The U.S. pressure follows reports that Israel is blocking members of the committee from entering Gaza. Saudi-based Asharq News cited sources who said Egypt told committee members the U.S. is pressing Israel to expedite the reopening of the Rafah crossing in both directions

Israel increasingly assesses that if there is a U.S. strike on Iran, the Iranian leadership would weigh whether and how to respond, including the possibility of drawing Israel into the confrontation through missile launches. But senior IDF officials stressed there is no certainty that Iran would choose Israel as its initial target

Rifaat al-Assad became infamous for violently suppressing an Islamist uprising in 1982, an operation in which the Syrian Network for Human Rights later estimated that 30,000 to 40,000 civilians were killed – an episode often cited as a blueprint for how former president Bashar Assad would later respond to challenges to his rule