Yemen

A brief statement says that a joint mission with the Yemeni military retrieved some hostages, but journalist Luke Somers was not at the target location.

The man in the video says he's a British-born American citizen, who was kidnapped in Sanaa in September. A militant on video says the U.S. has three days meet unspecified demands.

Four of them are the first Yemeni detainees to be transferred since 2010. There are still 143 men at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

President Obama says the strategy the U.S. would pursue against the Islamic State would be similar to how it targets al-Qaida affiliates in Yemen and Somalia. But both countries are deeply unstable.