(LONDON) — The Chinese Foreign Ministry accused President Donald Trump of undermining “global strategic balance and stability” by pushing ahead on his “Golden Dome” missile defense shield program — and urged the U.S. to abandon the project.
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the project at an Oval Office briefing on Tuesday, confirming reports that the administration was seeking to establish a missile defense umbrella the president said would be capable of “intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world and even if they are launched from space.”
The project will cost around $175 billion and be operational in three years, Trump said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a Wednesday briefing that the proposed shield will “heighten the risk of turning the space into a war zone and creating a space arms race and shake the international security and arms control system,” according to a readout posted to the ministry’s website.
“It plans to expand the U.S. arsenal of means for combat operations in outer space, including R&D and deployment of orbital interception systems,” Mao said.
“That gives the project a strong offensive nature and violates the principle of peaceful use in the Outer Space Treaty,” she added, referring to the 1967 agreement which — among other things — prohibited the use of nuclear weapons in space and limited any usage of all “celestial bodies” for peaceful purposes.
“This is yet another ‘America First’ initiative that puts the U.S.’ absolute security above all else,” Mao continued. “It violates the principle of ‘undiminished security for all’ and will hurt global strategic balance and stability,” she said. “China is gravely concerned.”
“We urge the U.S. to give up developing and deploying global anti-missile system, and take concrete actions to enhance strategic trust between major countries and uphold global strategic stability,” Mao said.
Trump began calling for a U.S. missile defense shield inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome — which is used to intercept short-range projectiles — a year ago on the campaign trail after watching Israel and its Western allies defeat some 300 missiles and drones fired during an attack by Iran. The attack was thwarted by a range of anti-missile systems and military aircraft.
Military officials said at the time that they hadn’t expressed a need for such a comprehensive shield to defend the U.S. Critics of Trump’s plan noted the U.S. wasn’t under threat from its neighbors, Canada and Mexico, and is buffered by two oceans.
The “Golden Dome” project has echoes of the failed Cold War-era “Star Wars” program, which likewise sought to introduce a defense umbrella against nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. At the time, critics — including leaders in the Soviet Union — said such a project was both unworkable and could spark a new arms race.
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty, Luis Martinez and Nathan Luna contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump, on the 2024 campaign trail, repeatedly promised voters he personally could end the Russia-Ukraine war on his first day in office — or even before.
But four months into his term, peace not only remains elusive but he’s saying he could soon “back away” from being involved.
His comment came hours after his highly-anticipated phone call Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin produced no breakthrough — even though Trump had earlier suggested it could.
Just last week, after Putin snubbed an invitation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to attend peace negotiations in Istanbul — something Trump had encouraged — he told reporters: “Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together, OK?”
“I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together, but we’re going to have to get it solved, because too many people are dying,” Trump said.
After his hourslong conversation with Putin on Monday, though, Trump said that conditions for a ceasefire and an ultimate end to the conflict “will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be.”
Direct talks between just Ukraine and Russia, Trump said, would begin “immediately” and possibly be hosted by the Vatican. The two sides already began engaging in Turkey last week in what was the first known meeting between representatives of Moscow and Kyiv since spring 2022.
Trump had also previously pushed for an “immediate ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, but that was not pushed further in his public comments following his Putin call.
Still, Trump sought to put an optimistic spin on Monday’s talks.
“I think something’s going to happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s got very, very big egos involved, I tell you, big egos involved. But I think something’s going to happen.”
“And if it doesn’t, I just back away and they’re going to have to keep going again,” Trump said. “This is a European situation. It should have remained a European situation.”
He did not answer whether he would be meeting with Putin — something he had suggested was likely in the not too distant future.
Trump and various top administration officials had said Trump’s personal history with Putin and strongman persona would get results.
In his debate against then-Vice President Kamala Harris in September, Trump said he’d get the Russia-Ukraine war ended “before even becoming president” because Putin and Zelenskyy “respect me.”
During an exclusive interview with ABC News on the 100-day mark of his term, Trump posited that, “If it weren’t for me, I think [Putin would] want to take over the whole country, personally.”
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, said on ABC’s “This Week” this past Sunday that the “president has a force of personality that is unmatched.”
“I believe that the president is going to have a successful call with Vladimir Putin,” Witkoff said. “They know each other. The president is determined to get something done here. And hopefully, if he can’t do it, then nobody can.”
Trump said last week he wanted to hold a summit with Putin as soon as possible.
“We have to get together. I think we will probably schedule it. Because I’m tired of having other people go and meet and everything else,” Trump told Fox News on May 16. He added, “I think I’m the only one that’s going to be able to do that one. And I think we will do it fast, too.”
On Monday, Trump said that he’d asked Putin to meet during their phone call, but did not say whether Putin expressed interest in doing so.
“I said, ‘When are we going to end this, Vladimir?'” Trump told reporters of their discussion. “I said, ‘When are we going to end this bloodshed, this, this bloodbath?’ It’s a bloodbath. And, I do believe he wants to end it.”
Putin, in his own comments to journalists in Sochi after the call, only said he was ready to work on “memorandum on a possible future peace agreement” with Ukraine, but did not elaborate on what that would look like.
Putin showed no signs of making concessions, only saying both sides must “determine the most effective ways of moving towards peace.”
Trump and other top officials have said Ukraine will have to forgo NATO membership and likely concede some territory occupied by Russia in order to bring the conflict to an end. They have not made similar public demands of Russia, which started the war when it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Trump, at times, has threatened more sanctions on Moscow. On Monday, he suggested trade with the U.S. after the war is over could be a motivator for pursuing peace.
Meanwhile, Russia only ramped up strikes inside Ukraine overnight following the Trump-Putin call.
In late April, Trump wondered aloud if Putin was “tapping me along” as strikes increased. If so, he said, he’d have to be “dealt with differently.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said over the weekend that the U.S. was trying to find out if Russia was “tapping us along” and said “we’ll find out pretty soon.”
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy, who Trump also spoke with on Monday, said the negotiation process “must involve both American and European representatives.”
“It is crucial for all of us that the United States does not distance itself from the talks and the pursuit of peace, because the only one who benefits from that is Putin,” Zelenskyy said.
(GAZA STRIP) — After almost three months of a total aid blockade in Gaza and intensified attacks from Israel, children are suffering the most severe consequences, a local doctor says, from death and injuries to starvation.
A senior Palestinian pediatric doctor described the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as “unbelievable,” witnessing children dying from hunger and preventable injuries, scenes he said he had studied in textbooks, but never imagined seeing in real life.
In an interview with ABC News this week, Dr. Ahmmed Al-Farra, head of pediatrics and maternity in Gaza’s Nasser Medical Complex, said hospitals are collapsing across the region.
No public hospitals are operating in the north of the strip and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, once the largest hospital in southern Gaza, has repeatedly been targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
Al-Farra said that many patients have died on the operating table due to a lack of essential equipment and medication. “If a patient in North Gaza has chest pain or is injured, he will lose his life,” said Al-Farra. “All the hospitals there are gone: Shifa, Kamal Adwan, the Indonesian Hospital. Destroyed or inoperable.”
He paints a devastating picture of life in Gaza, over 19 months into the war. “We’re seeing children with marasmus — skin and bone,” he said. “Some are just 40% of their expected weight. Severe malnutrition, no protein, no vitamins.”
Marasmus is a form of severe malnutrition characterized by protein-energy deficiency, caused by insufficient calorie intake leading to severe fat and muscle loss, according to the National Institutes of Health. While it can occur in anyone with severe malnutrition, it usually occurs in children.
Siwar Ashour, a child in Gaza, was born small, but was a relatively healthy baby six months ago, according to Al-Farra.
But today, she is acutely malnourished and fighting for her life in the Nasser Hospital, the doctor said. The facility has been repeatedly bombed by Israel, including attacks on Monday. Israel Defense Forces officials say they are targeting terrorists hiding there.
Siwar is bound in plastic, according to Al-Farra. The doctor says her weight loss is so severe that she can no longer regulate her own body temperature. And at 6 months old, she weighs just over 7 pounds. That is less than half the weight of an average American baby girl, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
“If she does not take the suitable formula of milk, unfortunately, she will not survive,” Al-Farra said.
Nearly 500,000 people in Gaza are facing catastrophic hunger, according to a report released by 17 UN agencies and NGOs. Israeli officials have disputed the agency’s figures and say their warnings have been wrong in the past.
Detailing the only option that his colleagues have in hospitals to fight the severe malnutrition in children, Al-Farra said that Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, has managed to provide small amounts of emergency baby formula, known as F-75 and F-100, to treat acute malnutrition in babies.
The doctor, however, said children’s conditions often deteriorate again after being discharged from the hospital. “We give the children a bit of formula — F-75, F-100 — from MSF, just in the hospital,” he explained. “They get a little better, and then we have to send them home, because we need the bed for the next child. But outside, there’s no food, no milk, no protein. They come back a week later, worse than before.”
Al-Farra also highlighted the widespread hunger afflicting Palestinians of all ages and all walks of life in Gaza, now 11 weeks into Israel’s ban on humanitarian aid entering the strip. Even as a doctor with a relatively stable income, he said he has gone without fresh meat, chicken and fish for over three months. “I haven’t had any chicken or meat protein in the past three months. … If this is my reality, imagine what it’s like for the people in the streets,” he said.
Following repeated international warnings on the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, Israel allowed five trucks of aid to enter the territory on Monday, according to COGAT, the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. A top Israeli official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the aid trucks contained flour, baby food, medical supplies and staples for central kitchens in Gaza.
Israel says they imposed the humanitarian aid blockade on March 2 to put pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages. The temporary ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas ended on March 1. The ceasefire fully collapsed on March 18 when Israel resumed military operations in Gaza.
Israel on Sunday agreed to allow a “basic” amount of food into Gaza, saying it didn’t want a “starvation crisis.”
Israel allowed 100 aid trucks to enter Gaza on Tuesday, UN OCHA Deputy Spokesperson Jens Laerke said. But no aid has been distributed in Gaza yet, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during his daily briefing from UN Headquarters in New York Tuesday.
The amount of aid was described as “a drop in the ocean” by the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, UNOCHA.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the decision to allow in aid came after pressure from U.S. lawmakers.
The war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorist fighters entered Israel and killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages. There are still 58 hostages held captive by Hamas, 20 of whom are presumed to be alive. Hamas is believed to be holding the bodies of four Americans.
The war has taken a large toll on Palestinians, with over 53,000 killed since October 7, 2023, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. While statistics do not distinguish between military and non-military casualties, women and children make up tens of thousands of this number, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Highlighting the dire situation of the survivors of the war in Gaza, especially children, Al-Farra pleaded for immediate aid coming into the strip. “We’re not asking for miracles. We’re asking for food, for medicine,” he said. “They are not numbers on paper — they are human beings created by God. They have the right to survive.”
ABC News’ Lama Hasan, Samy Zyara, Diaa Ostaz and Jordana Miller contributed to this report
Iranian Leader Press Office/ Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed doubt about his country’s nuclear negotiations with the United States, saying he does not think the talks will come to a result, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
However, Khamenei, who is supreme leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, acknowledged that the final outcome remains uncertain, he said during a Tuesday morning meeting with some Iranian authorities.
He clarified that Iran will not stop its enrichment.
Diplomats from the United States and Iran have held a series of high-level but “indirect” nuclear talks in Muscat. Tehran described the first four rounds of talks as “difficult but useful.” Washington said was “encouraged” by the outcomes so far.
Khamenei mentioned on Tuesday that “indirect” talks happened during the late President Ebrahim Raisi as well, but ended in no result, adding that “It is the same now.”
“We don’t think it will lead to any results. We don’t know what will happen,” he said.
The Iranian supreme leader used strong language warning American officials who have asked Iran to stop enrichment.
“Speaking of negotiations, I would like to give a reminder to the other party,” Khamenei said. “The American side that enters into these indirect negotiations and talk, they should try not to talk nonsense.”
“To say that we will not allow Iran to enrich, this is a big mistake. No one is waiting for their permission. The Islamic Republic has a policy, it has a method, it pursues its own policy,” the Iranian leader added.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi followed the leader’s speech by saying, “Today, the Supreme Leader set the task completely clear.”
“We are witnessing completely unreasonable and illogical positions of the Americans. Enrichment is not a topic for negotiable at all,” he added.
While Iranian authorities have consistently stated that the principle of uranium enrichment is non-negotiable, they have said they are open to negotiating measures to increase transparency in their enrichment activities and to come up with ways with other parties to demonstrate that these activities are for peaceful purposes.
(LONDON) — Russia launched more than 100 drones into Ukraine following the conclusion of a phone call between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s air force said, and as the world waited for what Trump said would be an immediate resumption of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.
Ukraine’s air force wrote on Telegram that its forces shot down 35 of the 108 Russian drones launched into the country overnight, with a further 58 jammed or otherwise neutralized while in flight. The air force reported damage on the ground in four Ukrainian regions.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down eight Ukrainian drones overnight.
Cross-border drone exchanges occur near-nightly and have increased in size and sophistication throughout the 3-year-old war. Monday night’s barrage came despite Trump’s latest assurance that a peace deal between the two sides is possible, following a phone call with Putin that lasted two hours.
“I think something’s going to happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office after the call. “It’s a very, very big egos involved, I tell you, big egos involved. But I think something’s going to happen. And if I thought that President Putin did not want to get this over with, I wouldn’t even be talking about it because I’d just pull out.”
Despite the failure of peace talks to date — including a chaotic meeting between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Istanbul, Turkey, last week — Trump still appeared confident of success.
In a post to his Truth Social website on Monday, Trump said Russia and Ukraine will “immediately” start negotiations toward a ceasefire. Kyiv has repeatedly requested a full 30-day pause to the fighting to facilitate peace talks. The Kremlin has so far dodged the proposal.
When questioned if he had asked Putin to meet with him during the call on Monday, Trump replied, “Of course.”
“I said, ‘When are we going to end this, Vladimir?'” Trump said. “I said, ‘When are we going to end this bloodshed, this, this bloodbath?’ It’s a bloodbath. And, I do believe he wants to end it.”
Putin’s own statement showed no sign of concessions. “Russia’s position is clear,” the president said in a statement to the media after the call. “Eliminating the root causes of this crisis is what matters most to us,” Putin said, per a Kremlin readout.
Trump’s threats of new sanctions on Russia do not appear to have pushed the Kremlin away from its maximalist war goals, which essentially equate to Ukrainian capitulation.
Those demands include the annexation of four partially-occupied Ukrainian regions — plus the retention of Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014 — Kyiv’s demilitarization, a permanent block on Ukrainian accession to NATO and the “denazification” of the country — a nebulous demand based on Russia’s false representation of the Ukrainian government as a far-right dictatorship.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — with whom Trump also spoke on Monday — has sought to present Kyiv as ready and willing to make peace, instead framing Putin as the key obstacle to Trump’s desired deal.
“This is a defining time,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post to Telegram on Monday. “Now the world can see whether its leaders have the capacity to ensure an end to the war and the establishment of a real, lasting peace.”
“I confirmed to President Trump that we in Ukraine are ready for a complete and unconditional ceasefire, as the United States, in particular, has been talking about,” he continued.
“It is important not to dilute this offer. If the Russians are not ready to stop the killings, there must be stronger sanctions for that. Pressure on Russia will encourage it to make real peace — this is obvious to everyone in the world,” he said.
“We must ensure that Russia is prepared to hold such productive negotiations,” Zelensyy wrote.” It is very important for all of us that the United States does not distance itself from the negotiations and achieving peace, because the only one interested in this is Putin.”
If Putin drags out or blocks real negotiations, Zelenskyy said, “America and the whole world behave accordingly, including responding with additional sanctions. Russia must end the war that it started, and it can do so any day. Ukraine is always ready for peace.”
(STARKVILLE, MS) — Geologists working in Mississippi recently stumbled upon an incredible find: the fossil of an ancient marine apex predator.
They uncovered a piece of vertebra they said likely belonged to a mosasaur, a lizard ancestor that lived in the Late Cretaceous period, according to James Starnes, research director for the surface geology and surface mapping divisions for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
On April 15, researchers were collecting rock, sediment and fossil samples just south of Starkville, Mississippi, Starnes said. Poking out from the sediment of a creek bed was the end an “unusually large” lumbar vertebra.
After Starnes pointed it out, Jonathan Leard, the lead author of the MDEQ’s geological map, pulled the vertebra out of the clay.
“Both of us are standing there looking at each other with our jaws wide open because of the size,” Starnes said.
Starnes “immediately” knew they had found a mosasaur based on the shape of the vertebra, he said. The researchers estimated the specimen, determined to be Mosasaurus hoffmannii, was between 30 and 40 feet long when it died, but mosasaurs typically grew to be about 50 feet and weighed 20,000 pounds.
“These animals, like other lizards, are indeterminate,” Starnes said. “That means they just keep growing, with age, until they die.”
Due to its geological formations, the Mississippi region is known for its fossils, but this was especially rare, Starnes said.
Shell fossils are common, as are much younger Ice Age fossils from land animals, such as mastodons and sloths. But mosasaurs have a “very different” vertebra shape than other animals.
“This was distinctly not a mammal,” Starnes said. “This was definitely a sea lizard.”
Mosasaurs, a diverse group of marine lizards, conquered the seas in the Late Cretaceous period, a time when dinosaurs inhabited various ocean environments.
The Mississippi River occupies an ancient geologic structure called the Mississippi Embayment, which was inundated by the Western Interior Sea Way during the Cretaceous period.
Mosasaur fossils have been found in the area before, but only in much smaller fragments, Starnes noted. This was the largest mosasaur fossil the researchers had ever encountered.
Mosasaurs were fast and agile swimmers with jaws that contained 60 dagger-like teeth that helped them capture large prey, researchers said.
Scientists believe mosasaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, according to Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality researchers.
Israeli Defense Forces / IDF / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Edan Alexander — the American-Israeli hostage freed from Gaza last week — was “weak and exhausted” upon his dramatic release, his mother Yael told ABC News, recalling her son’s first moments of freedom after 584 days as a Hamas captive.
“I was screaming and running until I bumped into him,” Yael said of her reunion with Edan at Israel’s Re’im military base near the Gaza border.
Edan “was so weak that he almost fell because he was also so excited, but he was so exhausted,” Yael continued. “I start crying like crazy. Because, that was the moment, you know? That’s it. I got it. My son is here. He’s in my arms.”
Edan, from New Jersey, moved to Israel at the age of 18. He was serving in the Israel Defense Forces when captured from his base close to the Gaza border during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. He was 19 when abducted and spent two birthdays in captivity.
Edan was the last living American citizen still believed to be held hostage by Hamas. The terror group is believed to also be holding the bodies of four dead American hostages, according to U.S. officials.
His father Adi told ABC News that Edan was “held in a facility” consisting of “a very dark and narrow room” with steel construction rebar. “You can call it the cage if you think about it,” he said.
News of a possible release broke on May 11, Mothers Day, but Adi nearly missed it. When he finally glanced at his phone he said he noticed eight missed phone calls from Steve Witkoff — President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy — who was involved in direct negotiations with Hamas.
“My phone was on silent and I was working with the blower outside and it was too noisy,” he recalled. “I saw those eight missed calls and called them back immediately,” Adi continued, saying Witkoff then told him and Yael that within 10 minutes they would be hearing good news.
Fifty-seven hostages remain in Gaza, including over 20 who are believed to be alive, according to Israeli officials.
The IDF has now launched a new expanded operation in Gaza which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said is intended to both free the remaining hostages and conclusively defeat Hamas in the strip. The families of remaining hostages, though, have criticized the new operation, saying it puts surviving captives in danger.
While the IDF pressed its new offensive, Netanyahu said Israel would simultaneously allow the resumption of a “basic” level of humanitarian aid to Gaza after a 10-week freeze, citing pressure from the U.S. as a key driver in the decision.
(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff for the Roman Catholic Church, will lead his inaugural mass on Sunday, according to the Vatican.
The mass, called the Holy Mass for the Beginning of the Pontificate, will begin in Vatican City on Sunday at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET), the Vatican Press Office said.
Before the start of the mass, Leo will wave to the tens of thousands of people expected to be in the crowds, according to officials.
The mass, which will be held in St. Peter’s Basilica, will begin by the tomb of St. Peter, according to Vatican officials.
During the mass, the Petrine Pallium and Fisherman’s Ring will also be presented to Leo, the press office said.
The Pallium — a narrow Y-shaped band woven in white and decorated with two black pendants, six black crosses and three pins representing Christ’s crucifixion — signifies the pontiff carrying on his shoulders the responsibility of shepherding the church.
The Fisherman’s Ring, a gold signet ring, symbolizes the new pope’s role as the successor of St. Peter, a fisherman who is considered to be the first leader of the church, according to the Vatican Press Office. The ring signifies the beginning and the end of a pope’s authority, with Francis’ ring ceremonially broken after his death. Catholics who meet the pope traditionally kiss the ring to demonstrate both their respect for the pontiff and their devotion to the church.
Leo will then deliver a homily, followed by a prayer, called the Regina Caeli, according to the Vatican. The event is expected to be approximately over two hours, officials said.
After the Regina Caeli, Leo is expected to greet delegations and guests, the Vatican said.
Among the guests expected in attendance are Vice President JD Vance, wife Usha Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Leo, formally Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected the 267th pontiff on May 8. The Chicago native is the successor of Pope Francis, who died on April 21.
Leo started to emerge as a front-runner for the papacy in the days before the start of the conclave, according to the Rev. James Martin, a papal contributor to ABC News.
The new pontiff was the only U.S. cardinal on a short list of potential candidates for pope, also known as “papabiles,” compiled in the aftermath of Francis’ death by The Associated Press.
ABC News’ Phoebe Natanson and Christopher Watson contributed to this report.
Eugene Abrasimov/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC “UA:PBC”/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
(LONDON) — A Russian drone hit a civilian minibus in Bilopillia, northeastern Ukraine early Saturday morning local time, killing nine people and injuring four others, according to the Sumy regional military administration.
The bus was en route to Sumy, not far from the Russian border and was struck at approximately 6:17 a.m.
Ukrainian national police condemned the attack as a “cynical war crime”, stating that Russia once again deliberately targeted a civilian object, violating international humanitarian law as regional governor Oleh Hryhorov called the strike “inhumane.”
The attack occurred just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks since March 2022 in Istanbul. While the negotiations did not produce a ceasefire, both sides agreed to a mutual exchange of 1000 prisoners of war in the coming days.
Russia has not directly commented on the civilian bus strike, but the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have hit a “military staging area” in the Sumy region.
Meanwhile, Russian official Kirill Dmitriev praised yesterday’s peace talks in Istanbul — calling the outcome a “good result” –while highlighting the largest prisoner-of-war exchange, possible ceasefire options and a better understanding of each side’s position.
He credited the progress to Donald Trump’s team and the U.S. delegation sent to help negotiations, saying the talks wouldn’t have happened without their help.
However, many key issues remain unresolved.
Russia is demanding that Ukraine give up control of parts of its territory — something Ukrainian officials say is unacceptable. and have accused Russia of using the talks to buy time and avoid more international sanctions.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, meanwhile, expressed disappointment and urged Ukraine’s allies to keep up pressure on Moscow to reach a meaningful peace deal.
(DAMASCUS, SYRIA) — He’s a former al-Qaeda insurgent who fought against U.S. forces in Iraq and served time in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. Still, on Wednesday, new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa stood on the world stage shaking hands with President Donald Trump and achieving a major feat for his fledgling administration.
Trump announced he would lift the crippling U.S. sanctions against Syria and urged al-Sharaa to meet specified conditions in hopes that it will stabilize the country. These conditions include normalizing relations with Syria’s neighbors, including Israel, as well as the United States.
Syria’s civil war ended in December when al-Sharaa and a band of rebel fighters overthrew the government of strongman Bashar al-Assad. Since then, al-Sharaa has been working to form a new government, band together rival rebel groups inside Syria, quell infighting among former Assad-regime loyalists and establish a diplomatic presence on the world stage, ABC News has reported.
“There was always the potential that once a power vacuum was created, it would be filled by someone who was associated with one of the more extremist or terrorist related groups,” said John Cohen, a former Department of Homeland Security undersecretary of intelligence.
But Cohen, an ABC News contributor, said the United States has no choice but to engage with al-Sharaa, explaining that a stable Syria is vital to the entire Middle East region.
“We have to engage,” Cohen said. “There are other powers, like China and Russia, who would be more than happy to assert geopolitical control over the region. So, it’s in our interest not to have that occur.”
In a speech to his country after assuming the presidency, al-Sharaa spoke about uniting his country, saying that “together we can open a new chapter in the history of our beloved land.”
“From here, I address you today in my capacity as president of Syria in this fateful period, asking God to grant us all success so we can revive our homeland, and overcome the challenges that we are facing, and that will only be through all standing together in people and leadership,” al-Sharaa said in the January speech.
Al-Sharaa said he planned to form an inclusive government, “reflecting Syria’s diversity in its men, women and youth.” He also said he intends to build new Syrian institutions “so that we can reach a stage of free and impartial elections.”
“I address you today not as a ruler but as a servant for our wounded homeland, striving with all power and will I have been given to realize Syria’s unity and renaissance, as we should all understand that this is a transitional stage, and it is part of a political process that requires true participation by all Syrian men and women, inside and outside the country, so that we can build their future with freedom and dignity, without marginalization or sidelining,” he said.
Who is Ahmad al-Sharaa?
The 42-year-old al-Sharaa was born in Saudi Arabia to a family that was originally from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. He grew up in Damascus, the capital of Syria, according to Thomas Warrick, an international lawyer and a former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for counterterrorism.
“He was a quiet boy, studious and very intelligent, according to all the reports we received about him when he was a terrorist leader,” said Warrick, now a nonresident senior fellow in Middle East programs for the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.
Unlike some terrorist leaders — including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the late leader of the Islamic State jihadist group, and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the late al-Qaeda chief and accused plotter of the 9/11 terrorist attacks — al-Sharaa has not been known as a charismatic leader, said Warrick.
“He doesn’t attract fanatical followers in quite the same way that those terrorist leaders did, and he’s certainly not known as a religious scholar like Anwar al Awlaki of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was,” said Warrick, who has worked under the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and under Donald Trump during his first term in the White House.
As a young man, al-Sharaa joined al-Qaeda following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, said Warrick.
“Right after the invasion of Iraq, he fought for them. He said he was a foot soldier,” Warrick said.
After joining al-Qaeda, al-Sharaa adopted the name Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, Warrick said, adding that the al-Jolani part of his pseudonym in Arabic means “of the Golan,” a reference to where his family originated.
While fighting for al-Qaeda in Iraq, al-Sharaa was captured by U.S. military forces and imprisoned at Abu Ghraib and other detention sites, according to Warrick.
Sometime after U.S. forces began to pull out of Iraq in 2007, al-Sharaa was released from prison and returned to Syria, Warrick said.
In Syria, al-Sharaa founded and led the al-Qaeda affiliate organization al-Nusrah Front, Warrick said.
Al-Sharaa later had a falling out with al-Baghdadi over the al-Qaeda leader’s decision to form an Islamic territorial caliphate, according to Warrick.
Al-Sharaa then rebranded the al-Nusrah Front as the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) during Syria’s civil war, setting up shop in Idlib in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border, Warrick said. HTS remains on the U.S. State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.
“But there’s a very interesting history from then, partly because of ego, partly because he was ambitious, and he understood economics and how groups like his need to have economic support in order to have power,” Warrick said.
To generate revenue for his group, Warrick said al-Sharaa began “what would be considered either taxation or extortion” of trucks crossing from Turkey into Syria.
“He used taxation to raise money from businesses and anybody who wanted to either transit or stay,” Warrick said. “This is what enabled him to become one of the more effective warlords for that part of northwest Syria.”
Rise to the presidency
During the civil war in Syria, more than 1 million Syrians fled to Turkey, prompting that country’s president, Recep Erdogan, to ask al-Assad in mid-2024 for concessions to ease the refugee burden Turkey was experiencing, Warrick said. But a dispute between the two leaders developed when al-Assad refused Erdogan’s request, according to Warrick.
At the same time, al-Sharaa and other rebel groups opposed to the al-Assad regime came up with a plan to carry out a limited military offensive against the government’s forces. With support from Erdogan, according to Warrick, al-Sharaa’s organization and other rebel groups were able to overthrow the regime and oust al-Assad from power.
In 2018, Trump, during his first term in office, ordered U.S. missile strikes on al-Assad’s chemical weapons facilities and ISIS fighters in Syria. The United States also set up a military presence in Syria in early 2016 to train and advise Kurdish and Arab rebel forces fighting ISIS in northern and eastern parts of the country.
The U.S. intervention in Syria’s civil war, combined with missile strikes on the country by Israel, severely weakened al-Assad’s forces by the time al-Sharaa and his rebel group launched their attack in 2024 that would eventually topple the Assad regime.
“What nobody really appreciated was how brittle Assad’s forces were, and so this ‘limited effort’ began to become like an avalanche rolling downhill,” Warrick said. “It picked up momentum and led al-Sharaa eventually to taking over Damascus within a matter of weeks.”
Facing big challenges
The new Syrian leader will attempt to convince Western and European leaders that his days as a terrorist are behind him.
With Edogon and the Saudi Crown Prince helping pave his way, al-Sharaa, in just a matter of months, has garnered support and legitimacy from other leaders in the region, including the Emir of Qatar, whom he visited. Getting Trump to lift the sanctions is seen as a major achievement by the Syrian people.
But al-Sharaa has major challenges to face, the two biggest being asserting control over all of the Syrian territory, as well as the armed groups that helped him ascend to power.
In December, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported that a meeting of the heads of the rebel groups and al-Sharaa “ended in an agreement on the dissolution of all the groups and their integration under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense.”
However, reports of human rights abuses allegedly carried out by some of the rebel forces during fighting with Assad loyalists have raised questions about the Syrian president’s control of these forces. He announced an investigation and vowed to hold accountable anyone responsible for violence against civilians.
After meeting with President Trump on Wednesday, al-Sharaa delivered a televised speech to his nation, saying Syria would no longer serve as an arena for foreign struggles, nor would it allow the resurgence of the old regime narrative that divided his country. He signaled that his country is interested in pivoting toward building international partnerships rooted in sovereignty and mutual interest.
During the speech, he invited Syrian investors abroad to return to the country and help it rebuild, saying, “Hope in modern Syria has become a tangible reality,” and he praised Trump’s decision to lift sanctions, calling it “historic and courageous.”
During Wednesday’s meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with al-Sharaa, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Erdogan, who phoned into the meeting, Trump urged al-Sharaa to take five specific actions, according to a readout of the meeting provided by the White House.
The conditions Trump laid out, according to the readout, include deporting Palestinian terrorists, ordering all foreign terrorists to leave Syria, helping the United States prevent a resurgence of ISIS, and signing the Abraham Accords — a series of agreements formed in 2020 to normalize relations between Israel and several Arab states.
Israel occupies a demilitarized buffer zone along the southern Syrian border, and Israeli officials have publicly accused al-Sharaa’s Islamist government of targeting the Druze, a minority religious group, south of Damascus.
On May 2, Israel bombed an area near the presidential palace in Damascus. In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said the strike was “a clear message to the Syrian regime: We will not allow [Syrian] forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.” Al-Sharaa’s government said the bombing marked “a dangerous escalation.”
Israel has been hitting Syria in multiple locations since al-Assad’s fall in December. Israeli forces have also moved past the demilitarized buffer zone and have publicly said they won’t leave the positions they’re in currently.
Al-Sharaa told Reuters he’s been having indirect talks with Israel to ease the violence. He says an investigation is underway in the Druze attack.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Indiana, who recently traveled to Syria and met with al-Sharaa, told ABC News this week, before Trump decided to lift sanctions, that it was the right move to help Syria recover.
“This is an important time to support a government that will not only respect human rights in the country, but respect women’s rights, religious rights,” Stutzman said.
Asked if he believed al-Sharaa is truly interested in uniting the Syrian people, Stutzman said, “I hope so, and we pray so, because of what the Syrian people have been through.”
“We traveled into the community of Jobar, where there was just billions and billions of dollars of destruction, homes and lives ruined by [Assad],” Stutzman said. “This was a political genocide. It wasn’t religious, it wasn’t racial, it was strictly political genocide.”
Stutzman added, “So, I think there’s a great opportunity. He’s talking to the right people and he’s saying the right thing. But obviously his actions are going to speak louder than words at the end of the day.”
‘Potentially transformative moment’
Mathieu Rouquette, country director for Syria for Mercy Corps, a U.S.-based humanitarian organization, said in a statement to ABC News that lifting the sanctions on Syria “marks a potentially transformative moment for millions of Syrians.”
“This decision, if successfully implemented, could enable broader recovery efforts, help revive markets, mobilize resources for the rehabilitation of heavily damaged or destroyed infrastructure and housing, and give Syrians a long-awaited opportunity to rebuild their lives with dignity,” Rouquette said.
But Rouquette said what matters most to the Syrian people is whether lifting the sanctions will bring meaningful improvements to their daily life, from access to critical infrastructure, jobs, food and clean water to functioning markets and services.
“For organizations like ours, the lifting of sanctions could remove long-standing operational barriers that have hampered recovery programming, aid delivery and local engagement,” Rouquette said. “With fewer restrictions on financial transactions and imports, we can more effectively support Syrians to restore livelihoods, revive small businesses, and strengthen local markets. This moment offers a real opportunity to shift from a heavy reliance on aid toward long-term resilience.”
Following Wednesday’s meeting, Trump complimented al-Sharaa while speaking with reporters on Air Force One on his way to Qatar, describing the Syrian leader as a “young, attractive, tough guy. Strong past, very strong past — fighter.” The president added that al-Sharaa has “got a real shot at pulling it together.”
In a speech he gave at an investment forum in Riyadh before leaving Saudi Arabia, Trump said he would call off the sanctions on Syria to “give them a chance at greatness.”
On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani in Turkey and affirmed the United States’ support for sanctions relief to stabilize Syria, according to the White House. Rubio, the White House said, welcomed the Syrian government’s calls for peace with Israel, efforts to end Iran’s influence in Syria and commitment to ascertaining the fate of U.S. citizens missing or killed in Syria.
Rubio underscored to al-Shaibani the critical importance of protecting the human rights of all Syrians regardless of ethnicity or religion, the White House said.
