American forces kill two Islamic State militants, Libyan man suspected of 1988 Pan Am bombing taken into U.S. custody.
1. American forces on Sunday killed two Islamic State militants in eastern Syria in a helicopter raid, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. IS sleeper calls continue to carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq. For a few years, the group ruled swathes of both countries but lost its last stronghold in 2019. U.S. Central Command did not specify the location of the overnight operation, and claimed there were no civilian casualties in its initial assessments of the operation.
2. The announcement Sunday that a Libyan man suspected in the 1988 bombing of a passenger jet has been taken into U.S. custody put the spotlight back on the notorious terrorist attack and longstanding efforts to pursue those responsible. The suspect, Abu Agila Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, is accused of building the bomb that destroyed a Pan Am flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. The attack killed all 259 people aboard the plane and 11 on the ground. The majority of those killed were Americans.
3. Russian forces pounded targets in eastern and southern Ukraine with missiles, drones and artillery, Ukraine's General Staff said on Monday, while millions remained without power in subzero temperatures after further strikes on key infrastructure. In a flurry of weekend diplomacy, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke with the leaders of the United States, France and Turkey ahead of planned Group of Seven (G7) and EU meetings on Monday that could agree further sanctions on Russia.
4. Land forces from the United States, Japan and the Philippines are teaming up to address security challenges in the Indo-Pacific, military leaders from the three nations told reporters Sunday. Five generals from the three democracies discussed land force cooperation at Camp Asaka, a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force base in Saitama prefecture near the Japanese capital.
5. Retired Air Force Col. Joseph Kittinger, whose 1960 parachute jump from almost 20 miles above the Earth stood as a world record for more than 50 years, died Friday in Florida. He was 94. His death was announced by former U.S. Rep. John Mica and other friends. The cause was lung cancer.
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