American-aided efforts to ward off an Islamic State group resurgence in Iraq and Syria saw a flurry of recent successes with the capture of an ISIS leader and the killings of two militants, U.S. Central Command said.

Syria’s new government has agreed to give inspectors from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog access to suspected former nuclear sites immediately, the agency’s head told The Associated Press.

Iran’s supreme leader criticized an initial proposal from the United States in negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, though he stopped short of entirely rejecting the idea of an agreement with Washington.

An Israeli- and U.S.-backed group paused food delivery at its three distribution sites in the Gaza Strip after health officials said dozens of Palestinians were killed in a series of shootings near the sites this week. Israeli strikes across the territory, meanwhile, killed 26 people overnight and into Wednesday, officials said.

The number of U.S. bases in Syria will be pared from eight to one, the American ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria said.

The Israeli army said two rockets were fired from Syria into open areas in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights on Tuesday, marking the first time a strike has been launched toward Israel from Syrian territory since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.

A U.S.- and Israeli-backed initiative to feed starving Gazans has struggled during its first week of operations, with the resignation of two top executives, allegations that the Israeli military has shot into crowds of civilians rushing to pick up aid packages, and the ongoing refusal of the United Nations and humanitarian partners to join the effort.

Army veteran Winston Hencely, who sued a defense contractor over injuries from a suicide bombing in Afghanistan, will have his case reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Palestinian health officials and witnesses say 27 people are dead after Israeli forces opened fire as people headed toward an aid distribution site in the third such shooting in three days. The army says it fired “near a few individual suspects” who left the designated route, approached its forces and ignored warning shots.

No more funding for Operation Enduring Welcome was allotted in President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal released Friday. Advocacy groups fear that hundreds of thousands of Afghans awaiting resettlement in the U.S. could be shut out if the program is defunded.