The upheaval triggered by Bashar al-Assad’s ouster has raised urgent questions about the 2,000 troops who serve as a bulwark against ISIS and Iran.

Winter is hitting the Gaza Strip and many of the nearly 2 million Palestinians displaced by the devastating 14-month war with Israel are struggling to protect themselves from the wind, cold and rain.

The Palestinian Authority and the militants who control Jenin camp are locked in a rare, open battle.

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Sunday killed at least 22 people, including five children, Palestinian medical officials said, while Gaza’s small Christian community celebrated a pre-Christmas Mass.

Iran had provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising against his family’s decades-long rule.

The U.S. military says two U.S. Navy aviators ejected over the Red Sea. Both were recovered alive, with one suffering minor injuries in the incident.

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

A rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv overnight, leaving 16 people injured by shattered glass, the Israeli military said Saturday, days after Israeli airstrikes hit Houthi rebels who have been launching missiles in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Federal authorities say Mohammad Reza Nouri, an officer in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, is in custody in Iraq, where he has been convicted by an Iraqi court for his role in the killing of American Stephen Troell.

The Biden administration says it has decided not to pursue a $10 million reward it had offered for the capture of a Syrian rebel leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the ouster of President Bashar Assad. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham remains designated a foreign terrorist organization.