Middle East

Libya's internationally recognized government is struggling to operate from the small eastern city of Bayda, far from Tripoli. The government's fate reflects the chaos that reigns in Libya today.

Jordan and the other Arab countries are still doing little, even though Jordan says it ramped up attacks. As of this week, the U.S. mounted 946 strikes in Syria, while Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi and UAE completed 79 total. The United Arab Emirates stopped flying in December, concerned the U.S. is not providing sufficient combat air rescue.

Kayla Mueller, the 26-year-old American hostage ISIS claims was killed in an airstrike in Syria, grew up in Arizona. She was taken hostage in 2013 while leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo.

ISIS claims American hostage Kayla Mueller is dead. The U.S. government says that's unconfirmed. Still, her family is acknowledging for the first time that it is their daughter who's been held.

The group calling itself the Islamic State says a Jordanian airstrike killed an American hostage. U.S. officials say there's no evidence to support the claim, and Jordan calls it a "propaganda stunt."