The watchdog for U.S. assistance to Afghanistan says the Taliban have no legal right to billions of dollars in funds set aside to help Afghan people.

The ceasefire in Gaza saw its smoothest exchange yet of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, and the crucial Rafah border crossing reopened two days before discussions on the truce’s far more difficult second phase begin.

According to information on the Hotel State Owned Corporation’s website, the corporation’s mission is to develop Afghanistan’s hotel industry. Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani acknowledged planning a 2008 attack on the hotel, which killed eight, including U.S. citizen Thor David Hesla.

Iraq’s National Security Agency says it has arrested a former high-level security official for his involvement in the 1980 execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and his sister during Saddam Hussein’s brutal crackdown on religious opposition.

The U.S. and Iraq announced an agreement last year to wind down the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group by September 2025. But the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive led by Sunni Islamist rebels in December led some to reassess that stance.

News that three high-profile hostages are expected to be released has brought excitement and trepidation to Israel on Friday. All three men have become household names in Israel since their abduction. Their release would be the fourth since a ceasefire paused the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas this month.

Muhammad Salah al-Za’bir was a senior operative in Hurras al-Din, CENTCOM said late Thursday. The strike was part of U.S. forces’ ongoing efforts to disrupt terrorism in the region, especially as Syria transitions to a new government. It comes days after the Syria-based Hurras al-Din said it is dissolving.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said his government plans to rebuild Gaza with help from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, a process he said would reshape the Middle East and require the removal of Hamas from power and Israel from the ground.

Israel on Thursday formally banned the main United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees from operating on its territory despite heavy diplomatic backlash, a move that humanitarian officials warn could have a disastrous impact on aid delivery and jeopardize regional stability in the long term.

Eight more hostages were freed from the Gaza Strip by Hamas-led militants on Thursday in a sometimes chaotic process that briefly delayed Israel’s release of 110 Palestinian prisoners and underscored the fragility of the ceasefire that began earlier this month.