drones at breakneck speed, often cobbled together from commercial parts.

Kofman said these drones have proven to be "force multipliers," letting troops lay mines safely and harassing Russian units before they can reach the front.

"However, tech innovation, tactical adaptation, and better integration are insufficient to compensate for failure to address the fundamentals," Kofman added. "Russian gains may appear unimpressive, but UA needs to address manpower, training, and force management issues to sustain this fight."

Kofman and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry did not respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

The last year has increasingly turned the war into a conflict of attrition, not just in manpower but also in resources. Russia is now entering a third year of sustaining its economy in the face of the West's sweeping sanctions, relying heavily on defense manufacturing and offering large bonuses to new recruits.

Some in Ukraine hope that if it can solve its manpower issues and maintain its defensive lines, it will eventually exhaust Russia's ability to funnel money and men into the war.

• Ukraine's investigators are probing the 155th Mechanized Brigade, a unit partially trained by France.
• Nicknamed "Anne of Kyiv," the highly publicized brigade was an effort by France to bolster Ukraine's defenses.
• But it's come under scrutiny after a Ukrainian reporter said 1,700 of its troops had deserted.

Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation is probing a brigade specially trained to use French weapons after reports that hundreds of soldiers deserted the unit.

Tetyana Sapian, a spokesperson for the investigative agency, told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday that authorities had launched a criminal investigation into abuse of power and desertion at the 155th Mechanized Brigade.

"The investigation is ongoing. It is too early to talk about any preliminary results," she said.

The infantry brigade, named "Anne of Kyiv" after an 11th-century Kyiv princess who became a queen of France, has about 5,800 soldiers. Around 2,000 of them underwent months of training in France in 2024.

There, they enjoyed a relatively high profile; French President Emmanuel Macron personally met several of 155th's battalions during a public visit to a French base in October.

Paris armed the brigade with its own weaponry, including 18 AMX 10 armored vehicles, 18 truck-mounted Caesar howitzers, and 128 armored troop carriers. The unit also fields some of Germany's prized Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks.

By November, the 155th was set to hit the front lines, with French officials saying these Ukrainian troops were now equipped to fight with Western battlefield training.

1,700 desertions, war reporter says

But a report last week by Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov said the brigade has been buckling from desertion and leadership issues, even before it was deployed to Pokrovsk.

"Before the brigade fired the first shot, 1,700 servicemen left it voluntarily," wrote Butusov.

He did not provide evidence for his claim, but published a tally of the unit's strength over time that said hundreds of men deserted monthly from March to November, forcing the 155th to keep replenishing personnel.

A key factor in the desertion rate, Butusov wrote, was that many in the unit had been forcibly recruited off Ukraine's streets. About 50 men also went AWOL while the unit was training in France, Butusov added.

Uncertainty also hangs over the 155th's leadership. Days into its deployment on the front line, the brigade's commander, Col. Dmytro Ryumshin, abruptly announced that he would step down. Ryumshin, a seasoned officer with experience commanding two other brigades, thanked his troops in a Facebook post, saying that the 155th had undergone a "tough but significant journey."

He was replaced by Col. Maksimov Taras Viktorovych, a former commander of the 14th Mechanized Brigade.

Troops divvied up for other units

The 155th has also been moving soldiers to other units in need of replenishment, and according to Butusov, it's dealt with at least seven significant personnel changes since March.

Drone-jamming specialists in the 155th, for example, had to fill infantry roles amid a manpower shortage, he wrote.

Mariana Bezuhla, a controversial Ukrainian member of parliament known for criticizing military leadership, said in early December that the 155th was being "torn to pieces, seconded to others."

"Even the fact that the French tried to make the brigade specialized did not save it from the stupid military decisions of our generals and tore the unit apart," she said.

Butusov's report has since drawn outcry among Ukrainian figures, such as Lt. Col. Bohdan Krotevych, who serves as chief of staff in the Azov Brigade.

"Perhaps it's sheer idiocy to create new brigades and equip them with new technology while existing ones are undermanned," he wrote on X.

Serhii Sternenko, a well-known Ukrainian lawyer who provides crowdfunded drones to military units, said his organization was assisting the 155th because the brigade lacked officially provided drones and jammers.

"Why create a new brigade when existing brigades are critically understaffed, only to later divide it and transfer personnel to the old brigades? What's the point?" he wrote on Tuesday on his Telegram channel.

The brigade's fate threatens to mar the legacy of Macron's efforts to position France as a staunch ally of Ukraine. Paris has pledged some $3 billion in military aid to Kyiv, and Macron has been one of the most vocal European leaders pushing for Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

He's also floated the idea of sending French troops to Ukraine if Russia were to score a massive breakthrough.

The French and Ukrainian Defense Ministries did not respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

When contacted by BI, the 155th Mechanized Brigade's communications service said: "Until the official investigation is completed, the brigade commander will not provide any comments."

Overall, the "Anne of Kyiv" brigade is just one of several training projects that France and Europe have been working on with Ukraine. Since late 2022, over 63,000 Ukrainian troops have been trained under the European Union Military Assistance Mission, a EU-funded program that gets member states to teach and equip Kyiv's forces.

The program has a $420 million budget for the next two years ending in November 2026.

January 3, 2025: This story was updated to reflect a response from the 155th Mechanized Brigade.

• Even while at war, Ukraine has been piping gas for Russia to European customers.
• But that arrangement, which dates back to the fall of the Soviet Union, has now expired.
• Russia earned an estimated $5 billion from the transits in 2024, with Ukraine getting up to $1 billion.

Russia is no longer able to send natural gas to Europe through Ukraine's pipelines after a five-year deal, struck before the war began, expired on Wednesday.

It marks the end of a long-standing arrangement that used Ukraine as a conduit for westbound Russian gas — an agreement that continued even as full-scale war broke out in 2022.

European countries that received that gas, such as Slovakia and Austria, were paying Russia for this energy. Reuters calculated in December that the Russian economy would earn about $5 billion in 2024 alone from piping gas through Ukraine.

The news agency also estimated that Kyiv stood to receive between $800 million to $1 billion over that year from collecting transit fees.

But Ukraine had signaled for months that it planned to let the deal expire on January 1, 2025, and it's now made good on that pledge.

"When Putin was presented with the Russian presidency more than 25 years ago, the annual gas transit through Ukraine to Europe totaled more than 130 billion cubic meters. Today, it equals 0," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote.

Ukraine's energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, said the transit deal ceased because of national security reasons.

The Russian gas conglomerate Gazprom confirmed on Wednesday that its energy flows through Ukraine had stopped, citing "repeated and explicit refusal of the Ukrainian side to extend these agreements."

The now-defunct Ukrainian-Russian deal laid bare the complexities of the war and its political consequences in Europe, with European Union nations struggling to reduce their reliance on Russian energy even as they supplied arms to Ukraine and tried to sanction Moscow.

And as thousands died every week amid bitter fighting in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Kursk, gas flowing through the same areas allowed both Kyiv and Moscow to profit off each other's goods and facilities.

Ukraine has piped Russian gas to Europe since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and energy customers initially expressed concerns that they wouldn't be able to find an alternative supply in time if the deal expired.

Slovakia's prime minister, Robert Fico, criticized Kyiv's decision in a New Year's address, saying cutting off cheap Russian gas to Europe would create a "drastic impact" on EU nations but not hurt Russia.

Austria, on the other hand, cut ties with Gazprom in December, accusing Russia of blackmailing the Austrian gas company OMV by using energy as a bargaining chip over European support of Ukraine.

Losing Austria as a customer was yet another blow to Moscow's gas industry as Europe weans itself off its Russian energy supply.

The EU said in March that about 8% of its natural gas came from Russia in 2023, down from 40% in 2021.

Since the war began, the US and Norway have emerged as two of the biggest winners among natural-gas suppliers. The EU said gas purchases from the US in 2023 had tripled since 2021, filling nearly 20% of the union's gas imports.

Some countries on the continent, such as Hungary, an EU member led by a president who keeps close ties with Moscow, still have access to Russian gas through the TurkStream pipeline, which runs along the Black Sea to the Balkans.

Moldova, which isn't an EU member state, and its separatist-controlled territory, Transnistria, are expected to be hit hard by the cessation of the Ukraine-Russia deal, with the country's largest power plant historically reliant on Russian gas.

Correction: January 2, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated Robert Fico's title. He's the prime minister of Slovakia, not the president.

• FBI identified Shamsud-Din Jabbar as the suspect in the New Orleans truck attack.
• Jabbar, now deceased, was a US citizen from Texas and had a criminal record.
• At least 15 people were confirmed dead, and dozens more were injured.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified the suspect in Wednesday's deadly attack in New Orleans as Shamsud-Din Jabbar.

The agency said Jabbar, who was confirmed dead after a shootout with police, was a 42-year-old US citizen from Texas. His actions are being investigated as a terrorist attack.

At least 15 people are confirmed dead, and dozens more were injured, after the suspect drove a truck into crowds on Bourbon Street at about 3:15 a.m. on New Year's Day. Two police officers were shot but are in stable condition.

The FBI said an ISIS flag, as well as weapons and a "potential" improvised explosive device, were found in the Ford F-150 pick-up truck Jabbar used.

It added other IEDs were found in the French Quarter, and the agency is investigating Jabbar's potential connection to terrorist organizations.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told NBC News that "multiple individuals" were involved, and that they had rented a house from Airbnb.

"There was a house fire in New Orleans this morning that was connected to this event where we believe the IEDs were being made," she added.

President Joe Biden said in a press conference that, hours before the attack, Jabbar had posted videos "inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill."

Jabbar's criminal record, obtained from the Texas Department of Public Safety and viewed by Business Insider, shows two prior arrests in 2002 and 2005.

The first was for theft of $50-$500. The other was for driving with an invalid license. Both were classified as misdemeanors.

FBI Assistant Special Agent Alethea Duncan said in a press conference that the FBI does not believe Jabbar acted alone. She did not specify how many additional suspects the agency is investigating.

"We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates," Duncan said. "We're asking anyone who has information, video, or pictures to provide it to the FBI."

She later added that Jabbar was an Army veteran, and the FBI believes he was honorably discharged.

US military spokespersons told media on Wednesday evening that Jabbar had served in the Army from 2007 to 2015, during which he was deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010.

He filled information technology and human resource roles at the time and was later an information technology specialist in the Army Reserve from 2016 until 2020. He left the military as a staff sergeant.

Jabbar also graduated from Georgia State University in 2017 after studying information technology, per an online résumé reviewed by CNN.

Sean Keenan, a freelance journalist for The New York Times, reported that he had interviewed Jabbar in 2015 for Georgia State University's newspaper. Jabbar told Keenan that he had difficulty adjusting back to civilian life — particularly with getting used to non-military speech.

"You may have a lot of skills and training from the Army," Jabbar was quoted as saying in the article. "But you may not be able to speak the language to really translate it and be understood when you apply for a civilian job."

Jabbar had also complained that bureaucracy in the Department of Veteran Affairs meant he might not receive his benefits if he made small mistakes on his paperwork.

Based on Jabbar's resume, CNN reported that he worked at Deloitte and Accenture, two of the biggest consultancies. A Deloitte spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement that he worked in a "staff-level role" since his 2021 hiring.

"We are shocked to learn of reports today that the individual identified as a suspect had any association with our firm," the Deloitte statement said. "Like everyone, we are outraged by this shameful and senseless act of violence and are doing all we can to assist authorities in their investigation."

Accenture did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Jabbar also held a real estate license in Texas from 2019 to 2023. He took classes in real estate from 2018 to 2021, per the Texas Real Estate Commission.

Citing court documents, CNN reported he had been divorced twice, although The New York Times reported him as having only separated from his second wife.

His second wife had a temporary restraining order against him granted in 2020, per CNN.

According to the Times, Jabbar was divorced from his first wife in 2012, who has forbidden their two daughters from seeing him. Dwayne Marsh, her new husband, said that in recent months he had started acting strangely.

Jabbar's brother, Abdur, told the outlet that Jabbar had grown up as a Christian but converted to Islam many years ago.

"What he did does not represent Islam," the brother said. "This is more some type of radicalization, not religion."

Chris Pousson, a retired Air Force veteran who went to school with Jabbar and reconnected with him in 2015, told the outlet that he remembered Jabbar as "quiet, reserved, and really, really smart."

Jabbar was always polite and well-dressed, he said, and although he noticed Jabbar writing increasingly religious posts on Facebook around 2015, the latest news is "a complete 180 from the quiet, reserved person I knew."

Turo, a carsharing company, confirmed to BI that Jabbar used a truck rented through its app to carry out the attack and that it is "actively partnering with the FBI."

"We are not currently aware of anything in this guest's background that would have identified him as a trust and safety threat to us at the time of the reservation," a Turo spokesperson said.

The attack comes ahead of three major events in New Orleans, including the college football Sugar Bowl game, which was scheduled for January 1. Officials said it has been postponed 24 hours.

The city also has its annual Mardi Gras festivities starting on January 6 and the 59th Super Bowl scheduled for February 9.

• Authorities say a driver deliberately plowed into a crowd of people in New Orleans early Wednesday.
• 15 people were killed, and at least 35 more were injured.
• The suspect is a 42-year-old named Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, the FBI now says.

The man accused of plowing into a crowd in the heart of New Orleans in an ISIS-inspired attack that killed 15 people acted alone, an FBI official said Thursday.

Law enforcement officials identified the suspect in the attack as Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, a 42-year-old US Army veteran, and have described it as a premeditated act of terrorism.

Officials say he killed 14 people and injured at least 35 more others after driving into the crowd with a rented truck early on New Year's Day and started shooting before being killed in a shootout with police.

At a press conference Thursday, Christopher Raia, an FBI counterterrorism official involved in the investigation, walked back earlier claims that other people may have assisted Jabbar with the attack.

He said officials have since reviewed hundreds of hours of surveillance footage and other records, and believe Jabbar acted alone.

"We do not assess, at this point, that anyone else has been involved in this attack except for Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar," Raia said at the New Orleans press conference.

Raia also said investigators have not found any links between the New Orleans attack and a Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas outside a Trump hotel, while cautioning the investigations into each event were still in their early stages. Both trucks were rented through the vehicle-sharing app Turo, and officials say the perpetrator in the Las Vegas attack was an active-duty Army soldier.

"At this point, there's is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas," Raia said.

The truck slammed through Bourbon Street

New Orleans was still reeling Thursday after the driver, later identified as Jabbar, drove a rented Ford pickup truck through the crowd on Bourbon Street at about 3:15 a.m. on New Year's Day.

Several improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, were also found near the scene of the attack. An ISIS flag was found in the vehicle's trunk, according to Raia.

Raia said that authorities initially believed other people may have been involved in the attack because of witnesses who said they saw people setting down coolers containing the IEDs.

But surveillance footage showed that Jabbar set down coolers containing two IEDs himself, Raia said. According to Raia, footage showed other people later "checking out" the coolers, but they did not seem to have any role in the attack. Reports of additional IEDs could not be substantiated, Raia said.

Officials had also earlier said that a fire in a New Orleans house, which was rented from Airbnb, may have been where the IEDs were assembled. But authorities said at Thursday's press conference that they now believe the fire is likely unrelated to the attack.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said "information changes" as the investigation continues.

"No one dumps a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle and solves it in five seconds," he said at the press conference Thursday.

Jabbar's criminal record, obtained from the Texas Department of Public Safety and viewed by Business Insider, shows two prior arrests in 2002 and 2005. The first was for theft, while the other was for driving with an invalid license. Both were classified as misdemeanors.

Support for ISIS posted on Facebook

At Thursday's press conference, Raia said Jabbar rented the Ford truck in Houston on December 30 and headed to New Orleans on December 31.

He said Jabbar made a series of Facebook posts during his journey expressing support for ISIS and posting a last will and testament.

Raia also said that investigators believe Jabbar joined ISIS before this past summer.

In a statement to Business Insider, the car-sharing app Turo said Jabbar used its service to rent the truck.

"We are heartbroken to learn that one of our host's vehicles was involved in this awful incident," the statement reads. "We are actively partnering with the FBI. We are not currently aware of anything in this guest's background that would have identified him as a trust and safety threat to us at the time of the reservation."

Starting Wednesday evening, Texas authorities performed a search of a location in Houston believed to be linked to Jabbar, the FBI said.

At Thursday's press conference, officials said they had obtained two laptops and three phones connected to Jabbar, which they have been examining.

The agency said it's made no arrests but had deployed specialized personnel, including a SWAT team, crisis negotiators, and a bomb squad, to the Houston location.

The search finished early Thursday, with the agency saying that it could not release more information, but that "there is no threat to residents in that area."

Superintendent Anne E. Kirkpatrick of the New Orleans Police Department said during an earlier press conference that a man drove a pickup truck down Bourbon Street "at a very fast pace." Kirkpatrick said the man drove into the crowd intentionally.

She also said the driver shot two police officers, who she said were in stable condition.

Kirkpatrick said it appeared that most of those injured were locals rather than tourists.

Eyewitness accounts

NOLA Ready, the city's emergency preparedness campaign, had initially said there was "a mass casualty incident involving a vehicle that drove into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street."

Kevin Garcia, a 22-year-old who was present at the time, told CNN, "All I seen was a truck slamming into everyone on the left side of Bourbon sidewalk."

He said that "a body came flying at me," and that he heard gunshots.

One witness told CBS that a driver plowed into the crowd on Bourbon Street at high speed and that the driver got out and started firing a weapon, with the police firing back.

Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana said on X on Wednesday that a "horrific act of violence took place on Bourbon Street earlier this morning."

"Please join Sharon and I in praying for all the victims and first responders on scene," he wrote, referring to his wife. "I urge all near the scene to avoid the area."

Bourbon Street, in the city's French Quarter, is a famous party destination.

Some streets in and around the French Quarter were due to be closed for New Year's celebrations, with Canal Street expected to stay open unless traffic got too bad, the local outlet Fox 8 WVUE-TV reported.

As a result of the attack, the Sugar Bowl football game between the University of Georgia and the University of Notre Dame was postponed from Wednesday night to Thursday afternoon.

Local officials tried to assure the public that the city was now safe, with additional law enforcement deployed everywhere.

"The city of New Orleans is not only ready for game day today but also to host large-scale events," New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Thursday.

• China has been trying to get its people to be more vigilant for foreign spies this year.
• The government has pushed warnings for things to beware of, like weird pens and strangers.
• Xi urged officials last year to adopt "worst-case-scenario thinking" for national security.

It's been a busy year for the front-facing team of China's State Security Ministry.

They've been following up on a nationwide push by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to maximize public awareness of foreign espionage.

Xi told officials in June 2023 that the country's national security issues had risen significantly, and that they should adopt "worst-case-scenario thinking" to prepare for potential "perilous, stormy seas" ahead.

That mandate has, in part, taken shape in 2024 through a series of posts on government accounts on WeChat, or China's version of Facebook.

Those include cautionary anecdotes of military documents being found in recycling plants, tour guides uncovering spies, and students getting duped by agencies promising entry into good colleges.

But they also contain clear warnings for things that could seem innocent, such as beautiful women offering "love traps" or drones disguised as dragonflies.

Funny-looking lighters, pens, and dragonflies

Spy gadgets aren't just a movie concept, the State Security Ministry said in August.

"In real life, some inconspicuous daily necessities around us may also contain mysteries," it wrote in a post about "hidden gadgets."

It told the story of an unnamed businessman bidding on an overseas project who discovered microphones in a box of napkins.

The ministry added that pens can be cameras, lighters can be listening devices, and insect-like drones could be used to gather intelligence.

'Good-hearted people' with cash to spare

The same month, the ministry told the tale of Little Wei, a senior university student who grew up orphaned in a poor mountainous region.

It warned that Wei, a budding, top-scoring student, had come across a generous donor named "Teacher L" who offered to subsidize him until he graduated from college. In return, Wei would have to help with research projects and field surveys, for which he would be paid even more money.

The ministry said Wei later found a job that gave him access to confidential information, which he passed to Teacher L at the latter's behest.

The ministry dubbed such people "wolves in sheep's clothing."

"Their methods are despicable and have no bottom line. They often disguise themselves as 'good-hearted people,' 'passionate people,' and 'caring people' around young people," it added.

Job offers

Young students have been a recurring concern in the ministry's messaging this year.

It wrote in September that it had found foreign spy agencies trying to recruit students with market research or science-related jobs touting "small efforts and high returns."

Officials said that eventually, the spies would ask the students to start "collecting and compiling internal scientific research and academic materials, photographing military sensitive areas."

'Handsome men or beautiful women'

Online dating could also be teeming with danger, the ministry warned in the same September post.

Foreign spies may "even disguise themselves as 'handsome men' or 'beautiful women' and pretend to be close friends and drag young students into a false 'love' trap," it wrote.

The ministry urged young people making friends online to be "highly vigilant and clear-headed."

Express delivery

Authorities have also released statements about courier deliveries, which are especially cheap and widely used in China.

"In recent years, foreign espionage and intelligence agencies have been increasingly rampant in stealing secrets through delivery channels," the ministry wrote in August.

It said it had found a case where a "foreign institution" had sent a hazardous powder to a Chinese research center. The ministry also said it had uncovered shipments of non-native animal species, sent to disrupt the local ecology, like "red-eared sliders, alligator snapping turtles, American bullfrogs, fall armyworms, and red fire ants."

Telling your date you work in the military

In November, the Chinese navy told its personnel in the "internet generation" — or millennials and Gen Z sailors — not to post their military status online.

"A military profession is of a political, confidential, and disciplinary nature. Resolve not to reveal your military identity online," the navy said in its post.

It warned especially of young officers and seamen who are "eager for love" and might try to snag dates by displaying their military status.

"If you expose your military identity to gain attention, it's very easy to become the focus of criminals," the navy wrote.

Rock music

The South China Morning Post reported in September that a new foundational textbook for college students warned of rock music and pop culture as "covers" for color revolutions.

Color revolutions generally refer to the Arab Spring and anti-government protests in post-Soviet states. For years, Beijing has accused the US of orchestrating them.

The textbook is likely to be made mandatory reading in at least some schools. State media has called it the "first unified textbook" of all of the principles and ideals that a core committee answering to Xi has tried to promote in the last 10 years.

The part left unsaid

Notably, China rarely says who these "foreign spies" work for, though these messages have come against the backdrop of frosty tensions between Washington and Beijing.

The US Justice Department, on its part, has been regularly charging people this year accused of spying for China and trying to manipulate local politics in Beijing's favor.

"Part of this is inevitable," Dylan Loh, a professor at the Public Policy and Global Affairs program at Singapore's National Technological University, told Business Insider. "As China grows, the amount of national security concerns and interests will certainly increase."

"The other part is reflective of geopolitics today, especially in the context of US-China competition," he said.

Overall, Loh said, it's indicative of a bigger push by China to group more issues into the domain of national security.

Ian Ja Chong, a professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said it's not clear how effective China's messaging is, but that its strategy seems to rely on repetition.

"Even if a vast majority of people ignore or become desensitized to such claims, there may be some among the public for whom these ideas of danger become a source of motivation," he said.

The danger could lie in this suspicion growing into nationalism, he said.

"There remain allegations that attacks on Japanese schools in Suzhou and Shenzhen earlier this year, as well as an attack on US teachers in Jilin, resulted from a growing sense of foreign threat in the PRC," Chong said, referring to China by its formal name.

Xi's drive goes beyond social media messaging. BI's Huileng Tan reported in May 2023 about China's sweeping updates to its anti-espionage law that broadened the definition of spying and the transfer of important information.

Since the original law passed in 2014, China has detained and charged dozens of foreign businesspeople with espionage. One of the most recent cases involves a Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma, a Tokyo-based pharmaceutical firm, accused by China of spying. According to Japanese media, he was the 17th Japanese citizen to be detained under suspicion of espionage in China, and his trial opened in November.

• A Russian-flagged cargo vessel has sunk in the Mediterranean Sea, per Russia's foreign ministry.
• The Ursa Major ship went down after an explosion in the engine room, the ministry said.
• It comes after Ukraine said Moscow had sent four ships to Russian military bases in Syria.

A Russian-flagged cargo vessel has sunk in the Mediterranean Sea after an explosion in its engine room, Russia's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

Fourteen crew members were rescued, but two were missing, the ministry's situation and crisis unit said in a Telegram post.

The ministry said the vessel, the Ursa Major, was owned by SK-YUG LLC, a Russian shipping company also known as SC South that has been sanctioned by the US.

Spain's Maritime Rescue agency told Business Insider that it had received a distress alert call from the Ursa Major last night.

It said the ship was 57 nautical miles off the coast of Almeria in southern Spain in bad weather conditions. This prompted the maritime rescue centers of Almeria, Cartagena, and Madrid to coordinate a rescue effort, it added.

The 14 people rescued were transferred to the Spanish port city of Cartagena, the agency said, adding that another Russian ship later arrived in the area and took over the rescue operations.

Ship tracking data said the 466-foot Ursa Major, built in 2009, last departed from St. Petersburg on December 11.

It comes after Ukraine's intelligence directorate reported on Monday that a Russian cargo ship called Sparta had broken down near Portugal after the engine failed.

The GUR said the ship had been sent to evacuate Russian weapons and equipment from Syria.

The crew was able to fix the vessel, and it continued on through the Strait of Gibraltar, the GUR said.

It remains unclear whether the Sparta and the Ursa Major are the same ship. Maritime tracking data shows that the Ursa Major was previously named Sparta III.

Moscow has operated two military facilities in Syria, the Hmeimin airbase and the Tartus naval base. Both have been crucial for projecting Russia's influence across the Middle East and Africa.

The fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad earlier this month has called the future of the bases into question.

Ukraine's GUR said earlier this month that Russia had deployed four ships to help evacuate equipment in Syria, including ships named the Sparta and Sparta II.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

• The UK said it has live-fired its new anti-drone radio weapon that costs only about 10 pence to fire.
• It's been heralding such weapons as a cheap alternative to missile-based systems for killing drones.
• This weapon, the RFDEW, is said to kill drones from 1,000 meters away in land, air, and sea environments.

The UK Defense Ministry said on Monday that it's successfully live-tested its new radio frequency weapon that can take down drone swarms for "less than the cost of a pack of mince pies."

"A live firing trial was recently completed by the Army's Royal Artillery Trials and Development Unit and 7 Air Defence Group at a range in West Wales," it said in a statement. "Where they successfully targeted and engaged Uncrewed Aerial Systems, in a first for the British Armed Forces."

The system is called the Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon, or RFDEW. The UK says it has a range of up to 1,000 meters, or about 1,093 yards, at an estimated cost of 10 pence, or about $0.13, per shot.

The RFDEW uses high-frequency radio waves to detect, track, and then disable critical electronic components in the drones so that they become immobilized or fall out of the sky.

It's meant to be versatile. The UK says the RFDEW can be deployed in land, air, and sea environments.

Development of the weapon was announced in May, when officials described it as a cheaper alternative to traditional missile-based systems for fighting drones. The defense ministry said at the time that tests would be carried out over the summer.

The UK said the RFDEW is mostly automated, meaning it can be operated by a single person and mounted onto a military vehicle.

It's one of London's answers to the growing prominence of drone warfare, brought to the fore by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where cheap drones have become a primary killing tool in the protracted conflict.

The UK is also developing a vehicle-mounted laser beam weapon that fires shots costing 10 pence each, which it said has a range of 1,000 meters as well.

That weapon was successfully tested too, the ministry said on December 11.

Both systems were developed under a government program that partners with private firms such as Raytheon and Teledyne e2v.

The UK also spent about $126 million developing DragonFire, another laser weapon system that uses high-concentrated energy beams to kill drones at less than $13 a shot.

If these systems can be deployed at scale, their advertised low per-shot cost could be a major advantage for the UK. Traditional anti-drone tech that's already considered to be in the lower-cost range, such as the expendable Raytheon Coyote, can be priced at about $100,000 per munition.

Militaries want to go far cheaper, amid a heightened awareness that any armed force — from Russian and Ukrainian troops to Yemeni rebels — can deliver deadly payloads at less than $1,000 through commercial drone parts.

The US is developing a weapon similar to the RFDEW that uses microwaves to fry drone parts and disable swarms. It looks like a container with a satellite dish and is called the Tactical High-power Operational Responder, or THOR.

In April 2023, the US Air Force said it had successfully tested THOR against a drone swarm.

Such technologies are also becoming more mainstream in Ukraine. Kvertus, a company based in Kyiv, sells a handheld "anti-drone gun" that it says can knock out drones with radio frequencies.

• China's internet isn't happy that "Wukong Sun: Black Legend" is due for release on Nintendo's store.
• It's a 2D platformer game with art and a title that resembles "Black Myth: Wukong."
• Immensely popular in China, the game has an ardent player base that is fiercely defending the title.

"Black Myth: Wukong," the high-profile video game that earned superstar status in China, has a new titular competitor on the market: a side-scrolling platformer in which the Monkey King bashes through monsters of ancient legend.

"Wukong Sun: Black Legend," published by Global Game Studio, is now listed for preorder on Nintendo's store for its Switch console — much to the chagrin of China's social media.

Posts deriding the Nintendo-listed game as a knock-off emerged on Monday morning and, within an hour, topped discussion rankings on Weibo, China's version of X, per data seen by Business Insider.

"Hey everyone, have you heard? The stunning 'Black Myth: Wukong' has actually been copied! This really makes you speechless," one user wrote.

"Since Nintendo has removed pirated games from its shelves, this should also be removed," wrote another.

Promotional art for the Nintendo-listed game, which is due for release on December 26 and retails at $7.99, bears a striking resemblance to that of "Black Myth: Wukong."

But the new title's gameplay looks nothing like that of "Black Myth: Wukong," a 3D action game with spruced-up visuals and a famed boss system that's difficult to overcome.

"Wukong Sun: Black Legend" appears to feature 2D sprites that approach from the right of the screen as the player navigates from the left.

"Black Myth: Wukong," produced by Chinese developer Game Science, is based on characters from the 1592 novel "Journey to the West," one of the most famous literary works in the region and a cornerstone of Chinese popular culture and mythology.

The term "Black Myth" in the game's title refers to it telling a story that is not included in the original novel, which has served as the base for a hit 1986 TV show and a plethora of books, games, and other media.

On its Nintendo store page, "Wukong Sun: Black Legend" also references the novel, saying it would allow players to "embark on an epic Journey to the West" and battle characters from its mythology.

Weibo users aren't having any of it.

"Well-known games have been plagued by imitations for a long time," wrote Pear Video, a popular internet news account. "Malicious developers exploit the names of well-known games, reskin various small games, and put them on the shelves of big game stores with similar titles, deceiving uninformed consumers to buy and download."

"I wonder how Nintendo will deal with it," a popular millennial gaming blogger wrote.

Nintendo operates a marketplace that allows developers to publish games for Nintendo consoles. The company did not respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by BI.

Global Game Studio is listed as both the developer and publisher of "Wukong Sun: Black Legend." According to Nintendo's website the developer has also produced a soccer game, an extreme sports biking game, a "Farming Harvester Simulator," and a zombie shooter.

The studio did not respond to a request for comment in an email sent by BI.

"Black Myth: Wukong" is considered China's first homegrown AAA video game success, selling over 20 million copies on the marketplace Steam, per the data tracker Video Game Insights. The game retails at about $59.99 per copy, putting total sales north of $1 billion.

Its release dominated China's internet this summer and has garnered an ardent cult following. Earlier this month, the title's failure to clinch the coveted "Game of the Year" award from The Games Awards sparked a wave of dissatisfaction on Chinese social media.

• Putin proposed a missile "duel" between the Oreshnik and US-made air defenses.
• He said Ukraine could concentrate its anti-missile systems in one spot and try to counter the new munition.
• In response, Ukraine's Zelenskyy called him a "dumbass."

Russian leader Vladimir Putin suggested on Thursday that an experimental "duel" be held between Moscow's newly unveiled Oreshnik missile and Western-made air defenses.

Speaking at his annual press conference, Putin slammed the idea that the Oreshnik could be shot down by anti-missile defenses.

"If the experts in the West think so, well, let them come up with a proposal to us, and to the US. They can suggest a kind of technological experiment, a kind of high-tech fighting duel of the 21st century," Putin said, per a translation of the conference.

Putin said both parties could agree upon a target in Kyiv, where Ukraine could "concentrate all of their air defense and anti-missile defense."

"We will strike it with Oreshnik and we will see what's going to happen. We are willing to conduct such an experiment," he said.

He also suggested that it could benefit the US by allowing the Pentagon to glean information from the strike.

"So let's conduct this duel and look at the outcome. It's going to be interesting because it's going to be useful both to us and the American side," he added.

Russia initially fired the Oreshnik in late November, hitting the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

The new missile, which appears to have its roots in the RS-26 Rubezh intermediate-range ballistic missile, was described by Putin as flying as fast as Mach 10, or 10 times the speed of sound.

That velocity makes it extremely difficult for anti-missile defenses to counter. The Oreshnik is also believed to deploy a cluster payload and is capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Additionally, the missile's purported range allows it to hit any target in Europe. Russia has, in recent weeks, touted it as a new class of weapon in the Ukraine war.

Shortly after Putin's comment, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to X to voice his disapproval of the "duel" proposal.

"People are dying, and he thinks it's 'interesting,'" Zelenskyy wrote on X on Thursday evening. "Dumbass."

US defenses vs Russian missiles

Ukraine has placed great emphasis on its need for US-made Patriot systems to protect its skies, and Zelenskyy has said his nation needs at least 25 of them. It's unclear exactly how many Patriot batteries Ukraine fields now, but it's been confirmed to have at least four systems donated by NATO members and another five on the way.

They're expensive to use. Each Patriot missile costs up to $6 million and even then, may struggle against advanced weapons maneuvering at the speeds Putin is advertising. These munitions, often called hypersonic missiles, have been a key concern for the Pentagon.

Notably, the Kinzhal, a previously much-hyped missile, was also touted by Russia as hypersonic and "unstoppable." But it has reportedly been downed dozens of times by Patriot batteries in Ukraine.

Still, the Kinzhal appears to be less advanced in maneuverability and glide potential than the Oreshnik and China's Dongfeng hypersonic missiles.

Meanwhile, Western experts still question how many Oreshnik missiles Russia has in its inventory, and the US calls it an experimental weapon. Moscow's strike on Dnipro was largely seen as a show of force, and the Pentagon has said it may launch a similar strike on Ukraine soon.

On Monday, Putin told state media that serial production of the Oreshnik would begin soon.

• Frank Kendall, the Air Force Secretary, hit back on Elon Musk's comments slamming the F-35.
• While Kendall said he respects the billionaire, he said Musk is "not a warfighter."
• Musk has trashed the F-35 as obsolete compared to drones, but Kendall said that reality is decades away.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said Elon Musk should learn more about air combat tech before publicly slamming crewed fighter jets as obsolete.

"I have a lot of respect for Elon Musk as an engineer," Kendall said on Thursday at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

"He's not a warfighter, and he needs to learn a little bit more about the business, I think, before he makes such grand announcements as he did," Kendall said.

Musk recently drew public attention for posting on X that crewed fighters, such as the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, were inefficient compared to drones and have a "shit design."

Calling the makers of the F-35 "idiots," Musk posted videos of drone swarms and wrote that crewed fighters would be shot down easily by modern surface-to-air missile defenses and enemy drones.

Kendall, who oversees the US Air Force's budget, said Musk's vision of drone superiority is many years away.

"It's provocative, it's interesting," he said of Musk's statements. "I can imagine at some point; I don't think it's centuries, by the way; I think it's more like decades when something like he imagines can occur."

"But we're not there," Kendall added. "And it's going to be a little while before we get there."

Musk did not respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

Kendall said he pushed the Air Force on a "key decision" to field drones that work in tandem with crewed fighters.

Still, he added the US may eventually reduce its planned purchases of the F-35, a fifth-generation fighter that Lockheed Martin manufactures, depending on how quickly other tech advances.

"Our inventory objective for the F-35 is 1,700 and some. I don't know what we'll end up buying, and nobody can predict that right now," the secretary said.

But he also doesn't think the F-35 will be replaced anytime soon, and said the US is still buying more of the aircraft for now and in the near future.

"It is dominant over fourth-generation aircraft. Period. And in a very, very serious way. It's not even close. And there's no alternative to that in the near term," he said.

The US has been looking into a sixth-generation fighter, also known as the next-generation air dominance program, that will focus on crewed jets that work collaboratively with drones.

Kendall said that if the NGAD program continues, it will still take years to produce that fighter in quantity, and it will be initially "very expensive" to manufacture.

It's unclear how Musk's views on the F-35 and drones may materially affect US defense spending. The billionaire has been made the cohead of a new Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to reduce what it sees as excess federal expenses.

Musk is in President-elect Donald Trump's close orbit and showed this week that he can wield considerable influence in Congress when Republican lawmakers followed his lead on trashing a bipartisan bill that sought to avoid a government shutdown.

Meanwhile, Kendall is expected to step down as Air Force Secretary when President Joe Biden, who appointed him, leaves office in January. The secretary expressed a desire in September to remain in his post as the Trump administration takes over.

• The FAA and FBI want people to stop pointing lasers at what they think are drones in the sky.
• The agencies have received a big spike in reports of pilots affected by lasers over New Jersey.
• Complaints have nearly tripled this month compared to last December, the FAA said.

US authorities want people to know they shouldn't point lasers at what they think are "mystery drones" in the sky.

The Federal Aviation Administration told multiple news outlets on Wednesday that complaints of laser strikes on crewed planes over New Jersey have jumped 269% in recent weeks compared to the same period last year.

Per Reuters, the agency received 59 reports of people aiming lasers at planes in the first half of December, up from eight in the same period of 2023.

The administration also said it had received "dozens of new laser reports from pilots" over the New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania areas.

The FAA told CNN that pilots across the entire US cumulatively report about 30 laser strikes on a typical night. But on Tuesday night alone, the number of reported strikes reached 123 nationwide, the administration told the outlet.

Even if the laser's target isn't a plane, it's illegal under US federal law to point a laser or shoot a firearm at a drone.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Newark, New Jersey also said on Monday that it was receiving more reports of pilots "being hit in the eyes" because people thought they were pointing lasers at drones.

The FBI added that local authorities have been out every night for several weeks to track down "operators acting illegally," saying the consequences of shining lasers at crewed aircraft could be deadly.

"Misidentification often occurs when UAS are mistaken for more familiar objects such as manned aircraft, low-orbit satellites, or celestial bodies like planets or stars," the FBI's Monday statement said, referring to unmanned aircraft systems.

The government warnings come as residents along the East Coast have reported seeing "mystery drones" in the sky, triggering conspiracy theories that the unknown objects are being used for nefarious or secret purposes.

The Pentagon and other federal agencies said these sightings likely aren't a threat, and that out of 5,000 drone sightings reported in recent weeks, only 100 warranted investigations.

Over a million drones are legally registered in the US, and officials say the sightings could involve commercial drones, hobbyist drones, or law enforcement drones.

• China's nuclear arsenal now stands at 600 warheads, according to the Pentagon.
• Its new estimate means Beijing is still tracking to reach 1,000 nukes by 2030.
• It's not just about sheer quantity. The US says China is building a wide range of launch methods too.

China has been fielding over 600 operational nuclear warheads since mid-2024, up from about 500 last year, according to an estimate by the Pentagon.

That reported growth puts Beijing on track to hit 1,000 warheads by 2030, a prediction that US defense officials made in 2021.

Those findings come from the Defense Department's 2024 China Military Power Report, an annual summary of Beijing's capabilities and an assessment of its ambitions for its armed forces.

The Pentagon says China isn't just making more warheads — it's building a wide array of capabilities to launch them, too.

"When you look at what they're trying to build here, it's a diversified nuclear force that would be comprised of systems ranging from low yield, precision strike missiles, all the way up to ICBMs with different options at basically every rung on the escalation ladder," a senior defense official told reporters at a briefing on Monday. ICBMs refer to intercontinental ballistic missiles.

"Which is a lot different than what they've relied on traditionally," the official added.

China says it maintains a "no first-use" nuclear policy, meaning it will only ever deploy a nuke in retaliation for another nuclear strike.

But the US has been startled by what it says is a rapid build-up of Beijing's nuclear forces in the last few years. In 2020, the Pentagon thought that China had only 200 nukes and would have 400 by 2030.

The Defense Department's newer estimate of 1,000 warheads by 2030 would put China closer to being a peer threat to the US and Russia, the two behemoths of the Cold War.

A strategic treaty between the US and Russia limits their active arsenals to 1,550 warheads, though they are stockpiling thousands more.

Now, Western arms analysts are concerned that China isn't engaging in talks about its nuclear build-up — a key mechanism that the US and Russia used to prevent nuclear war.

"The PRC has not publicly or formally acknowledged or explained its nuclear expansion and modernization," the 2024 report said.

Advanced systems to counter US defenses

Meanwhile, a debate is raging in Washington about a need for the US to expand and explore more advanced nuke launch methods so it can maintain an edge over China.

The Pentagon's report for 2024 said Beijing is likely developing advanced missile systems "in part due to long-term concerns about United States missile defense capabilities."

These include hypersonic glide vehicles, which use the edge of Earth's upper atmosphere to fly incredibly fast, and fractional orbital bombardments, which launch weapons into orbital space to extend their range and flight time.

Those technologies can make a nuclear strike difficult to detect or track. In mid-2021, China is believed to have combined them in a hypersonic missile test.

For the US, expanding on nuclear weapons will cost taxpayers, a point that arms control advocates often raise when asking for restraint. An already-approved program to modernize America's aging nuclear triad is expected to cost $1.5 trillion over the next 30 years.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

• Russia hasn't mass-evacuated troops and gear out of its key bases in Syria.
• A senior analyst said the signs would be clear — such a retreat would be difficult to hide.
• Russia said it's trying to work out a deal for its bases with the new Syrian government.

The Russian military is still stationed at its Syrian bases after the fall of Bashar Assad's government, and analysts say an evacuation will be easy to spot.

The Kremlin has two major facilities in the country that were hosted by Assad — the Tartus naval base and the Khmeimim air base — which are crucial to Russian access to the Mediterranean and Africa.

According to Russian state media, rebel forces now control the Latakia province, where these bases are located.

With Moscow's long-term access to those bases now under question, satellite images show that its warships have vacated Tartus since Monday. Several were spotted holding positions about 15 km from the coast.

It's unclear if these vessels will return.

But satellite images also show that a full evacuation of Tartus hasn't happened, Dara Massicot, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the Financial Times.

"And if they have to leave Tartus, you'd actually see more ships show up to help move things out," she told the outlet.

It's possible that Russia moved its ships temporarily out to sea to protect them while conditions in Syria remain uncertain.

At Khmeimim, which Russia uses as its primary channel for flying troops into Africa, satellite images this week showed that much of the Kremlin's equipment, including fighter jets and helicopters, remained on-site.

Massicot wrote in a thread on X that an evacuation of the airbase "will be obvious."

"An air evacuation would take hundreds of sorties of IL-76 and An-124, not the handful identified yesterday at Khmeimim," she wrote, referring to several Ilyushin and Antonov freight airliners spotted at Khmeimim earlier this week.

"When Russian forces deployed to Syria in 2015, they flew almost 300 sorties in two weeks, and that was before base expansion," Massicot added.

Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote that Russia is likely delaying a total evacuation as it tries to suss out a deal with a new Syrian government.

They said Russia is still maintaining its assets in Khmeimim, and that a "lack of a coherent Russian response" indicates Moscow is still watching the situation.

"The Kremlin is very likely hesitant to completely evacuate all military assets from Syria in the event that it can establish a relationship with Syrian opposition forces and the transitional government and continue to ensure the security of its basing and personnel in Syria," the analysts wrote.

The Kremlin hopes it won't have to evacuate

Russia is also publicly signaling that it isn't giving up on its vital bases.

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, told reporters that Russia has been in contact with "those capable of ensuring the security of military bases."

Meanwhile, Russian state media outlet TASS cited an unnamed source in the Kremlin saying that Syrian opposition leaders had guaranteed the safety of Tartus and Khmeimim.

On the other hand, Ukraine's intelligence division said on Tuesday that Russia has a plan to evacuate Khmeimim with Antonovs and Ilyushins, and that Russian troops have begun dismantling equipment at Tartus under the supervision of special forces. It did not say how it sourced this information.

Russia's future in Syria unclear

Despite those forecasts, it's unclear how a post-Assad Syria will take shape. Rebel forces in the country were largely splintered, consisting of various separate factions sharing the common cause of toppling Assad.

Mohammed al-Bashir, who ran rebel-held pockets of northern Syria, said on Tuesday that he had been named interim prime minister.

The Islamist group at the helm of the rebel victory, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, is led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, a former Al Qaeda-affiliated fighter who's said to have cut ties with the terrorist organization.

But he is still listed as a terrorist by the US, with a $10 million bounty on his head. Though he has been a prominent contender for leadership, he has not taken an official leadership position as of press time.

• Igor Krasnov, Russia's prosecutor-general, says the country's bribery problem is getting worse.
• He told state media that 30,000 officials were disciplined for corruption in 2024.
• Bribes are up at least 30% since 2023, with hundreds of companies fined for offering payoffs, he said.

Russia's prosecutor-general said on Monday that detections of corruption among officials have jumped this year, with a 30% increase in bribery cases compared to 2023.

Igor Krasnov told state media that almost 30,000 Russian officials were caught and disciplined for breaking anti-graft rules in 2024.

Of that total, 500 were fired for "loss of trust," Krasnov said.

Krasnov said that at least half of all corruption cases involved bribery and that almost 19,000 such crimes were discovered in the first nine months of 2024.

That's nearly as many as the 20,300 bribery cases his office found in 2023, Krasnov added.

"This year, the number of such crimes has increased by more than 30%, exceeding 6,600 cases," he said.

According to Krasnov, about 760 billion rubles worth of funds and property have been confiscated in the last five years from officials accused of corruption. That's worth about $7.6 billion today.

About 200 companies were fined in the first half of 2024 for trying to bribe officials, the prosecutor-general also said.

Analysts from the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War said systemic corruption in Russia is likely to exacerbate its economic burdens from fighting the Ukraine war.

"Russia's mounting economic pressures stemming from the war, paired with widespread corruption, labor shortages, and inefficiencies in Russia's DIB, will likely compound the cost of Russia's war and further undermine its ability to effectively sustain DIB operations while maintaining economic stability," wrote the ISW.

DIB refers to the defense industrial base, a network of companies and manufacturers that provides governments with weapons and military equipment.

The ruble has already weakened considerably since the war began and now trades at about 100 against the US dollar, compared to about 75 against the dollar before March 2022. With international sanctions hemming Russia in, the country's leader, Vladimir Putin, has pushed its economy and government spending heavily toward defense manufacturing, recruitment, and payments to families of troops.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin estimated on Saturday that Russia has "squandered" over $200 billion on invading Ukraine.

"Russia has paid a staggering price for Putin's folly," Austin said at the Reagan National Defense Forum.

He also said the war has killed or wounded at least 700,000 Russian troops.

Russia's defense ministry has historically struggled with corruption. While the extent of graft within the organization is difficult to determine, it emerges to the fore sometimes when top officials are ousted.

In June, for example, five senior figures in the Russian military, including a former deputy defense minister, were arrested on corruption charges.

The charges came just after Sergei Shoigu, the country's longtime defense minister, was replaced.

Some analysts, such as Mark Galeotti, a senior researcher at the think tank Royal United Services Institute, told Business Insider at the time that they believed the arrests could be connected to Shoigu's replacement.

• Luigi Mangione has been charged with murder in UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's killing.
• Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy family, left an online trail before his arrest.
• He founded an app, talked about AI on X, and read the Unabomber Manifesto.

Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old Ivy League graduate charged with murder in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has a vast online trail.

Police arrested Mangione in Pennsylvania on December 9. He initially faced local gun and forgery charges. He's expected to be extradited to New York.

New York court documents show that in addition to one count of murder, he also faces two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of second-degree possession of a forged document, and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a firearm.

Here's what to know about Mangione.

Mangione attended elite schools

Mangione graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.

He achieved a Bachelor of Science in engineering with a major in computer science and a minor in mathematics. He also received a Master of Science in engineering the same year with a major in computer and information science, a university spokesperson told Business Insider.

Before that, he attended Gilman School, an elite all-boys preparatory school in Baltimore. His yearbook entry, obtained by BI, says he was involved in robotics and Model United Nations.

In his valedictorian speech, Mangione praised classmates for "challenging the world" and thanked parents for sending their children to the fee-paying school, which he described as "far from a small financial investment."

He favorably reviewed the Unabomber Manifesto

On Goodreads, Mangione reviewed Ted Kaczynski's "Industrial Society and Its Future" book, also known as The Unabomber Manifesto, in early 2024. He gave it four out of five stars.

"He was a violent individual — rightfully imprisoned — who maimed innocent people," Mangione wrote. "While these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary."

Mangione's review of the manifesto also quoted another online comment about the book, which appears to have originated on Reddit, praising the use of violence "when all other forms of communication fail."

"'Violence never solved anything' is a statement uttered by cowards and predators,'" Mangione quoted.

He founded an app and worked in tech

In 2015, while in high school, Mangione founded a company called AppRoar Studios. AppRoar released an iPhone game called "Pivot Plane" that's no longer available, but a reviewer in 2015 said it was "a fun little arcade game brought to you by 3 high school juniors."

He lived in a co-living space in Hawaii as recently as 2023.

He posed for photos indicating he participated in Greek life at the University of Pennsylvania.

The fraternity chapter represented in his photos couldn't be reached for comment.

A blog post on the University of Pennsylvania's website that was removed on December 9 said he cofounded a video game design club there.

Stephen Lane, a professor of video game design at the Ivy League university who didn't advise the club, told BI that "the fact he took the initiative and started something from nothing, that means at least in the context of Penn, that's a pretty good thing." He added, however, that Thompson's shooting was "obviously not a good thing."

Mangione's LinkedIn page says he worked as a data engineer at the vehicle shopping company TrueCar starting in 2020.

A TrueCar spokesperson told BI that Mangione hadn't worked for the company since 2023.

Online breadcrumbs and roommate say he dealt with back pain

At the top of Mangione's profile on X — formerly Twitter — is a triptych of three images: a photo of himself, smiling, shirtless on a mountain ridge; a Pokémon; and an X-ray with four pins or screws visible in the lower back.

The Pokémon featured in his cover image is Breloom, which has special healing abilities in the games.

Some of the books reviewed on Mangione's Goodreads account are related to health and healing back pain, including "Back Mechanic: The Secrets to a Healthy Spine Your Doctor Isn't Telling You" and "Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery."

R.J. Martin, the founder of the co-living space in Hawaii, told the Honolulu Civil Beat that Mangione had suffered back pain from a misaligned vertebra that was pinching his spinal cord.

Martin told CNN that after leaving Hawaii, Mangione texted him to say he'd undergone surgery and sent him X-rays.

"It looked heinous, with just, giant screws going into his spine," Martin told the outlet.

It's not immediately clear whether the surgery was related to UnitedHealthcare.

Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for the co-living space founder, told The Wall Street Journal that Mangione stopped replying to texts about six months ago and "sort of disappeared."

A YouTube spokesperson said that the platform had terminated Mangione's three accounts, adding that they had not been active for about seven months.

A senior police official told NBC New York on December 12 that Magione was never a UnitedHealthcare client and may have targeted Thompson because of the insurer's large size and outsize power. That same day, The Wall Street Journal reported that a company spokesperson said Magione was not a client.

Mangione was interested in AI

On his X account, Mangione posted and amplified posts about technological advances such as artificial intelligence. He also posted about fitness and healthy living.

He frequently reposted posts by the writer Tim Urban and the commentator Jonathan Haidt about the promise and perils of technology.

He also appeared to be a fan of Michael Pollan, known for his writing about food, ethics, and lab-grown meat.

On Goodreads, he praised Urban's book "What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies," describing it as "one of the most important philosophical texts of the early 21st century."

Urban posted to X on December 9: "Very much not the point of the book."

He was previously accused of trespassing

Before his arrest, Mangione had at least one encounter with the legal system. Hawaiian court records indicate that in 2023, he was accused of entering a forbidden area of a state park.

Mangione appears to have paid a $100 fine to resolve the matter.

Mangione comes from a wealthy and influential Baltimore family

Mangione is one of 37 grandchildren of the late Nick Mangione Sr., a prominent multimillionaire real-estate developer in Baltimore who died in 2008, The Baltimore Banner reported. Nick Mangione Sr. had 10 children, including Louis Mangione, Luigi Mangione's father.

Members of the Mangione family own the Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City, Maryland, and Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

One of Luigi Mangione's cousins is the Republican Maryland state legislator Nino Mangione, the Associated Press reported.

Representatives for Nino Mangione's office, in a statement to BI, declined to comment on the news of Luigi Mangione's arrest.

"Unfortunately, we cannot comment on news reports regarding Luigi Mangione," the statement read. "We only know what we have read in the media. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi's arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved. We are devastated by this news."

The Mangione family has donated more than $1 million to the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, where all of Nick Mangione Sr.'s grandkids, including Luigi Mangione, were born, the Banner reported.

A public filing from 2022 for the nonprofit Mangione Family Foundation lists Louis Mangione as vice president.

He was arrested while on his laptop at a McDonald's, the police said

When the police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, responded to a McDonald's after a call about a suspicious person, they found Mangione sitting at a table looking at a silver laptop and wearing a blue medical mask, a criminal complaint said.

The complaint said that when asked for identification, Mangione gave police officers a New Jersey driver's license with the name "Mark Rosario."

When an officer asked Mangione whether he'd been to New York recently, he "became quiet and started to shake," the complaint said.

It added that Mangione correctly identified himself after officers told him he could be arrested for lying about his identity.

When asked why he lied, Mangione replied, "I clearly shouldn't have," the complaint said.

His motive is still not known, but police are analyzing his so-called manifesto

An internal NYPD report obtained by The New York Times said Mangione "likely views himself as a hero of sorts who has finally decided to act upon such injustices."

Mangione "appeared to view the targeted killing of the company's highest-ranking representative as a symbolic takedown and a direct challenge to its alleged corruption and 'power games,' asserting in his note he is the 'first to face it with such brutal honesty,'" according to the NYPD report by the department's Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau, the Times reported.

Moments before the December 10 extradition hearing began, Mangione, handcuffed and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, shouted out to the press as Pennsylvania police escorted him into the courthouse.

Mangione yelled out something partially unintelligible, saying something was "completely out of touch" and "an insult to the American people." He also shouted that something was a "lived experience" as a group of officers led him into the courthouse.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York that Mangione had prior knowledge that UnitedHealthcare would be having its annual conference in New York City.

Mangione has retained a high-profile New York attorney

Thomas Dickey emerged as Mangione's attorney in Pennsylvania after his arrest in Altoona on December 9.

During a December 10 hearing at Pennsylvania's Blair County Courthouse, Dickey told the judge that Mangione was contesting his extradition to New York City.

Dickey later told reporters that Mangione would plead not guilty to all the charges in Pennsylvania. During an interview with CNN, Dickey said he expected Mangione to plead not guilty to the second-degree murder charge in New York and that he hadn't seen evidence that authorities "have the right guy."

Karen Friedman Agnifilo will represent Mangione in New York, a representative for Agnifilo Intrater LLP confirmed to Business Insider on Sunday.

Friedman Agnifilo worked as the chief assistant district attorney at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office from 2014 to 2021. She pivoted to private practice in 2021.

Do you know Luigi Mangione? Have a tip? Reach out to [email protected].

• Western leaders have welcomed the fall of Bashar Assad but warned of uncertainty about what's next.
• Biden warned of "a moment of risk" over Syria's future.
• Assad was ousted by a coalition that included Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, whose leader fought the US in Iraq.

World leaders are warning the downfall of Syria's dictator Bashar Assad leaves the country's future uncertain, as most of them celebrate his toppling.

Assad had, for more than a decade, faced a loose coalition of rebel groups, including the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. But it was Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist group that traces its roots to Al Qaeda, that stormed from city to city in days, prompting Assad to flee to Russia, which had helped keep him in power.

Questions remain about what sort of government may form under Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's leader, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. Though he has broken ties with Al Qaeda and is projecting messages of religious tolerance, the US designates him a terrorist and has a $10 million bounty on his head.

Here's how the world's been reacting to Assad's fall.

US: President Joe Biden

"At long last, the Assad regime has fallen," Biden said on Sunday during a press briefing in the Roosevelt Room.

Biden called the Assad government's expulsion a "fundamental act of justice" and a "moment of opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country."

"It's also a moment of risk and uncertainty," the president added. "As we all turn to the question of what comes next."

The US has been conducting airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria, Biden said.

US: President-Elect Donald Trump

Trump, who is to succeed Biden on January 20, referenced the war in Ukraine as a key reason for Russia's waning military support for Assad.

"Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer," he wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.

In a post on Saturday, Trump wrote that the US should avoid any involvement in Syria.

"THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!" he wrote.

EU: European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen

In a statement on Sunday, Von der Leyen wrote that Europe hoped to support Damascus in "rebuilding a Syrian state that protects all minorities."

"This historic change in the region offers opportunities but is not without risks," Von der Leyen wrote.

The majority of the nation's population is Sunni Muslim, but among them are Alawites, Christians, Shiite Muslims, Druze, and other ethnicities and religious movements.

UK: Prime Minister Keir Starmer

Starmer cautioned on Sunday that Syria's new political situation is still in its "early days," but said Assad's fall was a "very good thing for the Syrian people."

"The Syrian people have suffered under Assad's barbaric regime for too long and we welcome his departure," Starmer said. "Our focus is now on ensuring a political solution prevails, and peace and stability is restored."

Starmer called for a "rejection of terrorism and violence" and for civilians to be protected.

Germany: Chancellor Olaf Scholz

Scholz posted identical statements on Sunday in German, Arabic, and English.

"Today, we stand with all Syrians who are full of hope for a free, just, and safe Syria," the chancellor said.

"A political solution to the conflict in Syria is possible. With international partners and on the basis of the resolutions of the UN Security Council, Germany will make its contribution," he added.

A few hours earlier, Scholz said that the end of Assad's rule was "good news." He also urged that civilians and minorities be protected.

France: President Emmanuel Macron

"The barbaric state has fallen. At last," Macron said in identical statements in Arabic, French, and English.

He called the current situation a "moment of uncertainty" and said he wished Syrians "peace, freedom, and unity."

"France will remain committed to the security of all in the Middle East," Macron added.

Canada: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Trudeau also celebrated Assad's fall as the end of decades of dictatorship in Syria, and said Canada was "monitoring this transition closely."

"A new chapter for Syria can begin here — one free of terrorism and suffering for the Syrian people," he said.

China: Foreign Ministry

The Chinese foreign ministry's initial response focused on the status of its citizens in Syria.

A ministry spokesperson said on Sunday that China's embassy in Syria was still operational and was assisting Chinese nationals in the country.

"We urge relevant parties in Syria to ensure the safety and security of the Chinese institutions and personnel in Syria," they added.

On Monday, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, Mao Ning, said Beijing was "closely watching developments."

"We hope all relevant parties will proceed on the basis of the Syrian people's fundamental interests and find a political resolution as soon as possible to restore stability in the country," she said.

Iran: Foreign Ministry

Iran, which backed Assad for over a decade, indicated that it hopes to continue to establish a presence in the region.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, emphasizing Syria's role as an important and influential country in West Asia, will spare no effort to help establish security and stability in Syria," its foreign ministry said in a statement.

Despite its past support for Assad, it added that "determining Syria's future and making decisions about its destiny are solely the responsibility of the Syrian people, without any destructive interference or external imposition."

Turkey: Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan

Fidan said Assad's fall paves the way for millions of Syrian refugees in neighboring Turkey to potentially return home.

"As of this morning, the Syrian people have started a new day in which they will determine the future of their country," Fidan said in a statement.

Turkey is home to some 3.6 million Syrian refugees, and Ankara has been actively supporting some rebel forces in the north with troops, drone strikes, and artillery.

Fidan added that Turkey would "assume responsibility for whatever needs to be done to heal Syria's wounds and ensure its unity, integrity, and security."

Russia: Foreign Ministry

In a statement on Sunday, Russia's foreign ministry said it was monitoring Syria "with extreme concern."

The ministry said Assad had resigned after discussing with "a number of participants" in the civil war, and that Moscow was not involved in the negotiations.

"However, we call on all the parties involved to renounce the use of violence and resolve all governance issues through political efforts," it said.

"In this regard, the Russian Federation maintains contact with all Syrian opposition groups," the ministry added.

Russia has said for years that it's supported Assad to protect Syria's legitimacy and to fight terrorism.

It fields two major military bases in Syria, the Hmeimim Air Base and the Tartus Naval Base, which provide Russia with access to Africa and the Mediterranean.

"Russian military bases in Syria are on high alert. There is no serious threat to their security at the moment," the foreign ministry said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

• Syrian dictator Bashar Assad has resigned and fled his country.
• Rebel forces said they seized control of the capital, Damascus.
• The collapse of Assad's government could have major global implications.

Syrians around the world celebrated as rebels, after more than a decadelong fight, finally toppled the country's longtime leader, Bashar Assad, on Sunday.

The Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday that Assad had resigned from his position as Syrian president and left the country. Russian state news reported that Assad had arrived in Moscow, where he's been granted asylum.

Syrian anti-government forces announced early on Sunday morning that they had advanced into Damascus, Syria's capital.

In a post on social media, rebel commander Hassan Abdul-Ghani said: "We declare Damascus free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad."

"Today 8-12-2024 Syria is officially free," he added in a later post.

Hassan Akkad, who fled Syria in 2015 and is now based in the UK, posted to X, "Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free."

World leaders react

President-elect Donald Trump said on Truth Social on Sunday that Assad had "fled his country" after losing Russia's support.

"Assad is gone," Trump wrote. "His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer."

In a press briefing on Sunday, President Joe Biden called the fall of Assad's government "a fundamental act of justice" and "a moment of opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country."

Biden said the US would support Syria's neighbors Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Israel "should any threat arise from Syria during this transition." Biden said the United States would also "maintain our mission against ISIS" inside the country, referring to the terrorist group operating in the region.

The US military conducted at least a dozen airstrikes inside Syria on Sunday, "targeting ISIS camps and ISIS operatives," Biden said.

The United States will also support Syria through the United Nations to create a new government through a process determined by the Syrian people, Biden said.

"The United States will do whatever we can to support them, including through humanitarian relief, to help restore Syria after more than a decade of war and generational brutality by the Assad family," Biden said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a Sunday statement, echoed the president's sentiment, saying the US "will support international efforts to hold the Assad regime and its backers accountable for atrocities and abuses perpetrated against the Syrian people, including the use of chemical weapons and the unjust detention of civilians such as Austin Tice."

The Syrian people, Blinken added, "finally have reason for hope."

Kaja Kallas, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, called Assad's resignation "a positive and long-awaited development."

"It also shows the weakness of Assad's backers, Russia and Iran," Kallas said in a statement. "Our priority is to ensure security in the region. I will work with all the constructive partners in Syria and in the region."

Geir Pedersen, the UN's Special Envoy for Syria, said in a statement, "Today marks a watershed moment in Syria's history."

How rebels took control of Aleppo

In late November, the coalition of rebel groups launched a surprise offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which traces its origins to the Al Qaeda terrorist network. It has more recently promoted more moderate views.

The rebels quickly took control of Aleppo, one of Syria's largest cities, Hama, and the strategic city of Homs, which sits at an important crossroads linking Damascus to the coast.

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of HTS, is a Syrian who fought against US occupation in Iraq with Al Qaeda. He is believed to have cut ties with the terrorist organization in 2016 but is still designated a terrorist by the US, which has placed a $10 million bounty on his head.

Al-Jolani has sought to portray himself as a more moderate leader and promoted messages of religious and ethnic inclusivity as HTS pushed toward Damascus. Still, HTS has a reputation as a hardline Islamist faction.

"This victory, my brothers, is a victory for the entire Islamic nation," Al-Jolani said in a speech to his followers this weekend, per a translation by CNN. "This new triumph, my brothers, marks a new chapter in the history of the region."

What Assad's ousting means for Russia and Iran

The collapse of Assad's government could have significant global implications, especially for Russia and Iran, which have been two of Assad's strongest allies.

Moscow operates two major military facilities in Syria — the Hmeimim airbase and the Tartus naval base — which have given its forces crucial access to the Mediterranean Sea and a base to launch operations into Africa.

Losing access to these bases would scupper many of Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans in the region, Zineb Riboua, a research fellow and program manager at the Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, wrote on X: "Without a strong Russian military base in Syria, all of Putin's plans collapse."

While Russia intervened to prop up Assad in 2015, its priorities have since shifted to the war in Ukraine, and it had appeared reluctant to divert any significant resources to help Assad this time around.

On Sunday, Russia's foreign ministry said there was no security threat to its military bases in Syria but that they were on high alert.

For Iran, Syria has been part of an important land corridor stretching from Tehran to Baghdad, Damascus, and Beirut, helping it support key regional proxies such as the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

"For Iran, Syria is absolutely essential in order to maintain its proxy network," Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told Business Insider.

But Tehran, too, has been distracted by its conflict with Israel, while Hezbollah has been left in disarray after Israel killed its longtime leader and wounded thousands of its fighters with exploding pagers and walkie-talkies.

In a separate post on TruthSocial on Saturday, Trump called on the United States to stay out of the situation in Syria, writing: "Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!"

This story is being updated as the situation unfolds.