Shooter who killed 3 Americans in Syria believed to be ISIS infiltrator, VA memo reveals plan to eliminate as many as 35,000 healthcare positions this month, European leaders expected to cement support for Ukraine.
1. The shooter who ambushed U.S. and Syrian troops, killing two American soldiers and one civilian who was serving as an interpreter, is believed to have been an Islamic State infiltrator working as part of a local security force, multiple sources told CBS News. The shooting happened during a mission by U.S. and Syrian forces in a historic central town near Palmyra on Saturday. President Trump and U.S. military officials attributed the attack to ISIS. Two members of Syria's security force were wounded. Sources told CBS News that the local security force was in the Badia, which falls under the control of the Syrian government. U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Saturday that the "gunman was engaged and killed." Mr. Trump on Saturday vowed that the U.S. would retaliate.
2. The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to abruptly eliminate as many as 35,000 health care positions this month, mostly unfilled jobs including doctors, nurses and support staff, according to an internal memo, VA staffers and congressional aides. The cuts come after a massive reorganization effort already resulted in the loss of almost 30,000 employees this year. Agency leaders have instructed managers across the Veterans Health Administration, the agency’s health care arm, to identify thousands of openings that can be canceled. Employees warn that the contraction will add pressure to an already stretched system, contributing to longer wait times for care.
3. European leaders are expected to cement support for Ukraine Monday as it faces Washington’s pressure to swiftly accept a U.S.-brokered peace deal. Peace talks between U.S. envoys and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as Ukrainian and European officials, continued Monday morning as part of a series of meetings in an effort to secure the continent’s peace and security in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia. The second day of talks in Berlin began shortly before noon local time. Finnish President Alexander Stubb, one of the key European interlocutors between U.S. President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy, was spotted Monday morning in downtown Berlin. Zelenskyy sat down Sunday with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in the German federal chancellery in the hopes of bringing the nearly four-year war to a close.
4. Israel's assassination of a senior Hamas commander threatens the viability of the Gaza ceasefire, the chief negotiator of the militant group said on Sunday, calling on U.S. President Donald Trump to demand Israel comply with the terms of the truce. Thousands of Hamas supporters rallied in central Gaza City at a funeral for senior commander Raed Saed and three associates killed alongside him on Saturday. The mourners chanted "Martyrs are dear to God" and carried the bodies in coffins draped in green Hamas flags, in one of the group's biggest displays of its presence since a U.S.-backed ceasefire deal came into effect in Gaza in October. In a televised address, Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, who lives in exile, confirmed the killing of Saed, the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas figure since the truce.
5. More than 30,000 trucks worth of aid have been delivered to beleaguered Gaza as of last week, in what U.S. Central Command calls a major milestone for its civilian coordination center. The aid deliveries included food, shelter supplies, winter clothing, sanitation supplies and medical equipment. They were facilitated through the U.S.-led Civil Military Coordination Center, a multi-story warehouse in Kiryat Gat, about 20 miles west of the Gaza strip, that serves as a hub for U.S. forces and 60 partner nations and organizations. The center hit the 30,000 mark after five consecutive weeks of at least 4,200 trucks entering Gaza, CENTCOM said in a statement last week.
- Security