Overnight Defense & National Security — Texas hostage situation

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The nation was rattled this weekend by a nearly ten-hour hostage situation at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.   

More on that, plus former Defense chief Christopher Miller meeting with the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, and Russia denying allegations from the US that it is preparing a ‘false flag’ operation as the pretext to an invasion of Ukraine.   

For The Hill, I’m Jordan Williams. Write me with tips at jwilliams@thehill.com 

Let’s get to it. 

Ten-hour hostage taking shakes U.S. 

The nation was rattled on Saturday by an hours-long hostage situation at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.  

The situation at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas started around 10:30 a.m., with local police, the FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the North Tarrant Regional SWAT team responding to the scene. 

The four hostages, one of which was a rabbi, were all released over ten hours later.  

The FBI on Sunday identified the gunman who held hostages as a British national named Malik Faisal Akram. He was pronounced dead.   

What the suspect wanted: Akram demanded the release of Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently imprisoned in Texas for attempting to murder a U.S. soldier.  

Siddiqui has long been accused of helping militant Islamist groups, with terrorist organizations such as ISIS and the Taliban demanding her release. 

Marwa Elbially, Siddiqui’s attorney, told The Hill on Saturday that her client condemned the hostage-taking and that she “specifically made clear that she wants no violence in her name.” 

Elbially also dismissed suggestions that the gunman was Siddiqui’s brother, after Akram reportedly called Siddiqui a sister during the situation. 

“It didn’t even seem remotely plausible,” said the attorney. “I don’t even know why the assumption was made that it was her brother.” 

‘Too soon’ to tell broader threat: National Security Adviser Jake SullivanJake SullivanWhite House ‘strongly condemns’ attack in UAE capital Yemen Houthi rebels claim responsibility for deadly drone attack in Abu Dhabi Senators to meet with Ukraine president to reaffirm US support MORE on Sunday said it is “too soon to tell” if the Texas synagogue hostage situation was part of a broader extremist threat. 

“It’s too soon to tell at this point what the full parameters of this act of terrorism, this act of anti-Semitism were,” Sullivan told moderator Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”  

He added that various law enforcement and intelligence agencies were looking into “what this person’s motives were and whether or not there are any further connections.” 

Family apologizes: Akram’s brother, Gulbar Akram issued an apology to the hostages on…