The death of two U.S. service members and one American civilian in an attack in Syria by an alleged member of the Islamic State group has drawn new attention to the presence of American forces in the country.

Saturday's attack was the first with fatalities since the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad a year ago.

The result of last month's parliamentary elections in Iraq was ratified by the Supreme Federal Court, confirming that the party of caretaker prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani won the largest number of seats — but not enough to assure him a second term.

The court confirmed that the voting process met all constitutional and legal requirements and had no irregularities affecting its validity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at Australia's leader on Sunday while nations expressed shock and sympathy over a mass shooting at a Jewish holiday event, saying he had warned Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that "your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire."

Netanyahu during the war in Gaza has repeatedly sought to link widespread calls for a Palestinian state, and criticism of Israel's military offensive in the territory following Hamas' 2023 attack, to growing incidents of antisemitism worldwide.

Hamas on Sunday confirmed the death of a top commander in Gaza, a day after Israel said it had killed Raed Saad in a strike outside Gaza City.

The Hamas statement described Saad as the commander of its military manufacturing unit. Israel had described him as an architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in Gaza, and asserted that he had been "engaged in rebuilding the terrorist organization" in a violation of the ceasefire that took effect two months ago.

Qassim Hamadeh woke to the sounds of gunfire and explosions in his village of Beit Jin in southwestern Syria last month. Within hours, he had lost two sons, a daughter-in-law and his 4-year-old and 10-year-old grandsons. The five were among 13 villagers killed that day by Israeli forces.

Israeli troops had raided the village — not for the first time — seeking to capture, as they said, members of a militant group planning attacks into Israel. Israel said militants opened fire at the troops, wounding six, and that troops returned fire and brought in air support.

Syria's interior ministry said on Sunday that the gunman who killed three Americans in the central Palmyra region the previous day was a member of the security forces who was to have been fired for extremism.

Hamas' Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said on Sunday that the group had a "legitimate right" to hold weapons and that any proposal for the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire must uphold that right.

By Arie Perliger Director of Security Studies and Professor of Criminology and Justice Studies, UMass Lowell

Owais Hammam was walking near his home in Khirbet Bani Harith in the West Bank on Dec. 3, 2025, when, according to media reports, he was kidnapped by Jewish settlers. Over several hours at a nearby settlement, the 18-year-old Palestinian is alleged to have endured repeated beatings, humiliation and harassment.

A group of Syrian-American Jews have registered a nongovernmental organization in Syria in a bid to restore Jewish heritage in a country where the once-sizable religious minority has shrunk to almost nothing.

"Jewish Syrians are an integral part of the Syrian fabric," Syrian Minister of Social Affairs Hind Kabawat told The Associated Press Friday. "Our country is a mosaic of all sorts of civilizations, religions, sects, and nations."

Former Iraqi President Barham Salih is on track to become the next head of the U.N. refugee agency, according to a letter from U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres shared with The Associated Press on Friday.

Salih, 65, is set to succeed longtime UNHCR veteran Filippo Grandi as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Grandi took office on Jan. 1, 2016, and his second five-year term expires on Dec. 31. He had succeeded Guterres in the post.